i have been noticing this a little bit lately, but it all came together when adam neely put out his latest youtube vid in which he basically quit youtube. kind of. sorta. if you follow jhs you know that josh has gone from putting out things daily to now putting out things monthly, if that. (edit: i know that he puts out almost daily “shorts” but that isn’t really content, it seems like a lame way to just remind people that you’re out there). he hasn’t directly addressed it, but has mentioned his love of educating people on pedals and seems to be focusing on that (it seems he’s doing more live lectures at places). songwriter mary spender put out a video lately talking about how frustrating it is to get tens of thousands of views for a song of hers… and no money. rick beato, rhett shull and a bunch of other youtubers have put out recent videos examining the youtube exodus. whether it’s online music services like spotify or apple, or video platforms like youtube or tik-tok, we have entered into an era where creators are paid literally tenths of a cent when a consumer listens/watches. meanwhile these companies seem to be doing quite well financially for themselves. i just don’t see how any of this is sustainable long term for artists and i think we’re reaching a tipping point where many of these content creators are going to just move on to other things.
yes - i think creators are really understanding what an intense grind it is to make the kind of content that will make money on YTs business model. this is part of why i gladly subscribe to nebula for ~$40/year - its better for creators, has much better/smarter/thought out content, and zero ads.
i have definitely been kicking that around, i think i will eventually join it.
I think the business model has changed and artists are no longer going to get paid revenue for their music being played. They will make it on live shows and merch. It’s not the good old days anymore, when people began ripping copies of cds the writing was on the wall, as Lars tried to warn us.
Many creators use YouTube to get name recognition so they can market other stuff. That’s how you make the money.
Example; 10 years ago Babymetal released Gimme Chocolate, which went viral. They didn’t have a record deal in the west, you could not buy their CD other than going to their website. They received no radio play. Other than playing two clubs for a total of about 700 people, their first show in the west was Sonisphere. At Sonisphere, they sold more merch than any other band, including big names like Iron Maiden.
Babymetal according to the annual reports is the number 1 income stream for their record company, surpassing groups like Perfume and On OK Rock. And they don’t do it by CD sales, YT or Spotify, they play concerts and they sell merch.
Its very common for a content creator to have a merch store. We’d all buy banana buzz t-shirts if we could. YT is a tool which you can parlay into money, it’s not the income source itself.
I see lots of folks who have a large presence on YT, and use it to drive subscribers to something like a Patreon. It’s kind of like a “freemium” model - free content on YT, and more/better/different/complementary content that you have to pay for.
Yup there’s a lot of that too. It’s a good fit for Beato, he could put up short vids and upload all the vids including the blocked ones n Patreon. There’s a lot of media that gets blocked on Patreon
Creating content is a ton of work and although many people make a lot of money doing it, it’s still a grind to have to keep doing it. Many of the creators that are “leaving” YT have been on there making content for over a decade and if you want to stay relevant, keep getting new subs and keep getting recommended by the youtube algorithm, you have to keep innovating and keeping your content fresh. It’s not something I’d want to do, just like i didnt enjoy being a professional photographer.
One of the biggest issues is that you start out doing/sharing the things you enjoy, the things that you think will help or entertain people but eventually that’s not enough and you have to keep upping the game and keeping people entertained… eventually you’re no longer doing what you enjoy, you’re just doing the things that you think will get people to click and watch your videos. I used to watch Rick Beato, Adam Neely and many of the others but I no longer find them interesting or all that useful; i don’t think i’ve watched Neely in over a year.
In addition to that, people lives change, sometimes the reasons that they created their channel no longer exist. Some you-tubers never intended to make YT content their business when they started out and their channel has just run it’s course and offers little more for them. Most people didn’t start out to make big money because there wasn’t big money to be made at the time. Many artists have a life they want to pursue and YT just doesn’t fit into it, especially if their career has taken off and they want to tour and write music.
I’ve been at my current job for over 15 years and my role their is constantly changing… if i was doing youtube, it’s unlikely that i would have the freedom to change much because you have to give your “customers” what they want, not what you want. I’d never do YT, it’s just too much work and I’d never be interested in one thing for long enough to devote that much time and effort to it 
YT is oversaturated with creators now compared to 10 years ago too which makes it more difficult for everyone. In addition to that, the ways that people use YT is changing too… many people, especially the younger audience use it for quick entertainment like shorts and aren’t really that interested in educational content and 15+ minute videos.
I sub to nebula because it comes with curiosity stream and i don’t know if ive even ever watched anything on nebula 
I rarely watch curiosity stream either.
So true. Services like TikTok are probably the ultimate evolution of content for smartphones as a platform - continually changing quasi-random content, bright visuals, irritating high pitched music…
Brings to mind Neil Postman - " What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance."
If you want a good book, give Brave New World by Aldous Huxley a shot
Orwell also wrote that “The people will not revolt. They will not look up from their screens long enough to notice what’s happening.”
I used to think that but apparently it’s from a stage adaptation…
Whatever the origin, it is still apt.
This is true. I think virtually everything I do these days involves looking at a screen of some sort
I wish I could say this phenomenon was getting worse and things used to be better, but no, Orwell and Huxley were just as salient when I first read them in 1986 as they are today. And their observations were based on the '50s that they saw. Some things about humans never change.
If you guys like Huxley and Orwell, and would like a shorter, more pithy, American version - check out H.L. Mencken for some of his quotes. A couple choice ones:
“Democracy is the political theory that the common man knows what he wants, and deserves to get it, good and hard.”
“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
The man was flat out prescient.
pretty spot on.
The problem with predictions is that they weren’t making predictions, they were commenting on their own times. Just that we are in a very similar situation as they were in their times, which was called the age of dictators by history.
I will add one quote from Mark Twain - “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes”
These quotes made me think of Ambrose Bierce, as they seem to be pretty close in style and at least the democracy quote would have been right at home in The Devil’s Dictionary.
Then I learned that they were contemporaries and was not the least bit surprised to hear it.
In 1918, H. L. Mencken called Bierce “the one genuine wit that These States have ever seen.”
totally!