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YouTube stars heading for burnout

theguardian.com

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Re: YouTube stars heading for burnout

#101

Post by elvinyung »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #99
elvinyung wrote: post #94

The neoliberal condition is in part characterized by the entrepreneurialization of everything, the penetration of Michel Foucault's homo economicus (entrepreneur of the self) into more and more spheres of production, consumption, and everyday life. Increasingly, you're an "entrepreneur" no matter what, whether you're a food truck owner, a freelance designer, an Uber driver, an Airbnb host, a YouTube star. Entrepreneu…

As a clarification, Foucault did not define the term Homo Economicus [1]. He used the concept from Economics to describe the atomization of the individual inside the capitalist state structure, in contest with the "State" as a push-pull with that power structure. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_economicus

This is true, but I mostly know of the concept from Foucault's lectures in The Birth of Biopolitics (in particular the "atomization" aspect you mentioned), which I think is slightly different from those other definitions (which is also why I said "Foucault's").

Re: YouTube stars heading for burnout

#102

Post by 0xFACEFEED »

kcorbitt wrote: post #85
nine_k wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making $500k a month would allow you to save enough in a few years to jump off the hamster wheel and live completely off passive income. Not luxuriously, but better than most, and have all his time for his own .

To put some real numbers to this: $500k a month is $6M a year, or maybe $3M post-tax (assuming there's no way to shelter that income). At a very conservative 3.33% annual withdrawal rate, which all but guarantees that your capital will grow faster than you spend it in the long term, after one year of work he could live on an annual income of $100k, forever, without working another day. I guess it depends on your defi…

Correct me if I'm wrong, but any kind of stardom that nets you $3MM post-tax per year will also open the door to great investment opportunities AND a sort of residual income.

By residual income I mean things like being paid to appear at events and sponsor brands. Very low effort work. To be fair, that'll eventually dwindle away, but if he plays his chips right then he could coast on that kind of stuff for a long time.

Re: YouTube stars heading for burnout

#103

Post by oh_sigh »

drb91 wrote: post #63
oh_sigh wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if he thinks people who are making 3m+ a year after taxes can just disappear randomly and not have their income affected

Taking 48 hours off work is not “disappearing”, that’s a weekend. Perhaps the point is more how volatile the patronage is.

If he set himself up with a consistent 48 hour no stream schedule, I doubt he would keep losing 40k subscribers every break

Re: YouTube stars heading for burnout

#104

Post by savanaly »

mancerayder wrote: post #50

The anxieties are tied up with the relentless nature of their work. Tyler Blevins, AKA Ninja, makes an estimated $500,000 (£384,000) every month via live broadcasts of him playing the video game Fortnite on Twitch, a service for livestreaming video games that is owned by Amazon. Most of Blevins’ revenue comes from Twitch subscribers or viewers who provide one-off donations (often in the hope that he will thank them b…

I feel this way at first glance too. Then I remember that one could substitute Ninja for me, and his income for mine, and from the comparison of, say, a third-world trash-heap scavenger, I have similarly little reason to ever utter a peep of complaint about how my life is going. Yet I don't feel guilty saying negative things about my life or being depressed on occasion. And that helps me to feel sympathy for him.

Re: YouTube stars heading for burnout

#105

Post by itronitron »

mancerayder wrote: post #50

The anxieties are tied up with the relentless nature of their work. Tyler Blevins, AKA Ninja, makes an estimated $500,000 (£384,000) every month via live broadcasts of him playing the video game Fortnite on Twitch, a service for livestreaming video games that is owned by Amazon. Most of Blevins’ revenue comes from Twitch subscribers or viewers who provide one-off donations (often in the hope that he will thank them b…

I think you meant to say >> He makes 500k a month ... playing video games ...

Re: YouTube stars heading for burnout

#106

Post by ChuckMcM »

mancerayder wrote: post #50

The anxieties are tied up with the relentless nature of their work. Tyler Blevins, AKA Ninja, makes an estimated $500,000 (£384,000) every month via live broadcasts of him playing the video game Fortnite on Twitch, a service for livestreaming video games that is owned by Amazon. Most of Blevins’ revenue comes from Twitch subscribers or viewers who provide one-off donations (often in the hope that he will thank them b…

Oddly enough it is more like addicts rather than millennials. The money is a dopamine hit, I've seen day traders with the same obsession trying to make their 'nut' every day. And getting so pumped when they do and so depressed when they don't. All while constantly complaining they would rather be doing anything else. It sounded like an addict saying they hated being an addict but they needed getting high to survive.

500K a month is 6 million a year. Lets say the taxes are 50% so you take two years to bank 6 million. It is pretty straight forward to live off six million dollars pretty much anywhere in the world. Even at 2% that is a monthly check of $10K. If you've got it in t-bills that is tax free.

But you don't get the dopamine hits from living off the interest.

Re: YouTube stars heading for burnout

#107

Post by stale2002 »

mancerayder wrote: post #50

The anxieties are tied up with the relentless nature of their work. Tyler Blevins, AKA Ninja, makes an estimated $500,000 (£384,000) every month via live broadcasts of him playing the video game Fortnite on Twitch, a service for livestreaming video games that is owned by Amazon. Most of Blevins’ revenue comes from Twitch subscribers or viewers who provide one-off donations (often in the hope that he will thank them b…

Would you say the same thing about the problems of famous "normal" celebrities, such as the high amount of drug overdose deaths?

These real life problems of famous individuals shows that fame and success isn't always all it is cracked up to be.

Related to Ninja in particular, I would also like to point out that Ninja's success is only recent. He has been doing the streamer grind for 10 whole years to get to this point of success in his life. And with a lot of luck along the way.

Re: YouTube stars heading for burnout

#108

Post by reaperducer »

mancerayder wrote: post #50

The anxieties are tied up with the relentless nature of their work. Tyler Blevins, AKA Ninja, makes an estimated $500,000 (£384,000) every month via live broadcasts of him playing the video game Fortnite on Twitch, a service for livestreaming video games that is owned by Amazon. Most of Blevins’ revenue comes from Twitch subscribers or viewers who provide one-off donations (often in the hope that he will thank them b…

This fits into the stereotype of Millennials as entitled. He makes 500k a month, but can't get off the hamster wheel? Poor soul.

Hopefully one day he gets off that hamster wheel and has to dig ditches or clean toilets or roof a house in the desert for a living. Then he can know what work is.

My office window shows me a variety of people who work a thousand times harder than I do coding. And each day I am grateful that I don’t have to do their tasks.

Re: YouTube stars heading for burnout

#109

Post by batiudrami »

fragsworth wrote: post #49
api wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many of the Nazis and other super divisive youtubers do you think are faking it or hamming it up for clicks? I do sometimes wonder "do these people actually believe this crap?" Same goes for totally outlandish conspiracy theories. Controversy has always sold, but never before has the feedback loop been so tight.

Not believing what you speak is a huge enthusiasm killer, and enthusiasm is most of what makes a good video. I'd guess almost all of the people with growing channels believe what they speak, and anyone on the fence might even subconsciously start believe what their audience wants.

This [1] is anecdotal only but I thought it was interesting:

"i know from some behind-the-scenes youtuber talk that a few of the softer antifem/rightwing channels don't like how extreme a lot of their audience have become, and are scared of putting anything out that causes them to get ditched. they have bills to pay, after all"

[1] https://curiouscat.me/Shaun_Jen/post/639484603?1536142106

Re: YouTube stars heading for burnout

#110

Post by reaperducer »

bitreality wrote: post #87
nine_k wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making $500k a month would allow you to save enough in a few years to jump off the hamster wheel and live completely off passive income. Not luxuriously, but better than most, and have all his time for his own .

Sure it would. But these things don't happen in a vacuum. If someone like Ninja just quit streaming one day, there would be a ton of pressure on him. His followers would constantly be asking him why he did it, when he's coming back. They'd speak rumors about him, comment publicly on his health (mental and physical). I'm sure your answer is to just ignore it all. No problem, if you're a robot. Then there's the pressur…

there would be a ton of pressure on him. His followers would constantly be asking him why he did it, when he's coming back. They'd speak rumors about him, comment publicly on his health (mental and physical).

What pressure? Don’t want to feel pressure from thousands of anonymous people on Twitch? Don’t go on Twitch. Problem solved.

Similarly, know how to avoid all the negative social aspects of Twitter that so many celebs whine about? Don’t go on Twitter!

It’s the internet. It’s not real life. Why is this so hard?

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