Content creators are having a great time with Patreon, YouTube should just go after something like that. A voluntary monthly subscription set by the viewers, for whatever price. Artists earn thousands a month from "whales" while the rest of their free-to-viewers get to see the vast of their stuff for free.
I typed up and erased two replies that were disagreeing with you, but I think you're right thanks to how flimsy they sounded. People's gratitude isn't something big companies really take into consideration, and it's not really a sustainable model. It's great for artists since donations are correlated to how well they do, but maybe not for a weekly production that has a set budget and stuff. Not to say you're wrong. Gratitude can really move a lot of money, and last I checked the top paid artist in Patreon earns enough to buy ten Ferraris per year and still live better than me.
Yeah, the three "video artists" (for lack of a better term) I follow (two funny reviewers, and a fellow who does awesome consumer reports reviews of gaming products) are all making thousands a month from their fans. And as long as the content trickles out once a week or so, the money seems to keep coming.
The nice thing about Patreon is it's basically a subscription service, like Netflix. You can pick a few of your favorite content creators, throw them $2/mo each, and it's just -$10 to your bank account a month. Not too bad. Easy to forget and just let it keep going. And then enough fans do it, and it really adds up.
And like I said, except for a few bonus videos for subscribers, the vast majority of content is free.
Paywalls... I dunno. My experience is, people either ignore them, or try their best to spitefully bypass them. It might work if you're The New York Times or Jay Z, but I'm just not sure how well locking away a big chunk of your content would work for the average joe trying to make a few bucks.
I thought paywalls didn't work?
Content creators are having a great time with Patreon, YouTube should just go after something like that. A voluntary monthly subscription set by the viewers, for whatever price. Artists earn thousands a month from "whales" while the rest of their free-to-viewers get to see the vast of their stuff for free.
Edit: Messed up a word.
I typed up and erased two replies that were disagreeing with you, but I think you're right thanks to how flimsy they sounded. People's gratitude isn't something big companies really take into consideration, and it's not really a sustainable model. It's great for artists since donations are correlated to how well they do, but maybe not for a weekly production that has a set budget and stuff. Not to say you're wrong. Gratitude can really move a lot of money, and last I checked the top paid artist in Patreon earns enough to buy ten Ferraris per year and still live better than me.
Yeah, the three "video artists" (for lack of a better term) I follow (two funny reviewers, and a fellow who does awesome consumer reports reviews of gaming products) are all making thousands a month from their fans. And as long as the content trickles out once a week or so, the money seems to keep coming.
The nice thing about Patreon is it's basically a subscription service, like Netflix. You can pick a few of your favorite content creators, throw them $2/mo each, and it's just -$10 to your bank account a month. Not too bad. Easy to forget and just let it keep going. And then enough fans do it, and it really adds up.
And like I said, except for a few bonus videos for subscribers, the vast majority of content is free.
Paywalls... I dunno. My experience is, people either ignore them, or try their best to spitefully bypass them. It might work if you're The New York Times or Jay Z, but I'm just not sure how well locking away a big chunk of your content would work for the average joe trying to make a few bucks.