The sad economics of internet fame, by @gabydunn: https://t.co/nuKDLVBC3V via @ThisIsFusionpic.twitter.com/dj1UgvWaXP
— Vulture (@vulture) December 14, 2015Gaby Dunn from Buzzfeed (yes, the one that was so quick to say Stoya was lying about her good friend James Deen) wrote this thinkpiece about how YouTube mirrors regular economics in how there is now a middle and lower class.
- People like PewDiePie and Grace Helbig make bank, while she has "never had more than a couple thousand dollars in my bank account at once."
- Talks about how a lot of popular YouTubers have trouble paying their bills, because their YouTube fame is disruptive to their other real life job (ex. Rachel Whitehurst had to quit working at Starbucks because fans had memorized her schedule. Now, she is forced to use 15 different sources of income, like endorsements and sponsored posts, to support her lifestyle).
- "In other words: Many famous social media stars are too visible to have “real” jobs, but too broke not to."
- These people are all struggling despite their internet fame, which then causes a weird shaming cycle. If they do sponsored posts, they lose fans who think they are selling out, but can pay their bills. If they don't sell out, they keep their fans for having integrity and being real, but can't pay their rent.
- Beyond that they can't mention this current struggle on their channels because fans don't want to hear about current struggles, they only want to hear about past struggles and how the vlogger bravely overcame them.
-"These economic patterns began decades ago, and the “starving artist vs. sellout” paradigm has existed since time immemorial. Countless artists from Van Gogh to Modigliani never got to enjoy their legacy’s fame and fortune. But thankfully, Van Gogh didn’t have to shill for Audible.com to pissed-off fans of his art."
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