Erstellt am: 15. 12. 2015 - 11:48 Uhr
Today's Webtip: The Economics of Internet Fame
Fame is weird. We have been conditioned to believe that celebrity automatically equals a certain degree of financial success.
The reality is that many performers with a surprising degree of fame barely manage to maintain a middle class lifestyle. And even more never make it past the starving artist stage, relying on 2nd, 3rd and 4th jobs to be able to afford to do their thing.
This is nothing new. Anyone who has followed the fates of musicians over the last century will surely recognise the process of value being generated with most of it ending up in someone else's pockets.
But the birth of Internet fame has changed the scope. As a father of a son who has dreamt of being a successful streamer, I can say that the internet has brought the idea of attainable celebrity to anyone who can form a coherent sentence. And even a few who can't.
And although a select few have managed to turn their celebrity into extreme wealth, most people are unaware of the financial reality for most.
But you could find out. Gaby Dunn has written a post explaining what being a "successful" YouTube star actually entails. It's an interesting look behind the scenes of a very interesting phenomenon.
Get rich or die vlogging: The sad economics of internet fame