Some people on the Internet haven’t been too sympathetic to the YouTubers whose livelihoods have been affected by YouTube’s recent Content ID sweeps. Boohoo, they say. Get a real job.
There are a lot of things I have to say to people who claim that producing videos on YouTube isn’t a “real job.” A lot of things that Boogie2988, who is also known by his online persona of angry video game nerd Francis, rightfully states in his latest video, posted up above (skip to 3 minutes in for when he really gets into it).
Not everyone can make a living off of producing videos and hosting them on YouTube. It’s not as simple as pointing a camera at your face or turning a capture box on and throwing it up all willy nilly online. It requires dedication, time, and an effort to build your community and your brand. You need the equipment—which can be very expensive—and the editing chops. These people pour hours of their time and skills into entertaining you. It certainly wasn’t the easy way out.
And maybe all of those efforts don’t apply to all successful YouTubers we know of. That very well may be. But I think you’d be hard-pressed to find any YouTuber making an actual living off of their work who doesn’t work their fingers to a bone trying to make good videos.
To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected] or find her on Twitter at @tinaamini
