Hey, I Earned Two Cents on YouTube

Only took me four years

Four years after I started my YouTube channel, this week I finally earned enough viewing hours to qualify for monetization. Yesterday, I earned my first revenue. Two cents.

At that rate I will earn $7.30 a year. I might as well post about it, even though Medium will shadow ban the mention anyway, so hello to the 30 to 40 people who will be lucky enough to see this before it gets hidden. Thanks for reading!

But I mention my two cents to make two points.

1. Who’s Making Money on the Web?

The hyped-up, gilded story that creators can get rich online is mostly a myth. Sure, a few people do — a very few people. The philosopher Axel Honneth claims that capitalism allows a few people to succeed and hypes those few examples to perpetuate the illusion that the capitalist economic system is open and fair. It’s not a conspiracy; it’s how power operates.

Whether or not Professor Honneth is correct, it is definitely true that the corporate media publicizes the very few winners and ignores the reality that almost every online content creator gets little to nothing for their efforts.

That’s why I praise Medium, even though they seem intent on shutting down my articles. It is the only online platform that shares a decent amount of its profits with content creators.

All told, though, it is only the tech corporations making money online. Remember, if the service is free, you are the product.

2. Mindless Crap Rules the Web

Who are the popular YouTubers? People gabbing about video games, celebrity gossip, jackass stunts, and derivative pop music. Such is the nature of pop culture.

I know, I get it, most people want to escape into silly nonsense. We can’t be serious all the time (though we should be more serious than we are, IMO). That’s why mindless fiction — print and visual — and silly diversions are so popular, and yes, given the stresses of life, so necessary. I respect that. It’s just not me.

It’s actually kind of amazing that my YouTube channel — presenting philosophy and how it connects with serious aspects of everyday…