This sounds a lot like the title of one of my old podcast episodes…
I had a long discussion with a content creator in Second Life tonight, and before you scoff and start off on some trope-heavy diatribe about how Second Life isn’t really art, or it sucks, or some other shit, hear me out. What he had to say kinda translates to any medium in which massive amounts of people can contribute.
See, this guy used to be a DJ in Second Life. Well, to hear him say it, he was an Internet DJ. Granted, he started off in a club in SL, but he soon gained a massive following just for his Shoutcast stream. Things were going well for him, but eventually he found his true passion in creating avatars and accessories in SL itself, and he eventually walked away from the DJ life. He’s continued to be a success, and takes home a pretty tidy profit for his programming labors.
I had just come off doing a 2-hour DJ set at a club. Now let’s be fair: I’m not a DJ. In fact, I’m little more than some guy who hooks onto a stream, plays a queue of music, takes requests, and does a few voice spots in between. I do my best to be entertaining and engaging to the listeners, but I do not for a minute think of myself as some kind of Internet-famous personality. Would I like to be? Sure, who wouldn’t? I’d love to be considered as much an entertainer as some podcasters or even YouTubers out there.
But I have to say, the guy that came on next? Even if his music was a different genre from the video-game drek that barely passes as music, I still would not have stuck around to listen. Instead of designating a time to get on the mic and work the crowd, he and his ‘friends’ instead turned the local voice chat on and just started babbling about literally nothing. This conversation made Seinfeld feel engaging. I think he even forgot to cue up a song because he was too busy debating his favorite video game with someone else.
And this is what really stuck in my friend’s craw: this embracing of not even mediocrity, but utter garbage. When he was a DJ he poured his heart and soul into his work. He spit and polished his sets until they were gleaming icons of perfection, and it showed. These days, it seems anyone with a mic, stream access and a few songs on MP3 can jack in and call themselves a DJ. What’s worse, they can even get paid for it. It’s quite literally the embodiment of Dire Strait’s song ‘Money for Nothing.’
The same can be said on YouTube. A lot of content creators are making scads of money for producing what is, quite honestly, shit. On the other hand, some folks who pour themselves into their productions are basically being panned by YouTube’s monetization, which pretty much means they’re working for nothing. How is this fair?
I’m not even talking about the more controversial creators like Thunderf00t, Sargon of Akkad, the Warskis, and the like. It’s blatantly clear why these guys aren’t making much of anything from YouTube these days. But that’s for another rant somewhere down the line.
It can be damned heartbreaking to see your masterpiece overlooked while someone else rakes in the profits for doing next to nothing. It also makes you wonder why the fuck you do what you do, hence the title of this entry. Are you in it for love, or money?
I remember early podcasting, when everyone wanted to be the next Dawn & Drew show, or music podcasts wanted to be the next UC Radio, or comedy spots like Pacific Coast Hellway. Everyone tried, and a very few succeeded. Personally, I thought Dawn and Drew was a complete snore-fest. It was just two people talking about their lives…an audio blog, if you will. But, they were new, had a following, and drew enough traffic to get a contract signed that made them a fair bit of cash back in the day. Now imagine someone with mad audio skills and a hyper-creative mind trying to get the same kind of numbers, only to fail. You pretty much know what happens next.
I will admit I have days where I wonder why I do what I do. My shows aren’t that big of a draw (Sunday nights from 6-8pm PST), and I often wonder if anyone’s really listening given the lack of conversation I see in the club. But my friend, after listening to me tonight, told me to keep doing what I do, and to maintain the standard to which I hold myself. He sees that I’m making an effort to be engaging, and he seems to believe that I’m far better than most of the DJ’s he’s heard in Second Life. That might not be saying much, but hey, I’m all for positive praise once in a while.
I have no plans or designs on going pro as a DJ. My passions are more the work I do, my writing (when I can), and exploring getting into voice acting. The DJ thing is a lark, and I enjoy it. Hearing from a more seasoned DJ that I’m doing the right thing though really gives me a boost too. It tells me that I’m actually better than I think I am.
We did disagree on one thing though: I look at people making shit-tons of money for the equivalent of doing nothing and I just shrug and move on. If my work, be it literary, audio, music, or something else, manages to reach one person and they end up entertained, then I say mission accomplished. There’s no accounting for taste these days. All you can do is do what you do, and hope someone gets it.