Kids Just Want to be a YouTube Star

An article on Tubefilter caught my eye: The Most-Desired Career Among Young People Today Is ‘YouTuber’ (Study).

The top 10 jobs kids want, per the First Choice study, are as follows: YouTuber, blogger/vlogger, musician/singer, actor, filmmaker, doctor/nurse, TV presenter, athlete/teacher, writer, and lawyer.

The one thing that the top jobs have in common is fame!

The thing is, it works. Not for everyone but it works.

Most of the young singers I’ve purchased over the last couple of years have self-created careers thanks to YouTube. They largely write, perform and create music videos themselves, including editing them. Another indication of how video production skills are just another form of literacy.

Troye Sivan: over 4 million subscribers and over 241 million total views

Ricky Dillon: 3 million/270 million

Trevor Moran: 1 million subscribers

Benny, a.k.a. Ben J. Pierce (300,000 views on a music video he made when he was 15)

Greyson Chance: his first video made when he was 13, now more than 59 million views

Alex Goot: 2,000,000 subscribers and over 330 million views

and it goes on.

With the exception of Greyson Chance who got a huge boost when the video was shown on Ellen, these kids have built their own fan bases via social media.

It’s probably true that there are hundreds or thousands more talented young people with a YouTube channel that aren’t being picked up, but the main point is that some 13-18 year olds have created the opportunity for themselves with no record company and no publicist.

Most importantly, they have not had to do a faustian deal where they would never own the master to their own music. This group largely writes, performs, records their own material and they own their masters.

They largely go on to be signed by labels and turn those fans into an income, but it’s a very different deal when you have control over your career. A very modern career path, and it’s no surprise kids want to get in on it too.