Well, folks, what’s the craic? How are you all keeping? There are going to be some
big changes here on the channel over the next few months, and I wanted to
touch base with everyone and let people know what’s happening and why this is happening.
So there’s good news and there’s… eh, well, I don’t want to say bad news,
but news that people are probably going to be a little bit less enthusiastic about, we’ll say.
We’ll keep it short and sweet today. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time,
so we’ll get straight to the point. The good news, which I’m sure you’ll
be relieved to hear, is that this isn’t a video asking for your support on Patreon.
Although… Nah, no, I’m only messing. The actual good news is that from now on,
we’re going to be moving from two videos per month – two proper video-essay-style
videos – to three videos per month. So, from here on out, you can expect three full-length,
educational video essays every single month. The current plan is to do this for about three
or four months, then re-evaluate – see how things have gone, make sure it’s not causing burnout or
anything like that. And then, hopefully – all things going well – take it to the next
level again, which would be releasing videos every single Friday. So every single week,
there would be a new educational video essay. How are we going to do this?
Well, we’re all human. We’re not machines. We all have our physical limitations, and my limitations
in terms of producing these kinds of videos is two per month – that’s the max that I can do.
So in order to release videos three or four times per month on this channel,
this requires getting in the help of an editor, likely to work on every second video. And,
thankfully, I have a friend and comrade who’s able to help out with that. But this is hard
work that requires a lot of time and energy, and it deserves to be compensated fairly. So, getting
in the help of an editor costs a lot of money. Now, times are tough for everyone at the moment as
a result of the cost-of-living crisis, and the fact that pretty much everything has basically
doubled in price this year. But things are particularly bad for me right now. There was
an unexpected sudden death in the family about two weeks ago, and that’s… well, beyond just being a
tragedy in and of itself, that has also financially basically wiped us out.
In order to handle this situation, we basically had to use all the money that
we had for the next month or two, so we’re kind of fecked in that regard as well. So,
financially shitty as well as existentially. But look, everyone’s struggling at the moment.
I don’t think anyone expected 2022 to be quite as difficult financially as it has been. But
look, it is what it is, and here we are. As mentioned earlier, this isn’t a plea
for supporters on Patreon to help make this possible – in terms of moving from
two videos per month to three videos per month, getting in an editor, and so on and so forth.
Instead, after a lot of consideration – after looking at similar posts and polls
from other left-wing YouTubers like Hakim to gauge people’s opinions on doing things like
this – I’m now going to be accepting sponsorship offers on videos. Just those little ads that
you hear in videos sometimes for things like Skillshare or Audible or VPNs or whatever.
This way we can continue to make freely accessible and available Marxist educational resources.
Unfortunately, what I get on Patreon at the moment just isn’t enough to do that. The number isn’t
available publicly at the moment, but I will show it onscreen. I’m making about a thousand year per
month on Patreon, and from YouTube Ad Revenue I get about €150 per month. So for anyone who
knows anything about Ireland, you’ll know that that’s less than two-thirds of minimum wage.
So look, that’s just not sustainable in the long run, and that was particularly
highlighted by the crisis that the family has gone through recently, and how that just
wiped out all the money that we have, and has put us into a very difficult situation right now.
As with every video on the channel, there are timestamps below, so if there’s a part of the
video that you don’t want to watch, you can just skip over it. There’s no one putting a gun to
your head and forcing you to watch these things. I think people already do skip the “Call to Action”
sections of the videos where I’m telling people to like and subscribe and share the videos around
and stuff, so it’ll just be an extension of that really with the sponsorship ads in there as well.
There will of course be an alternative to this for those who want the ad-free videos.
Everyone who supports on Patreon moving forward – even if that’s just for €1 or $1 per month
– will gain access to ad-free versions of each of these videos.
Now I know this news about sponsorship may come as a surprise to many people. And, personally,
I didn’t even ever expect to be running ads on this channel, let alone sponsorship sections.
But at the same time, I also didn’t expect to be making less than two-thirds of minimum wage
at this point in my life, and struggling so much to get by. So that has definitely
contributed to the making of this decision. Anyway, that’s all the news for today. We’re
moving from two videos per month to three videos per month starting right now, and hopefully we’ll
bring that up to four videos and weekly in the coming months ahead. To do this, we’ll be getting
in the help of an editor which will be funded by accepting sponsorship sections from now on.
Completely ad-free versions of each of these videos will still be available to everyone
who supports on Patreon moving forward. So, that’s where we’re at. This way we
can continue to make freely available, regular, high-quality Marxist educational content – and
that’s what we’re going to do. Right folks, we’ll be back next
week with another video essay. Cheers for watching this update, agus slán go fóill.