I didn't upload a Friday video last week.
I had some pretty cool shots for the VLOG this week but - I didn't get everything that
I wanted for the whole VLOG.
I wanted to make something more unique this week.
So, everything I shot this week will be used in next week's VLOG.
Which is going to be a little more unique than all the other ones.
And the same for this VLOG; this is more of a unique VLOG.
I'm not making it in the same kind of style I made my traditional VLOG's in because I
want to talk about something today.
And also because I don't have a complete VLOG filmed.
So, sometime in the middle of last week, I got an email from YouTube regarding the changes
to the YouTube Partner Program.
Also known as the YPP.
Now, for those who remember...
About a year ago, they made changes to the program where they required a total of 10,000
lifetime views on a channel in order to make any money via monetization.
And that's pretty fair in my opinion because 10,000 isn't really that hard to get and it's
pretty much a known amount of money.
10,000 views equates to maybe $10 more of less.
Well, they increased the requirements again and this time, you need 4,000 or more watchtime
hours and 1,000 or more subscribers.
As a result, a bunch of small channels have been hit and that includes SDGCore.
Now, this doesn't directly impact the audience unless the channel outright decides to quit,
which I've seen happen already.
But there are some indirect effects to the audience and I feel like it's kind of my duty
to disclose how this affects you guys, as my viewers.
For those of you who have been watching my channel for some time, towards the end of
last year, I think it was November.
I got my first Adsense paycheque of $109.
"Tuesday of this week, I got my first official paycheque from YouTube via Google Adsense."
It was all money I earned from making YouTube videos here on this channel, thanks to all
of you guys for watching.
Immediately, I put that money towards getting better equipment.
This was actually the first thing I bought.
This microphone is the Sony ECM-44B; it costed, I think, $210 USD.
So the Adsense dollars actually didn't even cover half of that.
But I was just so caught up in making YouTube videos and enjoyed it so much, I paid for
more than half of it out of my pocket.
And I'm not here to complain about that, in fact, I'm very happy with this purchase and
I hope that you guys are equally as happy because I think that it really took my audio
quality up a whole notch.
But the thing about these changes is, if I don't make it to the new requirements by the
20th of February 2018 (they gave me a 30-day warning - if I don't make it,) this kind of
opportunity for my whole channel.
For my community, which is you guys; it might be a long time before we get that opportunity again.
Because, while we weren't making a whole lot, we were still making a few tens of dollars a month.
That is enough for a new lens every few months, and just knowing that YouTube took that away
from you guys...
I'd be lying if I said that these changes weren't part of the reason why I didn't upload
anything for Friday.
I've been feeling a little demotivated as a result of it.
But don't worry; I'm not going anywhere, [this Friday] there is going to be another Friday video.
Instead, I kind of spent my time on the internet, talking to other fellow creators who are also
being hit by this change.
And we're getting quite a mixed bag of results, because some people actually prefer this update
whereas some are really angry about it.
I mean, there are some upsides to this.
For one, it's going to combat the spam issue, where we have videos like the Spiderman-Elsa
videos that are really just ruining the platform.
But to me, it seems more like a 'nuking the population' approach - where, sure you eliminate
all of the bad content.
But you also eliminate a good portion of legitimate creators.
And I say "eliminate" because some people are just outright quitting as a result of this.
Some are even going as far as to just totally delete all their videos and their channel,
and just close it off altogether.
It's also bringing a huge of sub4sub requests back onto the platform.
It really goes to show all the desparation that's kind of been introduced into this platform.
Now, obviously my goal is to reach this new threshold by the 20th of February.
So I can continue providing new equipment for this channel.
And I've been calculating the performance that I need to attain.
We're not too far off, so there's a good chance that we'll acutally make the threshold by
the due date, but I can't say the same for a lot of fellow creators.
And I know that many of my subscribers also happen to make YouTube videos.
So I just wanted to make this video as a way to reach out to all of you guys and maybe
we can have a conversation in the comments section below.
As usual, I will reply to most, if not all comments.
I just want to know what all of you think about the new update and whether or not you're
a creator, and whether or not it has affected you in a positive or negative way.
Alright, that's it for this one.
Thanks for watching, new video [this Friday], make sure to check back.
I'm going to be ramping things up because I don't want to let this update negatively
affect my community.
I want to keep providing for you guys.
I'm still on track with that goal for 2018 to make things even better than they were in 2017.
Yeah, I'll see you in the next one!
Oh, also,
I got a GoPro.