Hi everyone. So, I'm going to take us back to 2007. I'd just spent about six months working on album that I'd poured my heart and my soul into, and it was getting about three plays per day on Myspace at the time, and I was getting more and more depressed when I started noticing these other people who were playing guitar and singing and putting videos on this new site called YouTube, and they were getting 300,000 views. So I decided I'm going to start making some Youtube videos. And one day they featured a video of my band on the homepage, which was amazing -- we got a bunch of new fans. We also got a bunch of people who, I guess, just didn't really like the music or something --
嗨,大家好。 我要帶大家回到 2007 年, 那時我花了六個月在一張專輯上, 我把我的心力全部投入進去了。 當時在 Myspace 上, 它每天也就被點播約 3 次。 當我注意到其他自彈自唱的人 把視頻放到一個叫 YouTube 的新網站上, 能得到 300,000 次播放, 我就更沮喪了。 所以我決定我要開始 做一些 YouTube 影片。 有一天,他們在首頁 主打一支我的樂團的影片, 這很不可思議… 我們得到了一些新粉絲。 我們也得到了一些人… 我猜可能就不是 那麼愛音樂之類的人…。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
It's OK because people started coming to our shows, and we started touring, and we came out with a record. And when I checked our bank account balance after our first monthly iTunes payout, we had 22,000 bucks in it, which was amazing because at the time I was living at my dad's house, trying to make a living as a musician by uploading videos to the internet which literally zero people respected in 2009 -- even the people who were uploading videos to the internet.
那不打緊,因為有人開始 會來看我們的表演了, 我們開始巡迴演出, 且我們發了一張唱片。 在第一個月的 iTunes 給付後, 我去查我們的帳戶餘額, 我們有 $22,000 進帳, 這很不可思議,因為當時 我還住在我爸爸家裡, 身為音樂家,但要試圖通過 將視頻上傳到網路來謀生, 在 2009 年,沒有一個人 敬重這謀生方式, 即使本身會上傳影片 到網路上的人也一樣。
And so for the next four years, I uploaded more and more videos to the Internet, and they got better and better, and we made enough money through brand deals and commercials and iTunes sales to buy a house. And we built a recording studio. But there was one big problem: making money as a creative person in 2013 was super weird. First of all, the business models were changing all the time. So our 58,000 dollars of annual iTunes download income was about to be replaced by about 6,000 dollars of streaming income. Steams paid less than downloads. And then as more and more creators started popping up online, there was just more competition for these five-figure brand deals that had kept the band afloat for years. And to top it all off, our videos themselves -- the creative stuff that we made that our fans loved and appreciated -- that were actually contributing value to the world, those videos were generating almost zero dollars of income for us. This is an actual snapshot of my YouTube dashboard from a 28-day period that shows one million views and 166 dollars of ad earnings for those views.
接下來四年, 我上傳了更多視頻到網路上, 狀況越來越好, 通過與品牌合作、廣告 以及 iTunes 銷售, 我們賺了足夠買一間房子的錢。 我們打造了一間錄音室。 但有一個很大的問題: 在 2013 年,以創意人的身份 來賺錢是超詭異的事。 首先,商業模型不斷在變。 我們一年從 iTunes 下載 賺到 $58,000 的收入, 很快就會被 $6,000 的 串流收入給取代。 串流的收入低於下載。 接著,越來越多有創作者 開始出現在網路上, 這些五位數金額的品牌合作 有越來越多競爭者, 而我們的樂團多年來 都靠這些交易在維生的。 而最關鍵的,我們的影片本身── 我們的粉絲喜愛且欣賞的創意作品── 其實是在為世界貢獻價值, 這些影片幾乎不會 為我們產生任何收入。 這是我 YouTube 儀表板的真實截圖, 呈現出 28 天的狀況, 有一百萬次觀看, 帶來 $166 的廣告收入。
The whole machine in 2013 that took art online and outputted money was totally nonfunctional. It doesn't matter if you're a newspaper, or an institution, or an independent creator. A monthly web comic with 20,000 monthly readers -- 20,000 monthly readers -- gets paid a couple hundred bucks in ad revenue. This is 20,000 people. Like, in what world is this not enough? I don't understand. What systems have we built where this is insufficient for a person to make a living?
在 2013 年,這整個 將藝術放上網並產出金錢的機制 完全沒有用。 不論你是報紙, 或是機構, 或是獨立創作者,都一樣。 網路漫畫,如果一個月 有 20,000 個讀者, 每月 20,000 個讀者, 廣告收入是幾百元。 這是 20,000 人。 這還不夠?這算什麼世界啊! 我不了解。 我們建立了什麼系統 造成這都還不足以讓一個人維生?
So, I actually have a theory about this. I think it's been a weird 100 years.
對這點,我有個理論。 我認為這一百年很詭異。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
(Applause)
(掌聲)
About 100 years ago, humans figured out how to record sound onto a wax cylinder. That was the beginning of the phonograph. Right around the same time, we figured out how to record light onto a piece of photographic paper, celluloid -- the beginning of film and television. For the first time, you could store art on a thing, which was amazing. Art used to be completely ephemeral, so if you missed the symphony, you just didn't get to hear the orchestra. But now, for the first time, you could store the orchestra's performance on a physical object, and like, listen to it later, which was amazing. It was so amazing in fact, that for the next 100 years, between 1900 and 2000, humans built just billions and billions of dollars of infrastructure to essentially help artists do two things. First, put their art on a thing, and second, get that thing around the world to the people who wanted the art. So, so much industry is devoted to these two problems. Oh my gosh, there are trucking companies, and brick-and-mortar and marketing firms, and CD jewel case manufacturers, all devoted to these two problems.
大約一百年前, 人類研究出如何 把聲音錄在蠟筒上。 那是留聲機的開始。 大約同時期我們研究出 如何把光記錄到感光紙上, 賽璐珞──電影和電視的開始。 史上第一次,你能把藝術 儲存在某樣東西上了, 這很不可思議。 過去,藝術是短暫的, 如果你錯過交響音樂會, 你就聽不到交響樂團演出了。 現在,史上第一次, 你可以把交響樂團的演出 儲存在一個實體物件上, 留著之後再聽, 這很不可思議。 事實上,它不可思議到 在接下來的一百年, 1900 年到 2000 年間, 人類花了無數的金錢在基礎建設上, 來協助藝術家做兩件事。 第一,把他們的藝術 放在一樣東西上, 第二,把那東西送到世界各地 想要那藝術的人手上。 有好多的產業都 投入解決這兩個問題。 我的天,有貨運公司、 實體行銷公司, 以及 CD 盒製造商, 全都投入解決這兩個問題。
And then we all know what happened. 10 years ago, the internet matures and we get Spotify and Facebook and YouTube and iTunes and Google search, and a hundred years of infrastructure and supply chains and distribution systems and monetization schemes are completely bypassed -- in a decade. After 100 years of designing these things, it's no wonder that it's just totally broken for creative people right now. It's no wonder that the monetization part of the chain doesn't work given this new context.
接著,我們都知道發生了什麼事。 十年前,網路成熟, 有了 Spotify、臉書、YouTube、 iTunes、Google 搜尋, 而一百年的基礎建設 以及供應鏈、配送系統、 變現方案, 都完全被繞過了… 只花了十年。 花了一百年設計這些東西後, 難怪對創意人而言它根本完全不行, 難怪這條鏈中變現的部份沒用, 以這新的情境為前提就是如此。
But what gets me super excited to be a creator right now, to be alive today and be a creative person right now, is realizing that we're only 10 years into figuring out this new machine -- to figuring out the next 100 years of infrastructure for our creators. And you can tell we're only 10 years in. There's a lot of trial and error, some really good ideas forming, a lot of experimentation. We're figuring out what works and what doesn't. Like Twitch streamers. Who's heard of Twitch? Twitch streamers are making three to five thousand bucks a month streaming gaming content. The big ones are making over 100,000 dollars a year. There's a site called YouNow, it's an app. It allows musicians and vloggers to get paid in digital goods from fans.
但現在身為創作者, 能活在現在並身為一位創意人, 之所以會讓我超興奮的原因, 是因為了解到,我們才剛開始 了解這個新的機制十年的時間, 還要為未來一百年的 創作者建立基礎建設。 你可以看得出來我們才開始十年。 有很多的嘗試和錯誤, 也形成了一些很好的點子, 還有很多的實驗。 我們在找出什麼可行、 什麼不可行。 就像 Twitch 串流平台。 有誰聽過 Twitch? Twitch 的實況主一個月 能靠提供玩遊戲的內容 賺 $3,000 ~ $5,000。 有名的直播主一年還能賺到 超過 $100,000。 有個網站叫 YouNow, 它是個 app(應用程式), 它讓音樂家和影音部落客 能以數位商品從粉絲身上賺取報酬。
So, I'm also working on the problem. Four years ago I started a company called Patreon with a friend of mine. We're 80 people now working on this problem. It's basically a membership platform that makes it really easy for creators to get paid -- every month from their fans to earn a living. For a creator, it's like having a salary for being a creative person. And this is one of our creators. They're called "Kinda Funny." They have about 220,000 subscribers on YouTube. And when they upload a video, it gets somewhere around 15,000 views to 100,000 views. I want you to check yourselves right now. I think when we hear numbers like that, when we hear "15,000 views," and we see content like this, we just snap categorize it as being not as legitimate as a morning show that you'd hear on the radio or a talk show that you'd see on NBC or something But when "Kinda Funny" launched on Patreon, within a few weeks, they were making 31,000 dollars per month for this show. It took off so fast that they decided to expand their programming and add new shows, and now they launched a second Patreon page -- they're making an additional 21,000 dollars per month. And they're scaling what's essentially becoming a media company, financing the whole thing through membership.
所以我也在努力解決這個問題。 四年前我和朋友成立了一間公司, 叫 Patreon。 我們現在有 80 個人 在解決這個問題。 基本上,它是個會籍平台, 它讓創作者很容易能賺到錢, 每個月從粉絲身上賺錢來維生。 對創作者來說,這就像是 去做一個創作者的工作來領薪水。 這是我們的創作者之一, 他們叫做「有點好笑」。 他們在 YouTube 約有 220,000 個訂戶。 當他們上傳一個影片, 觀看數會有 15,000 人次 到 100,000 人次。 我想請大家停下來想想, 我想,當我們聽到 「15,000 次觀看」, 且我們看到像這樣的內容, 我們會立即把它歸類成 不像你在廣播聽到的晨間節目 或是在 NBC 看到的脫口秀那麼正統。 但「有點好笑」 在 Patreon 上開張時, 才幾個星期,他們這個節目 就能有 $31,000的月收入 它起飛的速度很快, 讓他們決定要擴展節目編排, 並增加新的節目。 現在他們的第二個 Patreon 網頁也開張了── 他們的月收入再添 $21,000。 他們已經爬到基本上可以算是 一間媒體公司的層級了, 一切的經費來自會籍。
OK, here's another example. This is Derek Bodner, a sports journalist who used to write for Philadelphia Magazine until a few months ago when the magazine cut out all sports coverage. Now he writes articles and publishes them on his own website -- he's still covering sports, but for himself. And he's making 4,800 bucks a month from 1,700 patrons, financing it through membership.
好,這是另一個例子。 這是德瑞克巴德納, 他是運動記者, 過去為費城雜誌寫文章, 但幾個月前,該雜誌 裁掉了整個運動版。 現在他在他自己的網站上 撰寫與發佈文章── 他仍在報導運動,但自己當老闆。 1,700 個會員讓他月入 $4,800, 他的網站靠會籍收入維生。
This is Crash Course -- free educational content for the world. This show is actually on the PBS digital network -- 29,000 dollars per month. This is a duo sailing around the world, getting paid every month for documenting their travels from 1,400 patrons. This is a podcast, "Chapo Trap House", making -- actually, since I screenshotted this, they're making an additional 2,000 dollars per month, so they're now making 56,000 dollars per month for their podcast.
這是「速成班」── 提供免費教育內容給全世界。 這個節目在 PBS網路上播出, 月收入 $29,000。 這兩人組航行全世界, 靠他們的旅行記錄來賺月收入, 有 1,400 個會員。 這是播客「Chapo 陷阱屋」,賺… 其實,從我截這張圖之後, 他們的月入收又再添 $2,000 , 所以他們現在從播客 賺的月收入是 $56,000。
And Patreon's not the only one working on the problem. Even Google's starting to work on this. A couple years ago, they launched Fan Funding; more recently, they launched Super Chat as a way for creators to monetize live streaming. Newspapers are starting to experiment with membership. New York Times has a membership program; The Guardian has over 200,000 paying subscribers to its membership program. There's this bubbling soup of ideas and experiments and progress right now, and it's pointing in the direction of getting creators paid. And it's working. It's not, like, perfect yet, but it's really working.
Patreon 不是唯一 在解決這個問題的平台。 連 Google 也開始涉入。 幾年前,他們推出「粉絲資助」; 更近期,他們推出「超級留言」, 讓創作者能把直播串流轉為金錢。 報紙開始實驗會員制, 紐約時報有會員專案; 衛報的會員專案有 200,000 名 付費訂戶。 這就像是點子與實驗的滾湯, 現在正在進展中, 它所指向的方向, 就是讓創作者賺到錢。 且它是有用的。 它尚未完美, 但它真的有用。
So, Patreon has over 50,000 creators on the platform making salaries -- getting paid every month for putting art online, for being a creative person. The next hundred years of infrastructure is on the way and it's going to be different this time because of this -- because of the direct connection between the person who makes the thing and the person who likes the thing.
所以,現在有 50,000 個創作者 在 Patreon 平台上賺薪水── 把藝術放上網來賺取月收入, 以創意人的身份來賺錢。 接下來一百年的基礎建設 已經在進行中了, 這次會不一樣,因為這個── 因為製作東西的人和喜歡東西的人 之間有著直接連結。
About seven or eight years ago, I went to a cocktail party. This is when the band had hit our first machine, so things were really cranking. We had just made about 400,000 dollars in one year through iTunes sales and brand deals and stuff like that. And this guy comes up to me and says, "Hey, Jack, what do you do?" I said, "I'm a musician." And he just sobered up immediately, and he stuck out his hand, put a hand on my shoulder, and in a real earnest, very nice voice he was like, "I hope you make it someday."
約七、八年前, 我去了一個雞尾酒派對。 當時樂團初次用到賺錢機制, 一切在曲折進行中。 我們剛賺了 $400,000 的年收入, 來自 iTunes 業績、品牌合作等。 有個人走向我,說: 「嘿,傑克,你是做什麼的?」 我說:「我是音樂家。」 他馬上清醒過來, 他伸出手, 另一手放到我肩上, 用非常誠摯的聲音說: 「我希望你有一天能成功。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
And ... I have so many moments like that logged in my memory. I just cringe thinking of that. It's so embarrassing to just not feel valued as a creative person. But as a species, we are leaving that cocktail party behind. We're leaving that culture, we're out of there. We're going to get so good at paying creators, within 10 years, kids graduating high school and college are going to think of being a creator as just being an option -- I could be a doctor, I could be a lawyer, I could be a podcaster, I could have a web comic. It's just going to be something you can do. We're figuring it out. It's going to be a viable and sustainable and respected profession. Creators are going to come out the other end of this weird 100 years, this century-long journey, with an awesome new machine. And they're going to be paid, and they're going to be valued. Thanks, everybody.
且… 我記憶中有好多這樣的時刻。 想到這點就讓我畏縮。 身為創意人卻不被重視,好難堪。 但身為一個物種, 我們把那雞尾酒派對拋諸腦後。 我們要離開那文化, 我們要離開那兒。 我們將會非常擅長付錢給創作者, 在十年內, 從高中大學畢業的孩子 將會認為成為創作者 也會是一個選項── 我可以當醫生、我可以當律師、 我可以當播客、我可以做網路漫畫。 它將會是一件你能做的事。 我們正在想辦法。 這將會是個能維生 且受到敬重的行業。 創作者將會從這詭異的 一百年的另一端出來, 這百年之旅當中, 會有個很棒的新機制。 他們將會賺錢,他們將會被重視。 謝謝大家。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
I think it went pretty well. I want artists who saw that to not give up -- to know that we're getting there. It's not there yet, but in a couple years, there will be so many systems and tools for them to just make a living online, and if they've got a podcast that's starting to take off, but they're not able to make money on it yet, that's happening and they're going to be paid. It's happening.
我想,還挺順利的。 我希望看到這段演說的藝術家不要放棄── 知道我們正在朝那兒邁進。 還沒有到達, 但在幾年後, 將會有很多系統和工具幫助他們 能在網路上賺錢謀生, 如果他們的播客開始起飛, 卻還沒能賺錢, 現在就是這樣, 他們將會賺到錢的。 這正在發生中了。