But there is a way for the primitive technology channel to be monetized. For him to gain recognition, as opposed to him just building his wooden houses in isolation. Without anyone knowing. It is not as if he's unaware of people making millions off of youtube(or being famous, whatever), or the internet. We can't separate youtube no matter how "primitive" the action being filmed is. He may be doing it out of pure love, but if it was true love, why does he feel the need to film it? To help others? Why do any of us need to know how to do this, and how does a video help? He most likely got good at building a log house from building hundreds of shitty log houses from before.
I'm not familiar enough with the topic to know if you're correct or not, but I don't watch his channel to see his project work out, seeing him learn small things along the way and share that journey but also him connecting with himself and the community around his land in unique ways through his project is intriguing and hopeful. A mad dream pushed forward by a mad man, which may not come to fruition, but it's a whole lot more entertaining than watching people take on small projects that are guaranteed to succeed.
That makes no sense. We're not talking about a commodity that's for sale and thus, loses its market value as the market becomes saturated by Chinese knock-offs and look-a-likes. It's more than just a show for the mindless consumption of viewers on social media. Primitive Technology videos came from his own personal interest and love for the art of craftsmanship itself, thus, his videos have not lost any of their value, as his motives and drive were never commercial to begin with.
It's your option to eat fast-food, but in no way does that devaluate high end cuisine.
I must be jaded to assume everyone posting videos on youtube is doing so for profit, but... judging by the amount of expensive professional equipment he has, I suspect he is doing this for profit, and not just "entertainment"
Then there are refreshing youtube channels like "Primitive Technology" where he never says a word and manages to end up with 9.5 million subscribers...
Should we ignore the fact that so many people watch his videos that it's impossible to ignore the number? I agree that his videos are basically a polished version of "give a homeless guy money to do something cruel". People watch them to see what people do for money. There s nothing beautiful in that, but it's a curiosity and it grabs attention. If it wasnt through ads, someone else would be funding it, i dont think that being ad-supported changes the dynamic of his audience.
I remember after watching one of his videos YouTube started recommending all of those other primitive construction videos.
So many shots of a shirtless Asian guy poking at the ground with a stick and walking off with a scant handful of dirt cutting to a 10x10x10 foot hole in the ground with perfectly square sides and the guy poking at the bottom of the hole with the same stick. Laughably bullshit.
I don't believe these kind of projects are designed to be economical :). He is building this to drive traffic to his youtube channel, which in turns, pays for the next outlandish project.
I'm sure he is making a profit off it but whatever good is happening is still getting done. He could be a famous YouTuber by playing pranks or video games and make millions too - is that better?
I share an unsettled feeling about this. I think it is because things like this are a visceral reminder of differences between the rich and poor. A life altering struggle for a poor person is a solved by ten minutes of amusement from a rich person - "here, take my card and buy whatever you need."
And still there is nothing else that gets him close in reach and monetization. Even if only one out of ten videos is monetized that's most likely still better than anything else.
Oh come on. You're saying he's posting free educational board repair videos to advertise for his brand? Do you watch those videos? Like this one [1]? They're boring as hell. Their target audience is his competitors. You don't see the world flooding with repair shops doing the same thing if it's so profitable, do you? There's so much better advertising he could do if that was his goal. And I haven't even touched on everything else he has done to help other people get started doing board repairs.
It's such a cynical and uncharitable distortion of reality to claim he's doing this for advertising. What's a guy supposed to do to make it even less of an advertisement if he wants to post tutoring videos and pay it forward? Does he need to talk trash about his own business & skills too (which he sometimes does btw)? While simultaneously claiming he's good enough that people should learn from him? With this kind of logic it's practically impossible for a mere mortal to start a business toward a good cause and provide free tutoring to his competitors without getting accused of doing it for his own self interest.
Believe it or not, not everyone's top priority is money. There are some people who hold their ideals above money. Louis literally has made videos against YouTube and in favor of vimeo, all of his content is mirrored on vimeo, and everyone of his videos have a watermark promoting vimeo. My whole point was that he makes his videos to educate. I'm sure the extra revenue is nice but that's not his daily gig and I don't think money is the prime reason for why he makes the videos. Otherwise he wouldn't be actively driving people to look at his content on vimeo instead of YouTube.
Sure, but other people are making videos playing games or eating food or whatnot. There's clearly an interest in his sort of philanthropic videos that has gotten him more attention than other people.
You are who your project yourself as, and to the billions of people who haven't met him who may stumble across his stuff online, he comes across as a selfish dick. IRL he could be happiness and teddy bears stuffed with sunshine, but so far as I'm concerned if the industry was full of people like him it would be in ruins.
Also, that was the exact video I was talking about, so thanks.
The problem is that he's essentially using this news as self promotion to build his channel. He's probably getting ad revenue for that, and if he's not, youtube is. That's pretty messed up.
His videos make enough to justify the expense risk ?.
I mean others wouldn't likely make money in projects like this. They do it because they need/want the actual tunnel. He really only the videos of him making one.
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