Everyone Is Quitting YouTube (And I Get It...) 

Not everyone is quitting. A few notable giants are quitting. EVERYONE is making videos talking about everyone quitting.

I really enjoy your videos and YOUR outlook on this career/hobby/livelyhood. You produce and I will watch and listen. Thanks...

Just keep doing what you’re doing Mike! We watch and subscribe because we enjoy what you put out there 👍🏼

I legit forgot about the older comedy shorts. 😂 I enjoy your content. keep doing you!

I truly enjoy your content, you are very relatable. Keep creating, I'll keep consuming!

Actually enjoyed yappanese class today. Thanks prof mike 👨🏾‍🏫

Loved the video Mike, cool to see you talk about a few personal things on your relationship with RU-vid.

You are awesome. This format is just as good as the others, especially when you feel like you need to just get like an "editorial" out there 👍🥃 I watch you as much as Paul Davids. I've only been playing guitar for 9 months but approaching it from a professional standpoint.

your deliver great content mike… despite watching you for quite some time, you deliver your content with humility and honesty. you are a “regular guy”. your enthusiasm for everything guitar is infectious. thanks for doing what you do.

One human to another, I enjoy your content. Keep going!

That was from the heart 💜 l’ve been loving your videos Mike! Its easy to forget the time and effort that goes into the content we all ferociously consume, but theres real people doing real work behind it and I feel that you showed a bit of the real you today. Keep on keeping on, but taking breaks is healthy too.

You have a great talent. I feel like you're talking right to me. Best of luck.

Your very balanced, calm, and very thoughtful presentation on this topic is very much who you are, and the key reason I've subscribed to your videos. You're doing great work, and I look forward to hearing more of what you have to say about this crazy RU-vid world. Wishing you continued success. I"ll be watching.

Yessir it was maybe a bit long but still very insightful and generous of you to share. I’m just start a channel and I’m old. lol so you can see how interesting it is to me to learn from you. I’m a guitarist and a photographer. Have been for many decades so I’m searching my heart and the world for a sign. There are many opportunities out there that were not there when I was younger. I do enjoy what I do. Both music and imagery. I’m just hoping to find a place out here on you tube and a few other platforms. I’m looking forward to checking out your channel on all the reviews and music sharing you do. Thank you for your time and sharing your knowledge. Extremely important we find you. Thank you Sir

I love your channel and I think you bring a unique perspective to the topics you cover. Your point about how much work it is to create a 10 minute video is absolutely right.. I started a channel a year or so ago under a different profile because I love working in media, and in hopes that maybe someday it would earn me some extra money. I quickly realized how much time it takes though. If I were single and had low overhead, it would be no big deal. But with a family, it's just not realistic to think I could spend 12 or 14 hours a day sitting at the computer.

Hey Mike, I just found your channel today (the jazzmaster video caught my eye) and then saw you made this video on quitting YT and I had watched Rick Beato's video on the same topic earlier lol. As someone that's been watching YT for years and is just now starting a channel, this is funny and a lil ironic to see. It's also cool and insightful to hear multiple takes on the topic. What Rick says is super motivating for me and how I want to keep going with my channel. I just want to make songs and "artsy" performance videos of them haha. Maybe some off the cuff stuff like this every once in a while too. Glad to find you Mike and looking forward to learning from you!

Thanks for this insight……money matters obviously….. rent has to be paid etc etc…….but the heart and sincerity….are more important……you are in love with music and play so well….. I play and sing…..and try to make the people smile….I’ll hit the subscribe button….

Kudos for being real, Mike. As a fan of guitar videos, I love quality and consistent production, as well as the frequency of new content. While I’ve only scratched the surface with podcasting over the past few years, I’ve found that producing entertaining content with cuts and segments, or keeping it genuine with “no edits,” can be taxing. It’s hard not to spend extra time on the craft you love because you “love it,” but you sacrifice something, like your example of working a regular day job: work-life balance. And since there’s a trend of “quitting RU-vid” videos on the up-take right now, it acknowledges there was a spark to pursue something new for many-and many really discovered their voice during and in the wake of COVID-you need to respect your own limits and time associated with content creation. You can’t forget about your own mental health. And if that spark is fading, it's always inside, waiting for new inspiration. Thanks, Mike!

Weird. I just watched a Rick Beato video about the same thing. You do a very good job. Hope you continue to stick around.

Thanks Mike. Still want to hear you play that resonator behind you, and hear its story.

I’ve enjoyed your videos because you like to explore new territory in your own journey. And taking the ride with you is fun and instructive. And not the least pretentious. You make ‘em, I’ll watch ‘em. That’s a promise.

Really enjoy your videos. Every business owner or self employed person faces everything you just talked about daily. They wear all the hats, work all the hours and there are never any guaranteed return. What I hear you saying is you and others in RU-vid are in a sense self employed business owners. You are one of the best.

Thanks for what you do. In general it’s great and always worth my time. Everyone needs to be careful not to burn themselves out. Even the most loved work repeated ad infinitum will get old. To take care of others you must take care of yourself first. Be well.

FIrst off, your channel is rad. Keep it going!! I just started my channel and it is a marathon to say the least. Between learning how to use the camera, lighting, editing, color, writing... Sometimes it feels like it never ends. I think I'm in the honeymoon phase, but I've had bouts of fatigue and definitely found myself wondering if I really want to do this; both for the long haul, and also if I happen to grow exponentially. It's a LOT. I'm a Martin guy, btw. 000-15sm for me. Love your stuffl!

Hi Mike, since You read all comments I just wanna let You know, that Your vids are so greatly prepared and entertaining (even for me - a bass player) that I regulary watch all Your new stuff. I can also tell that You contributed greatly to me buying a Strat myself to doodle at home (Larry Carlton S7 2nd gen - an affordable one, but a treat to an eye and very comfy bastard even for my big bass player hands) :D Keep doing what You are doing - peace!

As a senior creative now, and having dedicated my life to different creative fields like filmaking, my experince have taught me to follow passion because that's the energi that drives you to make guge efforts to acomplish your purpose. Lisen to everyonerust but always trust your inner voice, your intuition. And don't look for approval, that will lead you to suffering and energy loss. You can quit a project, but can't quit beeing creative. What people don't understand is that a youtibe channel is a production company, and there are many roles involved im that. I have a production company and trying to bring this knoledge and resources to my perosnal youtube channel. As a film maker I did not realice how complicated is to create content that way, it's way easeier when working for a company beliveme. Your channel is very good in many ways, keep doing it till your passion is no longer there. And then, no mater what, quit. I now it's complicated but, try to relax and enjoy what you have 🤘🏽

Yo Mike! Stop questioning stuff, don't let the trends stop you from you passion. I happen to love your videos, they offer insights that many other "BIG" YT people don't cover. Keep up the good work, and trust me brother, that work ain't easy. Rock on!

I think part of the problem is the viewers. I remember when RU-vid started and no one cared if your video was low quality, or if you talking created an echo. Now? Now if there isn't 50 jump cuts, 4k vid and audio, and 3 things going on in the background, and multi colored subtitles, no one cares. So now creators have to put in damn near 40 hours of work for an 8 minute long video. It's bullshit, and people need to start working on their attention issues instead of just blaming the existence of their issues.

I've never been in a youtube video where I've shown my face or talked, but I'm so tempted to make a "I QUIT!" video. But Mike, you're cool, and you've improved so much since your one-minute joke videos, so you please keep doing you.

I like your content you present well and are intelligent about what you’re saying- and interesting, I don’t even do more than dabble with guitar. I’m a wood carver wannabe guitar player lol - anyway thanks - keep up your good work

Heyy mike awesome video and love you content. I was wondering if you went to music school? Keep it up!!

I appreciate your incite . It lets me see things from a new. Perspectives. Burn out does exist. When a fun job starts to feel like a job, suddenly it seems more like a job than fun.

This has always been a thing in the small CC space, and I think the way you worded things was pretty much perfect. It's tough, it really is. I've been in the streaming game for about 3.5 years now, and as much as you love it, eventually you get a glimpse into the machine and it's really disheartening. I started doing content because I wanted a sense of community, and I want to eventually make art with my channel, but at the moment you need to play by certain "metas" to grow (such as shortform content, specific games/topics, etc) and if you're not as interested in THAT as you are your primary thing, well... a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. It's awful. I've thought about quitting a lot, but i don't think i will. I don't believe I'll ever gain any sort of traction, but I still enjoy it for the time being.

Man I’m subscribed to your channel because I can tell that you are genuine. I generally try to subscribe to people like you because I can trust you believe in your opinion, and you don’t give the impression that you’re just saying things for views or sales. I’ve seen a few guys start to go down that path recently… so thanks for always being authentic

Great video. I'd love to collab with you one day! Maybe we could do something like Paul David does when he sends out his songs for specific guitarist to put solos to, but for smaller channels?

Mike, I like watching your RU-vid videos. Please keep making them. And one more thing, most important of all … Have a fantastic day!

Hello Mr Cole, I just arrived on RU-vid. And I think that’s great. I never knew it was such a beautiful community. Lots of support and respect. It really surprised me. On the other hand, for those for whom it becomes a chore, it is time to take a rest. Having fun, you must always have that in mind. Excellent video my friend. Greetings!

While I wouldn’t call this an epidemic, given that it’s only big, notable creators quitting RU-vid like MatPat and Tom Scott, I wouldn’t be surprised if some more notable RU-vidrs quit in the next couple of years. While there are multiple factors going into these big creators quitting, I wouldn’t be surprised if RU-vid’s terrible company policies, restrictive updates, removing public dislike counts, and horrible handling of bad things that have happened on the site, like the Spider-Man and Elsa crap, getting into trouble with the FTC, the animal abuse content from a couple years back, or the whole QuantumTV drama led to this. These were all big things that have happened and affected the site in big ways, which the company has handled terribly. If anything, they have made the site worse. People still falsely strike channels and run scams and RU-vid does nothing about it, unless there is some sort of community outrage on social media. Now, put yourself in the shoes of a big RU-vidr that has been doing this thing for years. Wouldn’t you loose the drive to upload content if the site was refusing to improve the problems with it, coupled that with the burnout? Like I can’t even imagine the stress of being a big RU-vidr and having to deal with copyright strikes and scams in comment sections. It’s just something to think about.

I'm only a year deep and I LOVE doing this! Of course it helps I have a killer music job that pays all my mortage and bills and I can build YT daily without stress. I just want to share music with as many people as I can! I think as long as we keep our passion wrapped into it as much as possible, we will be good. Of course, you do have to put in "work", but try to make it work that you love! I know this is easier said than done, but there is a way to manifest things you want in life. Great thoughts Mike. And...was wondering, do you have a community of people that you talk to about YT? Like someone you can use as a soundboard. I think I could really use this and would love to know your thoughts on how to approach this? I have zero issues with meeting people and networking, but I want to come at this as respectful as possible. I'm assuming you top dogs all know each other and are chatting. I'm a baby YT'er, but I am going to pay my dues and earn my stripes. Keep doing what you do and have a wonderful evening!

You're a great guitarist and a great RU-vidr Mike.

I hadn't heard of RU-vidrs quitting before? A few that I follow have taken "mental health" breaks, but come bacj after a short while. Don't overthink all of this. Keep making videos here while that works for you. If it doesn't, then you have other options. Rock on!

I have spent 20 years in the film and entertainment industries as an artist and filmmaker. I have many times thought about creating more content for my little tutorial channel where I answer questions for my students, but there is a part of me that just doesn’t want to put myself out there. It feels wonderful when people connect with your work and it’s why we persist, but one well placed critical comment well intentioned or not can be crippling. It is hard. I recently lost a position of four years as did my team that built of 40 people to the hype of AI. It is incredibly challenging in this ever changing space we are in to remain excited. That said, I love your content. Guitar is my therapy. I self taught in my early twenties but never beyond some cords strung together that people may or may not recognize as Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix. I am not looking to be a pro, or even good, but your channel is a wonderful space to look into another creative area and wonder at the magic with you as you take us on wonderfully crafted stories of your experiences. Thank you for all you do. If you need a creative to commiserate with over the trials of a life of perusing the creative dreams, give me a shout!

Mike ..I'm a " Boomer "...semi retired session musician ( labels)...I really enjoy your views and opinions on guitar related videos. You're a breath of fresh air my friend. You Rock. - Coop

I’ve only been doing RU-vid 2.5 years with our first channel and 1.5 years with our second channel. But I can definitely see what everyone is talking about. Once you start making deals with sponsors it is a game changer. Be a rebel . Great video Mike 👍✌️

I think it must be hard to be a RU-vidr or rely on it, you really never know the future of a platform. I've enjoyed your videos! Thanks!

Mike, you ROCK!

I love your videos, Mike. I’ve watched all of them.

Off-topic: I really like that coat, Mike.

You do a great job Mike,don’t be too hard on yourself because no matter what: you can never please everyone!

We need more RU-vid content showing us the Am pentatonic

Hey Mike, I have to say that I think you're one of the best Guitar RU-vidrs on YT. I have learned a lot from you and your funny as heck with the comedy you put in your videos which is cool to see. I have been going through some hard times and many times I would watch some of your videos to give me a laugh and some enjoyment when it's otherwise hard to do/find. Thank you for your honesty and great videos. You better not quit! All the best.

Your videos are as good or better than the other people you mentioned.

I really like the unscripted content. Thanks so much for your perspective and it makes a lot of sense. Mike, I never commented previously, but just wanted to let you know that I get a lot out of your videos and appreciate that you put in the effort -- keep going man, I know balance is key, and there are many alike myself out here that happily watch your videos. Cheers!

Mike, You do a great job. I enjoy your content and appreciate your efforts. Although I do realize that true appreciation comes in the form of $$$, I am a broke ass and my attention is all I have to offer. Again. Thank you for your content.

You rock, Mike.

I think the “everyone is quitting” framing is the wrong way to look at this. As a musician and creative professional who’s run my own advertising agencies I think this recent conversation is conflating “hobbyist activities” or “artistic vision” with businesses. If it’s the latter, then creators need to do the basics of business planning, scheduling and delivery / release schedules. If the channel is a business you need to approach it that way - It’s not art. Perhaps RU-vid creators should talk to entrepreneurs in completely different industries. What you’ve described is the day-to-day existence of most small business owners. Perhaps, with a business lens on, speaking with business owners (who are often just as passionate about what they do) can provide some perspective. I’ve frequently been surprised by the fact that guitar RU-vid creators actually don’t publish a lot of their own music (their “art” where literally commerce isn’t involved) and crank out sponsored, ad-share driven content. Lots of creative professionals (in other industries) deal with this. Ask them how they’ve done it / thrived - it could be helpful.

I really have enjoyed your channel and evolution. I find you to be real and down to earth. You do a great honest job without being a RU-vid "superstar" like Rick Beato, Tim Pierce and Rhett Schul and many others who I do like as well but you are like the guy next door while they are the "corporate pros" for lack of a better description. You are kind of like the rest of us a hobbyist player who loves music and equipment. You are a very pleasant, intelligent well spoken young man. Keep up the good work and do this more for the love than the as a job. I am a weekend warrior still gigging musician at 70 that still loves it. I have always said I already have a job. Once this becomes a job its time to stop.

It’s hard to ignore the negative comments. Keep rocking on!

Deleting and blocking the trolls has been one of the more enjoyable aspects of managing my small channel. Keep up the good work, Mike. I've watched you for more than a couple years now and your style, musical and gear choices, have inspired me.

Keep doing what you are doing.

Did you and fantano coordinate this?

Bruh 2 RU-vidrs quit and now we have everyone give their 2 cents

HEY MIKE! Fix your collar, bud. 😆

First Rick Beato, then Rhett Schull and now you talking about this. I don’t think it’s the majority leaving.

I'm not really sure how to comment on this subject. On one hand I see where you're coming from, owning a couple businesses in he past, I understand that it can be so much work that you lose sleep and want to just take a break. On the other hand, I know there are people out there scratching away at a HORRIBLE 9-5(or what ever schedule it might be), just trying to survive. When compared, I would ALWAYS choose to be creative and own my own business. I'm lucky enough to enjoy my career, so owning businesses has really almost been a hobby. I do enjoy the creative part of it. I don't so much like the, work till you drop aspect. I think we all understand the RU-vid grind that you creators go through. I think we just don't understand why it's become an issue. We all have to make money somehow. I guess I'm saying that it could be worse. You could be a single parent working at McDonald's trying to survive. Instead you've created an outlet for yourself, making your own hours. Business is like raising children. There is no "break" till it's grown. Even then, it's still YOUR business. You have to watch and worry over it. I enjoy what you're doing. Don't stop, please. If you do, just bow out quietly. It could ALWAYS be worse.

I have now seen three youtubers in my feed releasing videos telling me that "everyone" is quiting. I have not seen a single youtuber in my feed actually quiting.

I did my own video on this for my music channel. What I'm worried about, is how content creators don't seem to understand that the medium is not a genuine, recognized form of art. Artists don't stop being artists. You always have that creative mind. It's even more so when you already perform as a musician. I truly feel the majority are just more comfortable with their income and don't want the "pressure" anymore, or they just haven't changed in so long they don't know what else to do besides leave, when all they need to do is a new medium for awhile. It's extremely common with artists and musicians. My video explains portions of this idea better, but at the end of the day, if you have millions of subscribers and make enough money on your content to not need to work a normal job, you are good at this. Why are you quitting something you're good at? Unless you are dying, you will not stop anyway, ya know? I'm hoping when my video goes live it will reach at least one of these YT's and maybe help them understand what they are really considering doing.

Okay, @MikeCole, I've never commented on one of your videos, but this one resonated with me so very much that I have to. Your statement of "Projects can become Jobs" hit me right in the gut. I'm researching the 10,000 hour rule (currently at 3,880hours 26 minutes of guitar with 38,932 song playthroughs at the time of this writing) with the goal of hitting 10,000 hours of practice before I turn 50 (3 years) and I can personally attest that Yes, no matter how passionate you are, how much you love what you're doing, the effort involved in trying to make a living doing what you love or a big project that's creative in any capacity can be mind-numbing I hit roughly 4-8 hours of practice a day in my guitar efforts, I've injured my fretting to where I couldn't close my fingers enough to make a fist, I've had to take a month dropping my schedule down to just 10 minutes a day just to recover, I've played just one song just to keep a 218 day practice streak going. It almost goes from a hobby to an obsession to a borderline love affair. I wake up, I come to my practice area, I get set up, I'm on for 3 hours, I take my spouse to work, come home, repeat until it's time to get my spouse from work and it's maybe an hour of television then bed only to start this up again the following day all for the ability to play a song without looking at notes or chord charts just from memory for 3 to 5 minutes only for someone to say "you missed a spot". Those that are just watching never actually know or take the time to consider the actual time that's put into these creative endeavors simply because they've never taken one up. This is not even counting what's going on with videos were I ever to do one. The editing, shooting, reshooting, scripting, brainstorming, uploading, financial investment of being a full time youtube I can only guess is staggering when one begins to undertake this career path. The best singular advice a youtube ever gave was "If you're going to do this, do it for free" (Dan Thompson Guns and Guitars). Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with you man, this can get ridiculous and quick. I can see why people are quitting. I understand it, it's been a large part of their lives, their social circles, their financials, their incomes. I'm still going forward with my journey of 10,000 hours logged of guitar and I'll see when and if I make it what I'm going to do with it. I'm still not halfway there, but I can see even from where I'm at how burnout can very rapidly become an issue.

this is the third video from my subscriptions that cover this topic. why???

I am not sure you will see this comment, but I love your channel and content. I don't know when or how I found it, but I always enjoy watching your videos. I wanna rock, I want to learn and explore and love music; however, your videos always make my day better. Thanks for putting out the content you do. It's great.

I understand why RU-vidrs are quitting or taking breaks. It seems like a fun job where you just sit in front of a camera and collect checks, but any adult with a firm grasp on reality knows that there is much more at play behind the scenes. The important thing is making good content that you are proud of. And I think you, and all of the other creators I subscribe to, do a great job of that. If some creators need breaks, go ahead and take them. There will be plenty of us to welcome them back if and when they return. I genuinely enjoy your content and support a healthy work/life balance.

You are an artist. Your art is your life. All of us, from the Rick Beatos to the basement-dwellers (like me: self-depreciating rim-shot) do this because art, creation, is what we offer to, how we relate to, how we comment upon existence. Is it our duty? In a larger sociological sense, possibly. Is it our love? Certainly. Is it necessary to the rest of humankind? I suspect so. To use the phrase my generation - allegedly - invented, keep on truckin'...

I like to see some off the cuff videos from anybody once in s while, especially if that’s not what they normally do. There’s something particularly authentic about going unscripted now and then.

I believe Mike when he say's that beeing a yt creator can be though sometimes , but hey , a 9-5 job is not ideal either , live is a struggle neither thats a fact ( and i do not see that as a bad thing ) , is seems to me that the most people overhere in the free western society forget that they have it easy overhere , just think a second about the people who are not so lucky . If you are not happy with something its up to you too make a decision and make a change . No pain , no gain .

Hi mike (:

Your video about this is better than Beato's. ❤

This happened around 2012 with the first string of successful youtubers. Like 80% burnt out and went away. It comes and goes in waves but the real people stick around. Its how you know if they were doing it for clout or doing it because they actually had an opinion worth voicing.

@mikecole -- As a subscriber I have to be honest......This is not the kind of content I come to your channel for. And more importantly, not "everyone" is quitting, just a few notable big timers who have been doing it a long time. Why on earth everyone is talking about this "subject" and posting videos about it is absolutely beyond me since it is really a non-issue. And even more annoying is that people are still posting videos like this simply because they're copying other channels by jumping on the bandwagon feeling the need to share their two cents. You're a music channel, stick to that dude because you do it incredibly well! Leave stuff like this for the other channels who lack the content. This comment is meant with the utmost respect and enjoyment of you and your channel, Mike. :)

I have a minor channel (of you can call it that) which really started because I just wanted somewhere to dump the videos that I shot on my phone. It's a railfanning channel and I post stuff on there irregularly and currently has less than 100 subs (mostly friends or other railfans that I've met while out shooting trains). I've toyed with the idea of revamping it and making it something more "professional" looking, but after a hard day's work, I'm like not trying to do more work 😂. Even at this tiny scale, I did get one particularly negative comment about a video I recently posted (and yes, some of my content is admittedly not great) and it stung a little bit. Of course I just deleted it and moved on with life, but yeah..... negative comments (especially if you get a lot of them) can affect you.

I’ve watched a couple of these videos. I still don’t understand why this is being discussed as if it’s something somehow unique to RU-vid. It feels like a circle jerk made up of business owners who have no/little experience in any real world job. This whole topic is Entrepreneurship 101. Along with that, it’s really just Work 101. It all sucks. For everyone who does it. 🤯 I work on tech stuff. I don’t get to focus only on the parts I like. I’m forced to do a myriad of things which bug the hell out of me and have nothing to do with the core function. I think all of these RU-vidrs should go get a corporate job for 5 years and then come back with their new found perspective.

They made a lot of money, is the subtext, they are going to Bermuda, or sailing the Med, or something. The road goes on forever, on the clickbait never ends.

this should give u more motivation to keep going!!!!!!!!!

I’m not up to date. Who quit RU-vid?

I recently found myself binge watching a bunch of "I'm quitting" videos ... now I'm binge watching a bunch of "I recently found myself binge watching a bunch of "I'm quitting" videos" videos.

Cell phone stores??? You are so friggin smart and articulate you could be a Fortune 500 young CEO dude. I worked for some of the largest companies in the world and you would hold your own with any of them!! I know its off topic but I think people underestimate their value based on their surroundings and you have no idea how really bright and engaging you are. I hope you have the most amazing life because you are amazing. All the best dude!!!!!

whose zoomin whom?

...I still miss KMAC2021!! And he quit like 3 years ago!

everyone is making a youtube video on why everyone is quitting youtube... and yes, we all have already gotten it.

I have a niche YT channel of Riffing Downtuned Guitar.Its showing slow and steady growth

And of course now I'm starting to think about what I'm doing all day ...

Everyone is making videos about everyone quitting RU-vid and I don’t get it.

Who has quit???

ecclesiastes 2:17 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and avexation of spirit. A nightmare is a dream too. 😉

As someone interested in starting a RU-vid channel, I’d be interested in seeing your filmmaking process. I enjoy watching your style. BTW I’m not a musician. I just love the guitar as an instrument.

More unscripted please!!! 🎸

Everyone is making a video about how everyone is quitting RU-vid (and I get it…)

This 24hr copy cat content is feeling very tired

And everyone is making videos about quoting youtube……and I don’t get it.

Yawn, pimping ain't easy, Yawn.

the more money you make with RU-vid, the more IRS is happy. And they will not forget you, never ever. Have a nice day.