033. Love = money (pt 6/?)

What they don’t teach you in ECON 101

How do you earn money? The obvious economic answer is: by providing goods and services. I do/make something for you, then you give me money.

Perhaps it’s a one-time transaction. Perhaps it’s an ongoing flow.¹

But there’s another belief about money I’ve been grappling with recently:

If people love you enough, they will literally give you money.

Examples

There’s of course the realm of donations and GoFundMe: giving money out of love for a person or a cause with no expectations for anything in return.²

But are there other examples enabled by our modern world that aren’t charity? Let’s take a look at three, in descending order of scale.

1. OnlyFans

The most dunked-on example comes from simp culture. The argument is succinctly summed up here:

Who pays for OnlyFans when porn is free?? What a stupid business model! Wait, what’s this chart doing here:

src

OnlyFans easily generates more revenue than Patreon and Twitch combined. It paid out $4 billion to creators in 2021.³

That’s a lot of money being given for love.

2. Stans

You argue that OnlyFans is still providing goods via the pictures/photos sent. And the attention a creator gives a patron counts as a service, right?

OK, so what about people literally just throwing money at Selena Gomez for showing up on TikTok Live?

live reaction of Selena discovering that people aren’t just sending her emojis

Reddit is incredulous:

Who, indeed.

You argue that people are paying to try to get her attention. It’s like a lottery, with the winner getting a coveted “thank you”. In that way, you could argue that money is being exchanged for a service. But whether they “win” or not, don’t they still feel the same rush of connection?

Similarly, K-pop stans constantly break streaming records through sheer force of love. On any given day on Twitter, you can expect to find a K-pop group in the Trending topics sidebar (usually at #1).

Here’s a sample of the 23 world records⁴ that BTS achieved through their fanbase's love:

• Highest annual earnings for a K-pop band

• Most tickets sold for a livestreamed concert

• Best-selling album in South Korea

• Most streamed act on Spotify

3. Creator economy

Let’s end with more accessible examples for us non-celebs. With the gnashing of teeth around the rise of AI, love might be the only route forward. Here are some thoughts from Rob Hardy:

i've come to realize that as a solo creator, i'm not in the content creation business. i'm in the emotional connection business.

my livelihood depends on my ability to connect with people—through writing, podcasts, videos, zoom calls, etc. without the ability to make people feel something desirable and feel connected to me, the work i put into the world is a commodity. i'm just another internet dude bro teaching marketing.

And finally, let’s check out this comment left on a creator’s YouTube video:

i support your Patreon...

& then basically never check for updates or posts because I don't actually want/need/care about the rewards

all i want is to support some smaller channels I like, so they keep making videos.

Goods/services are offered… yet they are explicitly ignored!

Love is a powerful force.

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This comment opened my eyes. Love-money was possible, even at a small scale.

Yet when I tried to imagine myself earning money this way, there was something bothering me… blocking me…

Find out more tomorrow!

1. 032. Visualizing money (pt 5/?)

2. Some interesting examples here:

Unlocking Generosity | #142

3. https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/onlyfans-financials-earnings-creators-1235357264/

4. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2021/9/bts-and-their-23-records-enter-the-guinness-world-records-2022-hall-of-fame