Expand Summary
The author discusses their experience with a YouTube music reaction channel, which gained over 18,000 subscribers and 2.8 million views in nine months, earning around $5,000.
Abstract
In March 2023, the author and her husband started a YouTube music reaction channel, quickly reaching monetization requirements. Over the course of nine months, they produced over 600 videos, gaining 18,000 subscribers and 2.8 million views. The author acknowledges that music reaction channels typically earn less than other niches, with their RPM being 1.78 in 2023. This resulted in earnings of around 5,000, which the author admits is less than desired for the time and effort invested. Despite this, they continue to produce content due to enjoyment, community building, and the potential for passive income and viral success.
Opinions
- The author acknowledges that reaction channels, particularly music reaction channels, historically earn less than other niches such as finance, technology, and making money online.
- The author expresses dissatisfaction with their earnings, stating that they wish their numbers were significantly higher for the amount of time and effort spent on creating content.
- The author mentions the never-ending battle of copyright disputes as part of music reaction videos, which adds to the workload.
- Despite the challenges, the author continues to produce content due to enjoyment, community building, and the potential for passive income and viral success.
In March of 2023, my husband and I started a YouTube music reaction channel. I know, reaction videos are very polarizing — some get it, some don’t.
Within two weeks of starting the music reaction channel, we hit the 1,000 subscriber / 4,000 watch-hour monetization requirements, and over the balance of 2023 gained over 18,000 new friends (subscribers) who watched nearly 200 thousand hours and amassed over 2.8 million views. Compared to our travel YouTube channel which took nearly two years to become monetized, this music reaction channel was an immediate success in our eyes.
Admittedly, creating music reaction videos is 1,000% easier (and cheaper) than creating travel vlogs; however, the amount of content you have to produce is staggering. More on that below. Overall, from March to December 2023, we pumped out over 600 videos. Yes, over 600 videos in nine months!!!!
A quick caveat. If you are reading this, likely you’ve read many similar articles to know the amount YouTube pays each channel varies widely based on a number of factors, including your niche. For example: reaction channels (in particular, music reaction channels) historically have earned significantly less than high-ticket niches such as finance, technology, and making money online.
The primary metrics used to calculate your earnings are CPM and RPM:
CPM (Cost Per Mille (1K)): how much advertisers pay per 1,000 views their ad receives on YouTube.
RPM (Revenue Per Mille (1K)): how much creators (me) receive per 1,000 views of our content. This is the metric that determines how much money you’ll make.
My RPM was $1.78 in 2023. In order to calculate our earnings: 2,800,000 (total views) / 1,000 = 2,800 x $1.78 = $4,984.
For sh*ts and giggles, let’s do the math on how much YouTube productivity & finance rockstar Ali Abdaal would have earned with his RPM (which has reached nearly $50 per 1K views) using my numbers. We’ll choose a conservative RPM of $25/1K views — which is pretty standard for this niche:
2,800,000 views / 1,000 = 2,800 x $25 RPM = $70,000.
Compared to my ~$5K. Big…BIG sigh. 🙁
Personally, I wish my numbers were significantly higher for the amount of time and effort spent planning, filming, editing, promoting, etc. Coupled with the never-ending battle of copyright disputes included as part of music reaction videos, it’s a lot of work. A lot.
Of note, the music reactions we produce aren’t simply ‘watch me watch a video’. My husband is an audio engineer, producer, and musician, who adds significant value in the form of education and perspective to each song. Coupled with me, the lay(wo)man who doesn’t mind asking “dumb questions” to help educate and relate to our audience, we’ve received fantastic feedback that our videos have opened up folks’ eyes to things they never knew.
Although we are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to earn some extra cash on YouTube, the amount of work it takes to pump out this much content can be exhausting for the payout. So why do it?
To be honest, I’ve had mixed feelings. The primary drivers to keep churning out music reaction videos include:
- Having fun!! By far the biggest driver.
- Building an incredibly engaged, supportive (mostly) community.
- Earning passive income from our library of videos, which will compound over time.
- Knowing any one video can go viral and make loads of money (provided it’s not copyright blocked).
- Hoping that our RPM will continue to increase.
Going forward, the goals are to:
- Add content that receives a higher RPM. In 2024, we have incorporated non-reaction videos on our channel such as interviews with bands and vlogs of concert experiences.
- Slow down on music reactions. Eventually, post five videos per week versus the current 8–13 per week.
If you have similar experiences or other perspectives on your YouTube journey, I’d love to chat with you in the comments. Also, if I missed something major or you have any questions, please chime in below.