The Death of the Middle-Class Musician

What's the deal with always wanting to turn art into a day job, anyway? These things are almost antithetical, as exemplifies by thousands of YouTube channel that turned into soulless content-producers in an effort to keep a schedule.

Damn, people somehow made art in 10000BC, when everyone was a hunter-gatherer by necessity.

What if you want to maximize your talent? I'm sure you're good at something; isn't it satisfying to get better at it? At some point you'll maximize the improvement you can make in your free time; if you get there before you reach the ceiling of your ability or your drive, then what else are you going to (want to) do?

This comment makes the same point, better than I did:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44410292

quite right. i happen to be an amazing musical genius with the keys to the future of the art, and i will not share my hobby work with you or the world because you just pulled the rug out from under my lifes mission by reducing everything to shopping mall McDonald's aesthetics. enjoy your oldies and cover bands.

"as exemplifies by thousands of YouTube channel that turned into soulless content-producers in an effort to keep a schedule."

This means that a former musical artist became a Youtube content producer in order to earn a living. This does not illustrate the negative effects of paying musicians to make music.