So why do people join MCNs?

Xaenca

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As far as I've seen, getting monetized directly through Youtube hasn't been any kind of problem for me in particular, and I've heard so many horror stories of people who've gone the MCN route, so I wonder... Why do people join MCNs? Is there some benefit to being in one that I'm unaware of?
 

LostTrigger

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the support/features they offer. or the community
 

Stike96

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As far as I've seen, getting monetized directly through Youtube hasn't been any kind of problem for me in particular, and I've heard so many horror stories of people who've gone the MCN route, so I wonder... Why do people join MCNs? Is there some benefit to being in one that I'm unaware of?
I only joined the one that I used to be with because I could get paid whatever I got (it was less than £60 per month at the time) via PayPal. Had no other reason for staying with them.
 

Hirudov

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I used to get lots of offers from MCNs before, but not as often anymore. Here are some of the benefits they offered:
  • Higher RPM than YouTube's due to direct sales of advertisement.
  • Copyright protection with ContentID.
  • Free access to vast amount of stock footage and royalty free music.
  • Promotion on their network.
  • Collaborations with other YouTubers.
  • Expert support from YouTube certified people.
Personally I wasn't interested. Now I got ContentID and I am YouTube certified myself. I am not yet MCN, but I can become if I want to. Joining MCN can work pretty well for some creators like gamers or Top10 channels, but for me it's not worth it. That's why, I am not making my own MCN, since I don't see the benefit and it will be hard time offering something to people in which I don't believe at first place.
 

Yachts For Sale

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I joined at the same time that I discovered Social Blade, who were promoting it at the time. I was not so well informed about YouTube as I am now, hadn't found this forum, and my channel was much smaller. It just seemed like a good idea at the time and I liked the way that the revenue, as little as it was, popped up into my PayPal account.
If I could go back in time I would not repeat the same mistake, but I just consider it as being part of the YouTube learning curve.
 

Shakycow

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Why do people join MCNs? Is there some benefit to being in one that I'm unaware of?

  • MCNs are amazingly good at salesmanship and people fall for their lies (promises of a higher RPM, promoting, helping find new sponsors and advertisers and so on)
  • Channels often don't have to wait to reach the $100 threshold in order to get paid
  • They receive various tools that could better help them with understanding YouTube, finding better keywords, and so on
  • Various music libraries available to use
  • A community forum to help, guide and assist

Once upon a time, MCNs were the only way new and small channels could monetize their content. Back then, they were semi-selective, had various requirements, and (to many) getting into one meant that you 'made it.'

Thankfully those days are long behind us, but the mentality that they're still needed remains.

Practically everything that they offer could be had for free (or for a very small cost... often far lower than what 10-20% would equal) via boards like this one, add-ons like TubeBuddy, and so on.

While the music may seem like a good deal, it also locks you into them for eternity since you'd lose the rights if you ever decided to leave.