“$4,270,513. Not bad for a school dropout with OCD!” That’s the massive amount that internet drummer El Estepario (aka Jorge Garrido) has earned from his YouTube channel – currently home to 848 videos and over 4.77 million subscribers.
And his overall cross-platform earnings are even more – an amazing $8.5 million…
But all is not as it may seem.
In a new video Estepario has helpfully broken down the numbers across his three main socials, to reveal a rather grimmer state of play for himself with some sage advice for creators seeking similar ‘success’.
“I’m not a drummer"
Estepario is one of a new breed of drummers who, aware of the high-impact spectacle of his profession, turned to creating ‘drum-based content’ rather than pursuing a conventional career as ‘a drummer’. And it’s a strategy that – at least on paper – had seemed to be paying off.
“I just wanted to play on my own and I didn’t see the point in performing with a band,” he told Modern Drummer in an interview last year. “I never wanted to become a full-time drummer. It’s a terrifying idea and a very hard life, I think it would be an awful choice for me. I didn’t want to be a rock star!
“What people need to understand is that my job is to get views. I’m not a drummer, I don’t consider myself to be a drummer. I think the most accurate term to describe what I do is ‘content creator.’ That’s what I am.”
Now, in light of social media treatment and perception elsewhere, Estepario has laid bear his earnings, serving both as a wake-up call both to anyone who was thinking of putting in a similar amount of time and effort and to call out a music industry that – once again – simply isn’t paying its dues.
Watch out
Estepario took to his own YouTube channel (of course) to spell out his status – complete with maths and screenshots – and the unfortunate predicament in which creators making music content are uniquely placed.
“If I was a fitness influencer I would have two f______ Lambos… If I was talking about stocks or crypto I would have three f______ Lambos… Because companies would pay me to use their s___, whatever,” he explains.
“But when we’re talking about music it’s basically impossible to find brands that are going to pay you to create content. And that’s where we have a huge problem because we are providing a value that we are not getting.”
Instead, “you are creating billions of views and getting… a pedal.”
Not your song? Not your money
The problem comes with the issue of copyright and social media’s established system of paying the owners of the music’s copyright rather than the creator who’s bringing in a crowd by improvising alongside it, or giving it a whole new twist. Plus these creators then don’t see a penny from the plays, views and earnings those bands then obtain thanks to the promo, not to mention the unmeasurable boost they provide for new material, tours and more.
Estepario makes his money via his social media accounts on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube and – as per their rules – pays out many thousands to the music copyright holders of the music that he features.
So much so that TikTok’s hard and fast rules on paying rights holders means that despite 50 million likes and half-a-billion views on the platform, Estepario claims that his earnings there are: “Zero – I haven’t made a single cent for all my work on TikTok. And there is nothing to argue about that – it just cannot be done.”
“They get all your views, they place the ads on your content, they pay whoever they have to pay – if they pay them, because I have no idea if they do – but if you are a music content creator you cannot make any money on TikTok.”
And it’s a disappointingly similar scenario that Estepario ‘enjoys’ on Instagram: “[It’s] the platform where I have the most followers with 5.8 million and 800 million views over the lifetime of my account… Can I monetise my Instagram videos if I’m in Spain and I use copyrighted material? No… It’s basically the same answer that we had with TikTok.”
“So the total that I’ve earned with Instagram during the whole lifetime of my channel, hundreds of millions of views later, equals… Zero. Nice…”
But all is not lost…
YouTube saves the day. Kinda
“That takes us to social media platform number three - YouTube. And – oh boy – am I strong on YouTube!” he rightfully boasts before revealing total views of – gulp – 1,141,848,602 views… Aka over 1 billion, 140 million…
But turning that into cash all depends on your RPM – the Revenue Per Mille, being the amount that’s earned per 1000 views and a number which varies according to country, language and too many factors for content creators to fully comprehend or argue with… Nevertheless, Estepario helpfully reveals that his RPM is $3.72…
So that’s $3.72 per thousand… on 1,141,848,602 views… which [wholly appropriate drum roll] equals… that magic number from earlier: “$4,270,513. Not bad for a school dropout with OCD!” Estepario exclaims.
But, once again, there’s bad news…
“But that number is a lie, because the content has copyright. So no. Of course I don’t have over $4 million in my bank account.
“Only 1% of my videos are free for me to monetise them… And I happen to live in Spain, and we are known worldwide for massive f______ taxes… I have to pay 45% tax on my earnings… So this is the final number: $29,400 a year… $2,450 a month…”
And that’s before paying for gear, camera crew and expenses each time he wants to shoot.
“The truth is that right now I have the workload of one of the biggest music channels in the world, but I’m not getting paid like I’m one of the biggest music channels in the world.”
“I’m not doing this video to complain. I’m doing this video so that people can understand that the amount of work that you put in doesn’t equal the amount of money that you are going to get… And your life is going to be a living hell, because all the things that you see cost money and the content that you see doesn’t produce it.”
Fortunately Estepario has a solution.
“Solutions come in the form of bands and brands,” he explains, highlighting the amount of money that he is generating for the bands that create the music: “[I've made] more or less $100k for every single one of those bands. They deserve it. It’s their music.”
Now he feels like it’s time they gave something back…
“Let me interview you. Let me review your new album. Let me work on something that’s going to help you promote your music while I make a living. Because the truth is, this is not sustainable
“A lot of people are going to be mad at me, but it’s the truth. It is not fair.”
“So if you are one of those people who asks me ‘How can I be a better music content creator’… Just don’t. As long as you are expecting to make money from it, brother, don’t.”
What’s the plan?
“I’m trying (a little bit) to step away from the drums. I have four million people subscribed to my channel, and I’m not making nearly as much money as I should be making,” he told Modern Drummer. “If I was not playing copyrighted music, I would have been a millionaire a long time ago, but that hasn’t happened because the music that I play has a copyright. So all that money has gone to whomever."
Indeed, Estepario plugs an endless variety of merch on his videos and it would appear that it’s proven a vital source of income that fortunately makes up for his copyright content dues.
“Truth is I make a living selling hats and shirts.
“Now I’m trying to focus on building a different business model and I’m starting to shoot interviews. I’m doing interviews with people that I respect and admire. That will be content that I can monetize, that’s important.”
And his closing advice?
“Only do this job if you want to create a space in your community where you can share the things you love. And if you do, make sure that you express to all the companies that you are working with, how much you need money, because you will not get any out of the content that you produce.”
“I do it. But I’m an a__hole. What do I know about life?…”
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