Go live for a living

We have been, for years, a nation of doctors, engineers and IT professionals with alternative professions finding more raised eyebrows than takers until recently, when a few years ago India’s young brigade began to rebel against the norm and opt for careers of a more varied and experimental kind. In line with this spirit of change, the age of YouTube and now, YouTube Red has ushered in another new alternative: video streaming as a bona fide means of earning a living. It is new and is being seen, like all things novel, with a degree of skepticism by many, but there are several youngsters across the country who are – with the initiative of apps such as #fame and Watchy – taking to video streaming as a stable source of income.

It is, after all, an alternative to regular jobs that requires zero capital, no documented credentials and is dependent entirely on the number of followers. And while YouTube Red will be paying the content creators on the platform even during the service’s trial period, back home in India #fame is offering contract-based salaries after a designated probation period for live-streamed capsules on fashion, storytelling and more.

“If you have talent, this is one of the best ways to show it off. That’s what the entire concept is ultimately about — tapping into talent,” says actress, dancer and stylist Samentha Fernandes, who began with two daily streams and now regularly hosts a live beam on love and relationships every day on the #fame app at the 11 to 11.30 pm late night slot. Elaborating on her own experience, she says, “When I went to their office for an interview, they asked me what I have to give to them, what I can do well. They gave me a week-long probation period and the idea is that if within that week the audience responds well to you and your beam, the app hires you as a #fame star. And if you think about it, half an hour in your day isn’t really that hard to set aside. When you get down to it, it’ll be over before you know it because you’ll have fun!”

Delhi-based media professional Megha Verma, two of whose friends have teamed up for a similar project on fashion and styling, is treating the concept with a fair amount of caution, however. She points out, “Both my friends are qualified fashion designers and I know they’ll do a great job, but somehow the whole idea sounds too quick and easy to be true and sustainable, to me. First of all, I’ve heard contrarian views about the investment involved. For those who aren’t going through an app, the video equipment and set-up involved in just making the visual look good can’t be too little, right? Secondly, if you’re dependant entirely on how many people tune into your video, who is to say that people temporarily losing interest in what you’re giving them won’t lead to the whole initiative spiraling downward?”

Sriramkumar, founder of live-streaming collective Watchy, on the other hand, begs to differ. He says, “It is not actually a matter of the number of people following each stream, but the number of customers who avail live streaming as a service in general. As long as that is rising, you’re on more or less safe waters. Moreover, the trend is really picking up – in India as well as the world over.”

Talking about the kind of preparation you might need to put into something like this, Samentha shares, “The most important thing you need is confidence. It’s not as intimidating or scary as some people believe either. It’s like making friends with someone – you start out not knowing them, but gradually get to know them and enter a comfort zone. You just need to know what you’re talking about. If I haven’t got the time, I’m always very open with my viewers and tell them that I haven’t been able to do my research today, so let’s just chill and talk about random stuff. Then I take questions from them and try and help them out. And the best part is, all you need for the entire process is your phone!”

Both Samentha and Sriramkumar acknowledge, however, that one of the factors that still makes for a hindrance to the concept in India is network connectivity. “This is one of the main reasons why smartphone apps haven’t been able to penetrate that far into the Indian population. There are still so many areas where there is no Internet access at all, so network issues really need to be addressed for live-streaming to attain its full potential in our country,” Kumar says and Samentha adds, “Since we don’t have 4G everywhere yet, there are still network issues, which is why I try to be at home as much as I can so that I don’t have to rely on someone else’s wi-fi or my own phone’s 3G.”

 

 

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