So a lot of YouTubers start primarily self editing up until they have enough of a following to hire someone’s services. It can be painful!

They do, but you need a large following and a decent amount of money for this to be affordable in the first place. I paid someone I know to edit some of my videos for a while, and even at a fairly low price, I would end up spending as much money on the editing as the video paid out to begin with. Same with thumbnails, a lot of big creators get someone else to make them, but the prices there are quite steep too. I used the same thumbnail designer as a few of my favourite 100K subs YouTubers, and it was like $200-300 a thumbnail.

So it's probably like, $1-2K per video if you want someone else to take care of the editing and thumbnail design aspects. Hence you'll likely have to do this stuff yourself for the few hundred thousand or so subs, at least if you don't have FAANG/trust fund money on the side.

If you have money laying around, sure. If not - and you aren't really making money - then no. And even then, lots of folks do their own editing.

It isn't all that different from other arts: If I paint, I might be lucky enough to pay a gallery, either through commission (often 40-60%) or through renting space (often, monthly payment plus a lower commission). You might be able to rent space. But most folks just have to do all the small stuff themselves. It isn't uncommon for artists to spend more time doing social media/advertising/mundane stuff than they do creating art, if you are trying to make money.

I'm not as intimate with the music scene, but it seems a lot of folks do similar stuff.