See the replies to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35896620

YT premium money does partially go to creators though??

Only to those that have a signed contract with YT, no?

Isn't that a really low bar though? If you're making any money off YouTube you've signed a contract. YT Premium just lets you make more.

To my understanding, the money primarily goes to large creators first. So the smaller creators get a smaller contribution out of my YT Premium.

So, if I really do want to support the creator, other external systems are better.

No, YTP money is paid to creators based on time YTP subscribers spend watching their content. So if you watch small channels that's who will benefit from your subscription.

The money mostly goes to large creators simply because those large creators have way more viewing hours.

The nice thing about YT Premium is that you have a single subscription to manage, and it then helps support a wide number of creators, even ones who you only see a single video of. It'll go to helping way more people in total than you would ever get around to signing up for individual Patreon subscriptions for.

What data do they harvest and what do they do with it?

The fact that we have to ask questions like this is indicative of google being a bad actor in this exchange. How much are they paying me for the data they steal?

They’re not stealing any data. You’re voluntarily giving it to them and if you don’t like the terms of the deal it’s trivially easy to stop by not going to YouTube.

Looking at your posts here, to me it seems like you are actively searching for reasons not to pay. Like you’re trying to justify some sort of cognitive dissonance you have on the matter.

Either pay up or admit (to yourself, us, whatever) that you’re not willing to pay for services you can get in an ad-supported format instead.

Is that really so hard?

My "posts"? As in two?

I only started getting a proper income recently. How exactly was I supposed to pay when my YT Premium used to be 5% of my income?

I already pay for Spotify and Amazon Prime. I literally don't have more disposable income. (Unless I throw in the emergency cash reserve or investments) I still have to pay for dental surgery and an optometrist.

What is it with people like you telling us to "admit" some deep seated desire? Is it so hard to not assume things about my life and create your own fantasy?