• Los Angeles Times, Monday, January 12, 2009 12 PM

Last month, The New York Times profiled those YouTube users who've turned amateur video production into a lucrative, full-time gig. Of course, not everyone who seeks to do this for living is ready to quit their day job; the Los Angeles Times profiles a few who aren't having the five-figure-per-month success reported by Whatthebuckshow host Michael Buckley.

For example, Tay Zonday is one such relatively famous YouTube voice who hasn't quite hit pay dirt yet. Zonday is the author of the YouTube classic "Chocolate Rain", which is the 46th most-watched clip of all time. His channel also happens to be the 67th most-subscribed to, but Zonday only makes about a quarter of the $17,000-$20,000 per month that Buckley claims to be making. While Zonday makes thousands of dollars per month on YouTube, a large chunk of his earnings comes form ring tone and music sales.

Spencer and Dylan are another famous pair of YouTube voices who host the 22nd most-subscribed-to channel, Household Hacker. In an email, the duo revealed that they're not exactly rolling in it. "It is not enough to live off comfortably at this point for two people, but enough that we can afford some pretty sweet electronic gadgets or pay our rent (some months, it's enough for both!)," they said. Meanwhile, none of these guys can disclose the specifics of their ad earnings, because Google won't let them. The search giant only cleared certain partners (like Buckley for the Times piece) to discuss financial details.

Read the whole story at Los Angeles Times »