Dragonforce Guitarist Herman Li Expresses Why Content Creation Can Be Beneficial For Musicians

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Michael Stollmann, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
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During a recent and exclusive conversation with Metal Injection, Dragonforce guitarist Herman Li spoke to why content creation can be beneficial for musicians. Along with his work in the band, Li also works within the world of content creation (making videos on the Dragonforce YouTube channel).

While Li sees content creation as a positive thing for musicians, there are those who see it as a detriment. Back in May, both Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda and Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes spoke to the stresses put on artists to make content (via platforms like YouTube and TikTok). At one point, Shinoda even said, “The time [artists] spent generating mind numbing ‘content’ might have been at the expense of the best song they never wrote.”

But Herman Li sees content creation as a means to help artists in their career. Per his conversation with Metal Injection, this is what the Dragonforce guitarist had to say:

“If you are writing music and you get your content creator stuff going, you have so much power to negotiate your record deal. You’re just laughing at them. Why do you think I [have] a million subscribers on YouTube? So I can go to the next record deal and say ‘what have you got for me? Oh, you have your YouTube channel? I got that too. I don’t care. How much money are you giving me? What’s the deal, what’s the percentage?’ There’s an upside to that, how you can switch it around and make it less like, ‘why do I have to do [content]?'”

“A lot of the [endorsements from companies] and brands have moved from artist endorsements to artist influencer departments now. Being able to [make] great songs [and being a big band] is not enough for you to get free gear sometimes now, and guess what? If you’re a content creator you get free gear and you get money on top. So win-win there.”

What do you think of musicians also working within content creation (on platforms like YouTube and/or TikTok)?

Herman Li Of Dragonforce Says That The Rock Genre Struggles With Being Too ‘Serious’

Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda Calls Out The Music Industry For Forcing Artists To Make ‘Mind Numbing Content’

Bring Me The Horizon Singer Oli Sykes Says Musicians Today Also Have To Be ‘Actors’