Can you make a living off MLP?

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Fan-made merch is competing and in some cases trumping official company manufactured merch. But for someone with far less skill in merch (plushie, sculpt, etc) making, artistic talent, or music business, but adore little ponies, and don't know what to do with their life, should they aspire to make dabbling in pony related business, however they know how, a job? Is the pony business actually a sustainable career, or should it be more a actually side project, to top off the tank, and make ends meet if a day job isn't enough?

[Flutter's lover <3 8,206]

No, not really. Coming from the furry fandom, I've seen the same thing and it never really succeeds. Only way you can really succeed is if you're selling high priced and quality wares, such as fursuits or plushies and have a steady stream of commissions for said items. Like averaging one quality full fursuit is about $2,000-$4,000. I have a friend of mine that makes them and charges said amount and he averages about 1 a month,maybe 2...depending on complexity of it. He also works on them by himself, as his day job..but again, he's got constant fursuit commissions.

 

Most other artists I know sell their commissions as a side project/hobby for a bit of spending cash.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Not really. Even the SUPER talented artists like assassin monkey or silfoe tend to have a "normal" job that they do in addition to pony stuff and their patreon.

[Firedog 320]

I have heard of MLP youtubers who do. Idk about merch sellers, not to mention thats not even legal unless you have a creative license. Which is unlikely any fans have the money to do so.

[PacificGreen 1,163]

From what I know, making money being an artist, especially for such a big fandom like ours with so many skilled artists, is pretty hard. Unless you're fairly confident in your abilities, you might want to lean on some other way of making a living. 

[Evilshy 5,090]

There's not a huge market, honestly. Sure, there are a ton of bronies, but very few actually buy merch or commission art. Of those, most don't spend a whole lot, and most of it official stuff since it's easily available, and there's no risk of the artist flaking out or not giving you what you paid for.

 

Even assuming there was a bigger market, I highly doubt the fandom is going to last long enough to build an actual business around. Sure. we've lasted a long time for what basically started as a 4chan fad, and we'll probably last a while longer, but not long enough to build any substantial business with. Pretty much every fandom has either died out or dwindled down to a few hardcore fans. Eventually, the show will drop in quality, or people will get bored, and we'll lose a lot of people.

 

And even assuming that weren't that case, you're in shaky legal territory unless Hasbro licenses you to sell MLP merchandise. They don't do anything to the small time artists because it wouldn't be worth the money or backlash, and they pose little to no legal threat. But you start getting big, and create an official business around it, then it starts becoming a legal issue.

 

So stick to commissions and a regular job.

[Edgeworth1001 648]

Yes, you can live off of MLP as a reliable source of income.

 

 

If you're Hasbro, that is. 

If I were in their shoes it'd be smart to get a decent paying job and leave the fandom merch and Patreon as both a hobby and a additional source of income. I'd also branch out my talents to other fandoms, as I don't see the pony business lasting longer than 2022. And that's not getting into the legal roadblocks you have to drive around

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,633]

From what I have seen, this kind of thing would take tons of luck and you have to get quite well known to be able to make that much money from doing commissions and making things. The only real way to make a consistent living from it would probably be working for Hasbro themselves, in whatever way.

[SolyWack 482]

Maybe not mlp stuff only, but many artists get their start from ponies. Visual artists, and musicians, or even youtubers make mlp content, then later on branch out, bringing a fair amout of fans with them.

 

I wonder how popular people like The Living Tombstone, Tsitra360, Commander Firebrand, etc would be if they never made pony content.

[KatonRyu 1,033]

While I fully support following your dreams and all that fun stuff, I really don't think it's a sustainable thing. Hell, I'm not even sure if it's legal for someone to make money off the IP of someone else (although I'm personally not against fan merch, mind).

 

Do it as a hobby you occasionally get money for, but otherwise get a regular job.

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,302]

I made a few bucks on a pony drawing this one time. xD  I think the average person can, at best, hope to merely supplement a preexisting income.

[Roughshod 719]

Such a person would need a variety of skills, talents, marketing, luck and hard work. The best situation would be if they were multi-talented and extremely dedicated to creating and selling their work based on MLP. I'm talking, art comissions, advertised music, fan made merchandise, YouTube analysis and more. All of which done consistently and with high quality enough to make them very popular. With these conditions met I believe a career could be made from MLP independently.

 

But then you have to deal with Hasbro's cronies.

[Ponies4Bronies 394]

No I don't think so. Unless somehow you could make 40,000-60,000 to live off of you will have a hard time IMO. Makes a great supplement to a job, as a profitable hobby but not a profession.

[JonasDarkmane 19,787]

@@Nightmare Muffin

Hello there  

 

Considering that this topic is more about elements related to the fandom, rather than discussing about aspects from the show, I have moved it over to the Sugarcube

[Gestum 2,493]

Well, not in the long run. The show will end and then there won't be anything to make money from.

[Black Sabbath 2,486]

Of course, until you get an C&D from Hasbro.

[PacificGreen 1,163]

Well, not in the long run. The show will end and then there won't be anything to make money from.

 

I have a feeling they'll move on to G5 afterwards, so there's always that potential.

 

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone make a living off of fanart- unless you actually work for Hasbro, there are a ton of copyright issues involved. So, to kinda re-answer OP's question, it's just not very viable, especially when you factor in that very few people actually make a living off of art in general.

Edited March 16, 2016 by PacificGreen

[Out of this place 51]

For a time yes, you need a dedicated following, great skills and well... do content people want.

[Wax n' Wane 103]

I remember discussing this in a roadtrip once.  From what details I can recall, assuming you're in the US, you don't need worry about earnings from hobbies (such as free-lance art) until you broke the $4,000 mark.  After this point, you need to declare those earnings.

 

In regards to how this can affect making a living off MLP-related merchandise/art, I assume you'd need to have a considerable following, small enough so Hasbro doesn't find you out right (making canon stuff is a good way to blow your cover), but large enough to actually pull in the revenue needed.  Otherwise, the reality is you'd never hit the taxable mark before being slammed by a C@D.

 

If I fudged any details, forgive me.  I might not always recall with absolute clarity.

[Rainbow Diamonds 282]

I would love to write episodes for MLP, but I will sadly have to wait. Maybe I could write some episodes for Generation 5. As for fan things, I suck at business, so I can't make a living. Some people can, but I can't. 

[Chuckles4lyfe 441]

Where there's a will, there's a way. Anything can be done if you put your mind to it. Can you make a living solely off of MLP? Sure you can! You just have to be realistic about your goals and what you hope to achieve.

 

Patreon is extremely popular with content creators nowadays. Well known artists like Dennyvixen, and analysts like Silver Quill are both using the platform as a source of income. Notice that their monthly earnings are nothing to write home about though (they make $270 and $643 respectively). If you can make it work and live off that amount of money, more power to you. But you have to develop a strong fan base 1st which took them quite a few years to do. If you have the time and dedication to do so, make it happen  .

 

I for one am artistically inept. No music, artwork, or analysis from me here  . Therefore, i'd probably only do it as a hobby and as supplemental income at most. There is no way that I can realistically live off of MLP for the rest of my life.   

[Megas 27,732]

It's such a small niche honestly, not nearly as big as some make it sound, at least not enough big enough to make a living out of it. I'd assume some would have to work on other things to have a good income

I wonder how popular people like The Living Tombstone, Tsitra360, Commander Firebrand, etc would be if they never made pony content.

I figured Commander Firebrand would just keep making game-related vids and such. He was already a fairly well-known youtuber even before he got into MLP. I believe The Living Tombstone also does more than just pony music. Most people would probably make sure they do more than one thing when it comes to web content

Edited March 18, 2016 by Megas

[DeadRightNowBoi 161]

This is something I highly recommend NOT doing. People seem to fall in to the trap thinking that you can live a decent life just by working primarily in patreon and/or youtube. Even though it's possible, you'll be relying on luck and it is still not worth taking the risk. Once you want to stop or you feel like not working anymore, you'll pretty much lose everything you've worked for.

 

I'm not saying this should not be a job for us at all. Instead, have it as a secondary job. A job for you to make some extra money. Just be sure to have a decent paying job for your primary (and of course, something you feel comfortable working at).

Edited March 18, 2016 by Mariotravel209

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

You can but I wouldn't recommend it. The show is not gonna last forever, so once it ends, you'll need to either try something new with your line of work or try another job. If you're gonna do this, I'd recommend creating something extra along MLP. The Fiery Joker/Joshscorcher is a perfect example of this, seeing as he does both gaming videos and MLP Analysis videos.

[Jaxsie (Inactive) 1,343]

It's plausible. ^^ It would take a lot of hard work and the need to be a jack-of-all-trades, but it's definitely not impossible. I'm all for entrepreneurship. It is true, however, that building a business around MLP is shaky, since fandoms die out or die down over time. You would need something in your back pocket for when this eventually happens. But don't let anyone tell you that it's impossible. Difficult -- very. Risky -- yes. But if you play your cards right, you could make a living.