What MasterClass Online Courses Pay to Lure Hollywood Stars as Teachers
January 9, 2022 7:30 PM Subscribe
Kevin Spacey is in the subtitle and is the fifth celeb mentioned when listing instructors! Out of all the actors on MasterClass, the Hollywood Reporter went with Kevin Spacey.
posted by thecjm at 7:43 PM on January 9, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by thecjm at 7:43 PM on January 9, 2022 [4 favorites]
"Kevin Spacey is in the subtitle and is the fifth celeb mentioned when listing instructors! Out of all the actors on MasterClass, the Hollywood Reporter went with Kevin Spacey."
The article is from April 2017, which, according to wikipedia, is a few months before he was accused of anything untoward.
I've been tempted to get a subscription, but haven't yet; but $100k seems reasonable for people at their level (I'm not sure from article or this post if we're supposed to be surprised/shocked by how much they get). The 30% of the revenue their classes generate is definitely surprisingly large to me. But I wonder how that's calculated. Subscribers aren't paying per course, they're paying per month for access to everything. So how do you determine how much revenue a class is generating?
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:18 PM on January 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
The article is from April 2017, which, according to wikipedia, is a few months before he was accused of anything untoward.
I've been tempted to get a subscription, but haven't yet; but $100k seems reasonable for people at their level (I'm not sure from article or this post if we're supposed to be surprised/shocked by how much they get). The 30% of the revenue their classes generate is definitely surprisingly large to me. But I wonder how that's calculated. Subscribers aren't paying per course, they're paying per month for access to everything. So how do you determine how much revenue a class is generating?
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:18 PM on January 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
30% is what Apple gets as a cut from their App Store. Maybe that's the comparison point.
posted by hippybear at 8:32 PM on January 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 8:32 PM on January 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
So how do you determine how much revenue a class is generating?
Count channel views per month, calculate share of total monthly channel views, multiply by monthly fee and number of subscribers that month (deduct operating costs)?
posted by axiom at 8:35 PM on January 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
Count channel views per month, calculate share of total monthly channel views, multiply by monthly fee and number of subscribers that month (deduct operating costs)?
posted by axiom at 8:35 PM on January 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
"30% is what Apple gets as a cut from their App Store. Maybe that's the comparison point."
Could be. I guess it's the 30% after the $100k that's surprising.
Axiom, that makes sense (well, as much sense as my anything like that can make to my non-accountant brain).
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:59 PM on January 9, 2022
Could be. I guess it's the 30% after the $100k that's surprising.
Axiom, that makes sense (well, as much sense as my anything like that can make to my non-accountant brain).
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:59 PM on January 9, 2022
So I'm an EA at a big tech company and one of the things my small org gave our people managers this year as a holiday/year end gift was a MasterClass sub. I mean there's the chance they learn stuff from the business classes, but for myself, I'm (literally this moment) watching Steve Martin's comedy writing class.
Since I have this subscription that allows me to watch any class I want, I guess my question is just like @jonathanhughes, how do they know which classes are driving revenue?
(note: if you can get something like this through work it's great, as a group buy of substantial numbers can really drive the price down)
posted by taterpie at 9:39 PM on January 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
Since I have this subscription that allows me to watch any class I want, I guess my question is just like @jonathanhughes, how do they know which classes are driving revenue?
(note: if you can get something like this through work it's great, as a group buy of substantial numbers can really drive the price down)
posted by taterpie at 9:39 PM on January 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
I had no idea "MasterClass" meant anything other than a word people use when they mean "example."
posted by one for the books at 9:54 PM on January 9, 2022
posted by one for the books at 9:54 PM on January 9, 2022
Count channel views per month, calculate share of total monthly channel views, multiply by monthly fee and number of subscribers that month (deduct operating costs)?
I ran an online course platform for a little while (different niche), calculating commissions was a monthly nightmare but it included a higher value for being the first watched course on an account, which incentivized instructors with a large audience to promote the course on their channels. I’d imagine there’s a similar weighting here.
posted by third word on a random page at 10:02 PM on January 9, 2022
I ran an online course platform for a little while (different niche), calculating commissions was a monthly nightmare but it included a higher value for being the first watched course on an account, which incentivized instructors with a large audience to promote the course on their channels. I’d imagine there’s a similar weighting here.
posted by third word on a random page at 10:02 PM on January 9, 2022
I wonder how COVID affected these rates. On the one hand, huge increase in demand for this sort of content. On the other hand, a sudden glut of accomplished celebs with nothing to do and no new income streams.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:45 PM on January 9, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:45 PM on January 9, 2022 [4 favorites]
I guess it's the 30% after the $100k that's surprising.
30% but you have to "earn out" the 100k?
posted by clew at 10:46 PM on January 9, 2022
30% but you have to "earn out" the 100k?
posted by clew at 10:46 PM on January 9, 2022
Ahhh I've been so curious what they pay people. It seems like they can get anyone on their platform.
posted by wooh at 12:15 AM on January 10, 2022
posted by wooh at 12:15 AM on January 10, 2022
The BBC has its own version of Masterclass, which it calls Maestro, though I doubt it can match the payments discussed here. Alan Moore's signed up to deliver a course on storytelling on the BBC version.
posted by Paul Slade at 1:06 AM on January 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Paul Slade at 1:06 AM on January 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
Is anyone offering classes from the celebrities' teachers?
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 3:18 AM on January 10, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 3:18 AM on January 10, 2022 [5 favorites]
I have considered subscribing for a year, and then doing as much of it as I can in that year. The first real lure for me was the Neil Gaiman class. How do I know about the Neil Gaiman class? Because I saw at least hundreds of ads for it, a flood that outpaced any other ad I can think of having seen and been conscious of online. Ultimately I muted "Masterclass" on all social media, because the combination of ads and Masterclass Discourse got to be so much.
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:40 AM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:40 AM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
The New Yorker had an article about Masterclass a little while ago. I found it interesting, but didn't walk away wanting to sign up for a subscription.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:33 AM on January 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Dip Flash at 6:33 AM on January 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
It seems awfully aspirational for MasterClass to pitch themselves as education or "the Library of Alexandria in digital form". Sure looks like celebrity motivational speaking to me. If there's a meaningful difference it's the depth of the curriculum. I assume MasterClass is mostly developing material itself and the celebrities are largely just reading a script? The New Yorker article suggests so
The real Master class is the vast library of free badly edited YouTube videos for home repair. An endless pool of talent, middle-aged folks who have spent decades fixing things and are now here to tell you exactly how to remove the ball check valve from your Miele G 5006 SCU dishwasher to remove the bit of chicken bone that got caught in it. It may take eight minutes for them to explain something that takes 30 seconds, but everyone's got to have their content-targeting ad hustle. Bless those people for they have taught me a lot of very useful things.
shake fold twelve apostles twelve tribes twelve zodiac signs twelve months biggest number with one syllable
posted by Nelson at 7:49 AM on January 10, 2022 [12 favorites]
The instructor’s experience during the two- or three-day shoots is akin to a Hollywood star’s. The content team had worked out Futura’s curriculum with him in lengthy conversations, and now a stand-in was ready to spell him...It's still valuable watching an expert do the thing themselves and maybe the good ones really put a bit of themselves into it.
The real Master class is the vast library of free badly edited YouTube videos for home repair. An endless pool of talent, middle-aged folks who have spent decades fixing things and are now here to tell you exactly how to remove the ball check valve from your Miele G 5006 SCU dishwasher to remove the bit of chicken bone that got caught in it. It may take eight minutes for them to explain something that takes 30 seconds, but everyone's got to have their content-targeting ad hustle. Bless those people for they have taught me a lot of very useful things.
shake fold twelve apostles twelve tribes twelve zodiac signs twelve months biggest number with one syllable
posted by Nelson at 7:49 AM on January 10, 2022 [12 favorites]
Mother-in-law got us a subscription for Christmas. Anyone have fun recommendations? For a couple or solo.
My wife is obsessed with knitting lately but is also a fantastic artist.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 8:09 AM on January 10, 2022
My wife is obsessed with knitting lately but is also a fantastic artist.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 8:09 AM on January 10, 2022
> I assume MasterClass is mostly developing material itself and the celebrities are largely just reading a script?
I've had a subscription for a couple of years and I've wondered this. Some seem like they're very likely written by the teacher: e.g. Penn & Teller's class has the same "voice" as the rest of their stuff; Thomas Keller and Yotam Ottolenghi teach cooking in a way that similarly seems to align very closely with their cookbooks/restaurants. Perhaps there's some collaborative writing going on -- e.g. the way Michael Ruhlman wrote much of the French Laundry cookbook -- but it all feels very much of a piece with other published material by those folks.
Others, though (lookin' at you, Gordon Ramsey) are so clearly phoned in that either it's (poorly) ghostwritten or just completely lazy.
All in all MasterClass is hit or miss, but it hits enough to be useful. I've leaned a ton from Keller's classes alone, enough to make me happy with what I paid for the subscription.
posted by dorothy hawk at 8:30 AM on January 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
I've had a subscription for a couple of years and I've wondered this. Some seem like they're very likely written by the teacher: e.g. Penn & Teller's class has the same "voice" as the rest of their stuff; Thomas Keller and Yotam Ottolenghi teach cooking in a way that similarly seems to align very closely with their cookbooks/restaurants. Perhaps there's some collaborative writing going on -- e.g. the way Michael Ruhlman wrote much of the French Laundry cookbook -- but it all feels very much of a piece with other published material by those folks.
Others, though (lookin' at you, Gordon Ramsey) are so clearly phoned in that either it's (poorly) ghostwritten or just completely lazy.
All in all MasterClass is hit or miss, but it hits enough to be useful. I've leaned a ton from Keller's classes alone, enough to make me happy with what I paid for the subscription.
posted by dorothy hawk at 8:30 AM on January 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
Is anyone offering classes from the celebrities' teachers?
That's the class I'd want. Being a good creative doesn't necessarily make someone a good instructor. Can any active Masterclass users here speak to the quality of the material?
(on forgetting to preview: thanks dorothy hawk!)
posted by EatTheWeek at 8:32 AM on January 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
That's the class I'd want. Being a good creative doesn't necessarily make someone a good instructor. Can any active Masterclass users here speak to the quality of the material?
(on forgetting to preview: thanks dorothy hawk!)
posted by EatTheWeek at 8:32 AM on January 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
Nothing about this or a quick google search convinces me it's legit. [Edit: to be clear, the thing itself, not the post, which is interesting.] But, also, I get paid around $100k for 60 hours of lecture each year. (And 60 hrs/week of other stuff that isn't officially my job but that I don't have the option not to do.) And I'm not at all famous and usually speaking to between 12 and 100 people. I'm not sure the salary alone is all that unreasonable, compared to contemporary name-brand university classes.
I'm not going to sign up just to take a class from Herzog. But, it is tempting. I sure hope he's teaching something like organic chemistry. "Who can know what this lonely, isolated carbon atom experiences? What bond will she make? Will it last? The UV photons are always coming, energetic, relentless, ready to tear her family apart. You can see the glow on the horizon. The first hint of the coming death flame. . ."
(I guess I have actually taken a class on corrosion mitigation from Levar Burton. It was really interesting.)
posted by eotvos at 8:57 AM on January 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm not going to sign up just to take a class from Herzog. But, it is tempting. I sure hope he's teaching something like organic chemistry. "Who can know what this lonely, isolated carbon atom experiences? What bond will she make? Will it last? The UV photons are always coming, energetic, relentless, ready to tear her family apart. You can see the glow on the horizon. The first hint of the coming death flame. . ."
(I guess I have actually taken a class on corrosion mitigation from Levar Burton. It was really interesting.)
posted by eotvos at 8:57 AM on January 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
Dip Flash, thanks for linking to the New Yorker article.
After reading it, part of me feels like these classes are bullshit, and part of me wants to sign up. I'm kind of a sucker for anything that promises self-improvement. There seem to be a lot of us. I've thought for a while that the best way to make money as a writer is to publish a book about how other people can be writers.
And books about writing or whatever can become a form of procrastination - it's way easier to read a book or sit through a class about what you want to do instead of actually doing the thing. The books and classes can be helpful and inspirational, but they can also be a way to avoid the hard work. That's definitely true for me sometimes.
And it's very true that people who have become famous doing the thing may not be the best at teaching it.
posted by FencingGal at 9:16 AM on January 10, 2022
After reading it, part of me feels like these classes are bullshit, and part of me wants to sign up. I'm kind of a sucker for anything that promises self-improvement. There seem to be a lot of us. I've thought for a while that the best way to make money as a writer is to publish a book about how other people can be writers.
And books about writing or whatever can become a form of procrastination - it's way easier to read a book or sit through a class about what you want to do instead of actually doing the thing. The books and classes can be helpful and inspirational, but they can also be a way to avoid the hard work. That's definitely true for me sometimes.
And it's very true that people who have become famous doing the thing may not be the best at teaching it.
posted by FencingGal at 9:16 AM on January 10, 2022
My public library gives me access to the Great Courses and Modern Scholar series for free. Maybe after I've absolutely exhausted them, I'd look at the Masterclass series. But there's a LOT of history, archeology and paleontology I've got to finish first.
That said, I have read reports that the Neil Gaiman class on writing is good - and I can imagine that he would be a good teacher as well as a good writer, as he's done a lot of thinking about stories and how they work.
posted by jb at 9:24 AM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
That said, I have read reports that the Neil Gaiman class on writing is good - and I can imagine that he would be a good teacher as well as a good writer, as he's done a lot of thinking about stories and how they work.
posted by jb at 9:24 AM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
FencingGal: And books about writing or whatever can become a form of procrastination - it's way easier to read a book or sit through a class about what you want to do instead of actually doing the thing. The books and classes can be helpful and inspirational, but they can also be a way to avoid the hard work. That's definitely true for me sometimes.
To quote MeFi's own Merlin Mann, "Joining a Facebook group about creative productivity is like buying a chair about jogging."
posted by SansPoint at 9:24 AM on January 10, 2022 [5 favorites]
To quote MeFi's own Merlin Mann, "Joining a Facebook group about creative productivity is like buying a chair about jogging."
posted by SansPoint at 9:24 AM on January 10, 2022 [5 favorites]
how do they know which classes are driving revenue?
As someone who looks at database usage statistics on the regular, I can assure you that they are collecting copious amounts of info on which classes are being used, length of sessions, and probably far more granular data than that. These are mostly solved problems.
posted by aspersioncast at 10:21 AM on January 10, 2022
As someone who looks at database usage statistics on the regular, I can assure you that they are collecting copious amounts of info on which classes are being used, length of sessions, and probably far more granular data than that. These are mostly solved problems.
posted by aspersioncast at 10:21 AM on January 10, 2022
I totally get this idea of this - you’re at the top of your field and you want to share and document your learning for the next generation. It’s completely a phase of life, the dissemination of knowledge. It’s a natural desire.
But. But. Masterclass needs to vet their “masters” a little better. I just couldn’t get over the Bobbi Brown makeup master class commercial with dead ass boring brown eye makeup. I’ve seen better shit on YouTube.
Sorry. I just had to vent that somewhere. There’s so much good knowledge out there if just curated correctly.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:18 PM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
But. But. Masterclass needs to vet their “masters” a little better. I just couldn’t get over the Bobbi Brown makeup master class commercial with dead ass boring brown eye makeup. I’ve seen better shit on YouTube.
Sorry. I just had to vent that somewhere. There’s so much good knowledge out there if just curated correctly.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:18 PM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've never checked the masterclass stuff out until this thread. I bought myself a hardware synth and a copy of Ableton over my xmas break and signed up for a slew of music related classes on Udemy, because everything was 80-90% off for what I assume was a new years resolution sale. At any rate, I wasn't too excited by what I found on the sample for the deadmau5 or Armin van Buuren masterclasses, although the class outlines are right up my alley and might still be good. Thing is, I know there are a bunch of famous producers who will stream their entire process right on twitch for free (minus a small amount of secret sauce). Once I'm through my udemy classes, that's the next stop. Kind of an amazing time to be alive if you're good at learning - we might be moving back to basically feudalism economically, but boy I sure have all the tools at my disposal to bootstrap some pro-level knowledge.
posted by MillMan at 3:22 PM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by MillMan at 3:22 PM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
We started Masterclass when the pandemic hit, my son and I (who's mostly remote) and it's been mostly outstanding, a great way to get insight into some very amazing people. Gotta highly recommend Hans Zimmer, even if you're not a musician. The best of them talk about how they view their lives, how they work... it's been a great way to prompt discussion about a lot of what life can be about. Gotta choose well, but the good ones are really good.
posted by emmet at 3:29 PM on January 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by emmet at 3:29 PM on January 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
St. Peepsburg, Bobbi Brown has worked with a lot of serious business photographers and big names in fashion, but as someone who grew up checking out her books, she's always been a proponent of a pretty natural look which I also found... boring. (OTOH, my Kevyn Aucoin books are tattered and well-loved) It's now also unsuited to what's popular in makeup today - I remember scowling at her admonition against black nail polish in a fashion magazine (probably as a reaction to Hard Candy's popularization of unconventional nail colors) decades ago.
posted by Selena777 at 10:18 AM on January 14, 2022
posted by Selena777 at 10:18 AM on January 14, 2022
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That 30% (gross, not net?) is where the real money is
posted by thecjm at 7:40 PM on January 9, 2022 [6 favorites]