Transcription
Okay, play the audio. Play your audio last time. Time right? Go ahead, go ahead. Let me see it. Let's go, let's go. They probably just made $15 million during... I was like, what do y'all do? And he was like, I'm an influencer. I mean, he actually answered, I'm an influencer. Yes, right, left. I said, how do you make money? I've never understood it. He was like, you know how there's like Beyonce and Jay-Z, famous people for music? He's like, well, we're famous for social media. I'm like, so people follow y'all just to watch your life? And then he was like, yeah. I was like, okay, sign me up.
[Music]
So we're in West Hollywood going to a TikTok house called The Vault, in which six people produce content of some sort for 1.5 million followers. Now, I don't know what TikTok is, or if I download it, I suspect it'd be an amber alert because I'm too old for this sort of thing. But I need to find out what these people are doing and how they're making money. They're forgoing college, and they're forgoing high school to move to LA and make a ton of money by dancing on TikTok.
It was just before noon when I arrived at Vault house. That is good, that'll be good content. And its young occupants had only just peeled themselves from bed, assembling for the day's writers' room, which featured no writers and took place on a couch.
Let's start morning meeting now. Hello, focus! Hello! We have hella heads today. What are we doing? Yeah, but we're going to have Ballo and Swag Boy covers. We should do this. I think Kier should do a kiss or slap. I'm not doing that. They are sick of kissing people. No, they're not. They ask for it every time. Kieran, Trey, kissing one can be, don't bring a girl home or a boy home. Oh yes, and then one can be, don't lose the group. Can you write these down? 'Cause you're going to forget, and I'm going to be very upset.
Escalating girl, I don't have any idea what's happening. What's poing? Chicken nugget, wake up, wake up, wake up! I didn't want to go to the party to party. I wanted to go to the party to scare.
For the past few years, TikTok has been the fastest growing social media platform in the world. It currently boasts around a billion active users, and its astonishing growth was facilitated by crisis. During those long months of compelled co-hibernation, TikTok was the most downloaded app in the world. A platform famous for its ubiquitous dance trends became a sort of gateway drug for Gen Z and younger Millennials. Those disinclined to flail on camera sought notoriety on different terms.
TikTok became a vast repository of makeup tutorials, unlicensed psychotherapy, questionable financial advice, and boorish humor. Potato salad having a more female-based audience makes you more money. Can you explain to me what I was watching? TikTok is all run by like our age range. Who's the youngest person? How old are you? Can I? 18. You're 18? Oh, that's the youngest. None of you are from LA, is that right? How do you get here? An old member that used to live here invited me just to come, like stay and hang out.
And that's somebody you knew through TikTok, right? Right. Somebody on TikTok. They offered to trial me, like to see if I would be a fit for the house. I mean, does everybody remember that first time that somebody was like, I want to pay you for the stuff that you do? I thought people were just doing videos for fun, just to go like viral. I had people asking to duet me, to duet their videos, and they'll pay me. I'm like, like $250. And I was working. What were you doing at the time? I was working at FedEx.
It's way better than working at FedEx, isn't it? Oh, way better. So on your own TikTok account before you came here, like how many followers did you have? Before I came out here, I had like 700,000. Well, now I have 1.3 million. But you guys all have your own individual accounts still, and are you posting to those too? Yes, we just have to figure out how to keep everyone in their content. Everyone's niche is completely different.
What's your niche? I just stand in front of the camera, and I just blink. I really do. You're good at standing? Yeah, pretty much. Sometimes they like me to stand in front of the camera with Spence, or sometimes they request I stand in front of the camera with my leg. And so if they want that, I'm like, okay, well, here's us. Who's they? The people watching.
Who has the biggest following? How big is your following right now? I have 4.1 million. I'm sorry about that. 4.1? You know that's the size of Ireland. It's about 4 million, the population of Ireland. How would you explain your appeal on TikTok? I'm just known as a scary chick on TikTok. She's actually talented.
Let's rip this off. The most successful video I have right now is like at 68 million views right now. I'm sorry, 68 million views? Yeah, I'm sorry. What is it? It's just me like transforming, like turning into like a monster. Us crush them. How is that monetized? The 68 million, even if it's fractions of a penny, that's a ton of money. I actually didn't get paid for that video. I didn't get paid for that video. Can you leave the number of your manager here so I can fire them for you?
How do you make money? A lot of promo. A lot of promo? Wait, wait, so you're not promoing your own stuff? You're promoing? No, that's all. Yeah, people's songs, people's songs, products. I have this one like inexclusive manager who gives me sound promos, like songs. So like he's probably my biggest income. Is that taken? That's my LA. And as a manager, they take a cut, and they take like 15%.
50? I'd be like 50. Really? Agencies will sucker these kids that come from Nebraska or Ohio. Or like, wait, isn't someone here from Nebraska? Him, that's why I said. So there's like a lot of exploitation in this world, right? Because most of the people are pretty young, yeah, and don't have a ton of experience. It's like a pretty fertile ground for ripping people off, right? But you got to make pretty good money, right?
Yeah, for the most part. Just so you're not identifying yourself and what you make, what's like a range? Honestly, it depends on the person and what your content is. A lot of money, it all depends on engagement at the end of the day. 'Cause I know people that have 5 million followers, but I know people with 200k that still have better views than them. Yeah, and they get paid more. They get paid more. Like if I had like 2 million and Spence has 1 million, and my engagement is like 200,000, but his engagement is a million, he's going to get more brand than me because he's going to get pushed out more.
I mean, it's kind of exhausting though, isn't it? Do you guys ever feel like, I don't want to do this anymore? No, 'cause I know it's two answers right next to each other. No, yes. I know if I'm not doing this, I'm in Nebraska, bored off my ass, working a 9 to 5. Okay, so what's today? What's the rest of the day look like? We have some guests coming over, some other creators. Is that normal that you have like cross-pollination between other houses and things like that? Yes.
What's a secret you never told your ex? The world of influencers is competitive and incestuous. Reality shows spread across dozens of Southern California ZIP codes. In my first day sequestered in a TikTok house featured an impromptu gathering of LA-based TikTok celebrities. Okay, then we're going to just go. Let's go. I don't have time for this. I'm not waiting for them. None of whom sparked even the faintest recognition.
It was like being present for the recording of a teenage "We Are the World," but with more bling and no charity. Billy, just tell you guys, make sure you're eating, drinking water, staying hydrated. Yeah, my thing is just like ideas. That's the hardest thing, just coming up with ideas that like no one else does. Just make it all. Okay, one more time for the outfit, guys.
But even their real-life social engagements are for the benefit of social media. When I forever trained on follower counts, a lot of work. Okay, so you increased 15 million in the past year. What on Earth did you do to do that? And can you write it down on a small note card for me? Basically, like there's like a married couple or a couple, or it doesn't matter, and I'll be like, hey, like I'll pay you $10,000 if you let me kiss your girl right now. Can I give a girl a kiss for $10,000? All in cash?
No, bro, stop. We're not doing that. Huh? We're not doing that. Do you actually? I mean, nine times out of ten, it went through on it. So look, I got this guy right here on Instagram. Do you know who this is? That's my boyfriend. A lot of guys don't sell their girls for money. Last and final offer, I got $50,000. This is my last time telling you, just for a kiss on the lips. On the lips? Okay, yo, yo, chill. 50k or me.
I mean, kissing is not that big of a deal. It's for 10 grand. Like 10 grand, that's like the... that I would do for 10 grand. I mean, good Lord, crazy.
[Music]
Right, whether your talent is paying women to make out with you or just being moderately attractive on camera, the influencer is always thinking about posting. Once you build a following, the key to retaining it is a steady stream of content. Yes, the dog has to be in our short attention span age, and on a short attention span app, a lull in production and you'll quickly be overtaken and forgotten.
Those seemingly candid moments are often artfully choreographed, and countless takes are performed in order to get the videos just right. Hey, one more time. Much of what they film never makes it to their feed, but the feed must be constantly fed.
All right, take 10. The life of the influencer might look like one big vacation, but I'm repeatedly told successful TikTok personalities take no time off. Vacations are only possible if sponsored by a brand. All right, let's rock and roll. Go ahead, Spencer. Spence, Spence. It's only 8 seconds. Poy, get it. We want to get the logo in the shot first.
Michelle Vanas is the brains behind Vault. It's Vanas who recruits the talent, signs them to her TikTok agency, and moves them into one of her half dozen TikTok houses. Good job, that looks good. How did you land on the TikTok influencer beat? So I was a little familiar, having come doing social media web development. My daughter started a YouTube at like 13. I recognized very quickly that this was just basically celebrity endorsements but on a different level, and I saw how much money it was.
We decided to focus on Gen Z. We had already been doing brand campaigns on TikTok since 2018, way before anyone was even paying attention to that platform. And then COVID, we were able to double the agency during COVID in 2020. I mean, you're much more captive audience in those times. I mean, literally captive in a lot of ways. They were growing fast. You know, it was still cheaper than Instagram and YouTube, and we started a content house in April.
Everybody can post, but no one has four walls. Who do traditional product placement like we do? So you might have a roster of influencers, but I got influencers in a house. You just sounded like a prison warden. I've got them on... You have them captured in this one house. It was COVID, you can't go anywhere.
Original, authentic. I'm so authentic. Hwood authentic. You're so authentic. Original, authentic, authentic. I come to you, and I want to be one of your clients. Who do you need me to be? I need this not to be a hobby. Okay, I need this to be your priority. And because we invest in the younger generation, we know how 10 times their revenue will income will be generated when they start getting married and start having kids.
Then they can work with the Home Depot and the Target, which is where the real money is. If I can maintain your production, our investment in Gen Z is going to pay full 10 times when they become adults. We want influencers who want to be great, yeah, not just influencers who want a number. Right, you pay them well, they get paid well. So you don't pay them? We are not employers.
Yes, is this some kind of Uber thing, like a contract thing? I know what's going on. No, we're helping to manage their careers, right? Brands pay them. What's the average person making a year? The smallest sponsorship we've done for a house is $20,000. $20,000 a month for a three-month commitment. We'll get you some piece of content or something out of the housemates in that house. Twin Flames, where we are today, they're just launching, but they've already made money for house deals before we even launched the house.
Inviting dysfunction with a coup's house, aren't you? No, this is the reality. This is what these kids are already doing.
[Music]
This house, Twin Flames, is for couples. Babe, oh hey. You can imagine in an era of ubiquitous reality television why such an arrangement would appeal to Nichelle. Josh and Star just moved into Twin Flames. What do you mean? Yeah, that's awful, bro. So you're a TikTok couple? Yeah. How many followers do you have? I have like 10.4 million.
Why? How do you guys... He taught me how to like make a video blow up, and we kind of just learned the... She was never familiar with TikTok. She wasn't even on the platform. Well, I always wanted to blow up anyway, so I probably would have figured it out, but I probably wouldn't have been at 10 mil right now. Did you make any money from that? A lot of money comes from brand deals. For me, like social media is maybe 20% of what I do.
Like I also do website businesses, e-commerce, I do real estate. You couldn't do that without the money from social media, right? Oh yeah, social media will literally provide all of that for me. So it was essentially for you, it was like seed capital to start a company, right? Yes. I think social media helps me get signed to a management and get my music career started.
Why did you choose to move into this house? When we like first were dating, I had a place in Glendale, and that place cost like $4,000 a month. So I'm like, you know what? Instead of like paying $4,000 a month, I'd rather come here, save 50 grand for a year. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And do you know the other people that have moved into the house? Or are there people moving in right? Yeah, not everyone's moved in.
Yeah, we have a new couple moving in, Danny and Lynn, because our other couple left, and they were no good. The guy was just like... What is it like living in a house that's not only with just two other couples but under the microscope all the time, always having to perform? I love it. You love it? I love it. More? You want more people like wanting to know about your life?
Mhm, I want to see them just like flood the DMs. So that's... you want fame? Yeah, I think it's refreshing that you admit it. Well, I'm not going to lie. What is it about fame that makes you want it so badly? I think it's like making money just being yourself in a way. I don't like working, like to be honest. I don't like working, like hardworking stuff. I'm going to be honest. I like entertaining. I like singing. I like dancing in front of the camera to be myself to an extent, even though you kind of have to take it.
I'm a Christian guy, like I love God because like he's allowed this all to happen for me, and I'll talk about all these different opportunities and try to get people into any opportunity that's available. What happens if it disappears? What do you do? Probably devote my life to cats. To cats? I really thought you were going to say God, but you said cats.
Predictably, teenagers having fun and making money provoke the usual moral panic with breathless headlines about the app precipitating a mental health crisis among teens. Pundits and politicians called for regulation. Listen, I mean, TikTok is a platform that is basically a Trojan horse for the Chinese government. The Trump administration, throwing constitutional concerns to the wind, threatened to ban the app.
We are looking at a lot of alternatives with respect to TikTok, and for the tens of thousands of newly minted TikTok professionals who monetize skill sets that most people didn't even know were considered skill sets, the moral panic became an existential panic. There was this funny moment. It didn't look like it was actually happening where Donald Trump was like, I'm going to ban TikTok. Remember that? Like pretend that happened. What would you do?
Well, personally, I want to get into real estate, and I want to start a few of my own businesses. So this was never like my main focus, but for some people, I'm concerned for them. I'm honestly concerned for that group, Molly's Parksley, because of the age group. It allows them to be like really immature. There's no parents. Everyone's just kind of like living like adults, but like no one's actually an adult.
There's never a moment where you're like, what the am I doing? Do you ever do that? Um, I don't think I have the time to do that. I just have to deal with it. Do you make money? Yeah, for the work that you put in, it's definitely worth it. When you said the word work, right? I... that loosely. It's... yeah, it's work. It is, yeah. I mean, it is though. Do you have a break from it? No, no, never. Never.
Yes, they're pees, but they're black, and you get to pick. They're not white. Okay, but Michelle shrugs off the concerns. Your snake's a thief. I will be getting a big one eventually and puts her money where her mouth is. Her kids are TikTok influencers. TikTok is still new. Brands are still figuring it out. The younger generation are the ones that set the trends for pop culture.
Why is there so much contempt for them doing that though? There was a feeling when it was relegated to the athletes, the musicians, who could claim that status of influence. Now when you open it up and you say anybody and everybody can do it, that puts a little more pressure on you to say, why can't you do it? Previous generations, including mine, you needed a degree. Even if you didn't have a college degree, you were going to have some sort of technical training.
Now you're back to Amy, who lives in Florida, and Amy is making more money than her parents wearing a bikini. That doesn't make everyone feel so good because then if Amy can do it, why can't you?
For me, I went to the University of Pennsylvania. I'm an Ivy League grad. I'm expecting that my kids are going to go to top schools. Neither of my daughters decided to go to college. How do you feel about that? I know how much money this business makes. They can make six figures at an age that would have taken them getting a master's.
Yeah, but if she has a Yale degree at 60 years old, she can make a ton of money at this at 60 years old. What is it? One or two things happens. You do this, you make a ton of money. You have parents like my daughters have, and they teach you about savings and investing, and you created your own trust fund. You've created generational wealth. You will continue to make wealth if you continue to be an influencer and you haven't burned out.
Or you can make money, spend it all, and be washed out. Right? Same way you could get a college degree and become addicted to something and, you know, wash out too. Or again, are you talking about me?
[Music]
This alien world, with its often incomprehensible rituals and nomenclature, exists to excite the neurons of teens and ultimately separate them from their parents' hard-earned money. But besides the rapid and often vapid content, it's pretty traditional. Attractive people with varying degrees of talent are lured to LA with dreams of fame. Some make it, and some don't. And the ones who do are handsomely compensated.
And after all, almost every influencer I spoke to dreamed of a career in traditional movies or on traditional television. There's nothing new in that sense, but there's one noticeable paradigm-shifting difference. Gatekeepers still exist, but there are fewer. No one approves scripts. No executives offer notes. No morons in suits demand moronic rewrites.
While perhaps some of this stuff could use an editor's pen, the content is perishable. It's quickly filmed and soon forgotten. The content doesn't exist to fill some artistic need with financial compensation, a flattering bonus. The content exists almost exclusively to lure the money, to achieve the fame, for everyone to get paid.
TikTok has made celebrity more democratic, but it also seems more aggressively commercial. Selling out is no longer an insult; it's the goal. If the content creators create pointless content, the only thing left is the personality, the influencer, the transitory fame of a human billboard.
What do you... paying me? What are you paying me? Quick, quick. $1,000? $10,000? Kiss on the mouth first. You kissing first, you owe me. See, this is really how influencers make money on aimless BS. $110,000 made. Thanks, Mom.
There was a time when I had a giant snake climbing on my body right now. Disgusting. Give him a kiss. No, get away from me. Get away from me.
I'm Michael Laremont, editor-in-chief of Vice News. Too often, traditional news outlets shy away from the real stories and experiences of those living through global conflicts. Not Vice News. Our reporters are on the ground, fearlessly covering the human stories that shape our world.
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