Australians making $5000 a pop on live streaming platform Twitch

Aussie gamers, musicians and craftspeople are making big bucks on live streaming platform Twitch. This is how they do it.

It would take one million song streams for musician and mental health advocate Nathan Cavaleri to match the monthly income he generates as a live video streamer.

The Australian blues rock musician found a new global audience on Twitch after he was invited to perform on the channel of popular gamer Pestily.

Captivated by Cavaleri’s music and the story of his childhood as a young guitar prodigy who battled leukaemia, Pestily’s followers – now closing in on one million-strong – helped raise more than $1.2 million for the Starlight Foundation.

While Twitch is predominantly a live streaming platform for gamers, it has evolved during the pandemic as an online destination for musicians, cooks and craftspeople as its subscribers look for fresh content.

Cavaleri said Pestily encouraged him to give it a go and he has built 20,000 followers over the past year, streaming about 15 hours of “tunes and hangs” from his Sydney lockdown garage studio each week.

Singer/songwriter Nathan Cavaleri. Picture: Tim Hunter

Subscribers generate an average of $4200 a month – plus often generous one-off “tips” which can be up to $5000 a pop – which has been a financial boost since Covid cancelled gigs.

He averages more than 600 people watching him live from anywhere for his two to three hour sessions but then thousands more check out his edited clips on the platform, YouTube and his social media pages.

“The first collaborative stream I did with Pestily, I was playing to 125,000 of his fans live,” Cavaleri said.

“At first I couldn’t see how Twitch suited music because gaming dominates it massively but then I started my channel and started to notice different content creators on there and the feedback I got is people wanted a place to chill, something different after watching games.”

Cavaleri, who also writes music for advertising, found it daunting at first to satisfy the Twitch audience’s appetite for a two-hour plus session; even his gigs aren’t that long.

He found the Twitch community were into watching him write songs live so he started jamming during his stream.

Australian famous Twitch streamer Pestily. Picture: Supplied

The Support Act ambassador, who battled depression and anxiety after suffering burnout, also opened up conversations about mental health, holding guided meditation sessions and started making music to help his fans relax and sleep.

He created the alter ego Bodhi Rivers for that music, with tracks titled New Light, 5am Kisses and Fearless, generating more than 100,000 streams.

“Bodhi Rivers is my alter ego because I didn’t want to confuse my (rock) audiences with the meditation or relaxation music,” he said.

“The songs are repetitive and cyclical so you can just kind of zone out and people can have it on in the background.

“I know there’s teachers who play it to their preschool students when they’re having a little nap. It’s probably the only time that I’ve been flattered that somebody falls asleep to my music.”

Cavaleri said he plans to finish off the songs he has been writing online for a new record next year.

“I do have other revenue sources but the money that I’m getting from the subscriptions allows me to take time off work to create my album,” he said.

POPULAR AUSTRALIAN TWITCH STREAMERS

Loserfruit (Vic)

Gamer

2.6 million followers

One of the most popular gamer streamers in the world, Kathleen Belsten juggles her live action and chat sessions across Twitch and YouTube. She boosted sales of Gen Z cosmetics range E.l.f. by 50 per cent when the brand teamed up with the streaming star.

Loserfruit. Picture: Supplied

Pestily (SA)

Gamer

984,000 followers

Soldier, firefighter and now content creator, the gaming star continues to fundraise for Cavaleri’s beloved Starlight Foundation, which helped him realise his childhood wish of meeting guitar hero Mark Knopfler when he was battling cancer.

Now you see him, Pestily. Picture: Supplied

Now you don’t, Pestily. Picture: Supplied

Hayzee (NSW)

Musician

33,600 followers

With one of the fastest growing channels on the platform during the last 12 months, the indie folk musician also attracts an audience who like a mix of music and chat.

Hayzee. Picture: Twitch

Lara6683 (NSW)

Music

263,000 followers

An artist at the centre of where games and music collide. The Sydney pianist performs classical versions of old school video game themes.

Lara6683. Picture: Twitch

MissMollyMakes (WA)

Food

10,500 followers

Another crossover success exploiting the video games theme on Twitch. Miss Molly’s cooking shows focus on themed food from video games, TV and movies. Fans get involved, asking live questions about the meals and their inspiration.

MissMollyMakes. Picture: Twitch

Originally published as Australians making $5000 a pop on live streaming platform Twitch