TIKTOK sensation DJ AG once earned an entire year’s salary in just one month after going viral on the app.
DJ AG, whose given name is Ashley Gordon, is best known for his live-streamed DJ sets outside London King’s Cross station which have attracted some of the biggest stars in the world.
He now performs all over the country and has been joined by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora, Will Smith, Skepta, Daniel Bedingfield, Craig David and Idris Elba. Even supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Even former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful dropped by for a surprise visit once.
Now, DJ AG has revealed how much he rakes in every month, but also got real about how much work it takes to be a TikTok star.
“What I’m earning now is circa £4,000 a month if I’m lucky,” he explained during a recent appearance on the In My Opinion podcast.
“Prior to that I was monetising on TikTok and doing very well,” he continued, and confirmed there were some months when he earned more than £40,000.
“People don’t know how TikTok works, it’s not just posting content. You can go live, you can do co-host battles with people and that’s a call to action, people will support you with gifting.”
DJ AG also earns money on TikTok by doing ‘forfeit challenges,’ where two content creators go head-to-head and the loser has to undertake an intense dare.
“I was bantering and people were enjoying the content so people were gifting, and I earned a good amount of money,” he said.
“Maybe in one month, I earned more than a year’s salary.”
He explained he is earning less from TikTok now because he’s only doing the outdoor DJ sets and there’s no “call to action” to encourage people to send monetary gifts.
DJ AG said he was happy to talk about his earnings because he wanted to be honest with up-and-coming content creators, not only about the financial gains, but also the huge amount of work that goes in to being a hip hop star.
“People don’t understand the amount of hours I had to do, like 15 hours a day every day,” he said.
“In my opinion, it’s important to be transparent especially for the youth that are coming through so they understand what the opportunities are.”
People who post on TikTok have the opportunity to join the TikTok Creator Fund, which pays content creators for their views.
To join the program TikTokers must be 18 or older, have a minimum of 10,000 followers, a minimum of 100,000 views within 30 days of uploading the video, and run an account that follows TikTok Community Guidelines.
While it is not a grant or ad revenue program, the Creator Fund provides payment to qualified TikTokers based on a “variety of factors” across their content.
“We want all creators to have the opportunity to earn money doing what they love and turn their passion into a livelihood,” the website continues.
With no limit on the number of qualified TikTokers who can join the fund, payments may increase or decrease at different times throughout one’s run on the platform.
Some factors affecting the funds a qualified TikToker may earn include the number of authentic views per video, the amount of engagement, and whether or not the work falls within the Community Guidelines.