Erastus Ayieko Otieno alias Flaqo Raz has been an internet sensation among Kenyans. He is a comedian as well as an artist.
His comical videos have been widely watched and shared to his delight. He has also been featured in various TV commercials.
In an interview with the Plug TV, the comedian has revealed how he made how his work has helped him make millions.
When asked how much he made he said,” Probably, inaweza kuwa imefika 20 million..during that Covid time.”
“But hiyo stuff iliniderail..people have different goals, kama wewe ni creative na intention yako ni kutengeneza pesa out of kuchekesha wasee, then go for it..but for me, that is not why I started in the first place… I was making money money and more money.”
Here’s the video:
Why he took a break from content creation
Explaining why he has been missing in action for the last one year, Flaqo said he has been under training to improve his production.
“Sijakuwa nikishoot for a year…I felt I was doing skits for a long time mpaka ilibidi nichange some things…nikaamua kuchukua break because ilibidi nigo back to learning more about shooting, so that there is improvement.”
Challenges
In October 2020, Flaqo’s YouTube channel was terminated over a copyright claim. A message from YouTube elaborated the cause of the account termination. A visibly distressed Flaqo took it to social media to vent his frustrations.
However, it was not long until he got his channel back and he was back to creating content for his subscribers. By the time this article was published, Flaqo’s YouTube channel has over 267,000 subscribers. That is an achievement only a select few can achieve.
Career
He started his channel in 2015, and has accumulated over 66,788,689 views over the years.
The comedian had gained popularity due to his hilarious content in which he dresses up and acts as different characters.
The video platform has given content creators freedom to develop their careers and earn money without the limitation of the traditional forms of entertainment such as TV, Radio and events.
The video platform gives the audience the power to choose what content while studying patterns to recommend similar videos.
With millions of videos being uploaded daily, YouTube takes copyright violations very seriously.
YouTube Violations
According to digital content expert Brian Muuo, the platform has two ways of tracking copyright violations. One is when the copyright holder notices that their video was used without permission. The offended creator sends YouTube a complaint and if it is legitimate, the video is taken down.
It also has a content ID is a system YouTube which matches upload content against millions of videos. Copyright owners have to upload reference files or original versions of their work that prove they own the rights.
An account is terminated if it gets up to three copyright warnings.
