JonnyKuik: From Full-Time Streamer to Piano Teacher | Episode 5

Jonny Kuik is a classically trained pianist and Twitch Partner from the UK who spent years streaming full-time before choosing a different path. 

In this episode we talk about building a niche as a music streamer, getting rejected from Twitch Partnership three times, what full-time streaming actually costs, and why he's now teaching piano instead. 

An honest conversation about growth, burnout, and what comes after you've already made it.

🎹 Find Jonny: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JonnyKuikPiano/featured 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jonnykuikpiano/ 

TikTok @jonnykuik  https://www.tiktok.com/@jonnykuik

Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/jonnykuik/

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Transcript

The Partner Room Feeling

Jonny Kuik 0:00

Actually, this was at a party. It was a partner party at TwitchCon. I was there with my friend and he said to me Can you believe that we're in a room right now with the only partner streamers? Every single person in this room has worked so hard to get this badge and we are part of this group. And then it was like it was a very like hype thing to say to me because I was like, Oh crap, yeah, you never realize that because you think they're just normal human beings.

Patty 0:40

Welcome to the Growth Raid Podcast, the place where we dive into real streamer stories to find out what's behind the streamer. I'm your host, Patty, and today we have Johnny. Johnny is a classically trained pianist from the UK who loves covering music, especially from video games and anime. He streams live medlis and takes song requests and has built a full-time streaming career around the piano. Johnny, so good to have you here. How are you doing?

How Patty And Johnny Met

Jonny Kuik 1:10

I'm doing good, thank you. I hope you've been well as well. Thank you for having me here.

Patty 1:14

Johnny, you know, you're actually the guest that I think I've known the longest. Do you remember when we first met?

Jonny Kuik 1:22

Oh my god. Um I think I've streamed for so long, it's so hard to backtrack some of the the times. I I'm pretty sure it's at least five years, right?

Patty 1:36

Yeah, I think it's closer to like seven or eight because I think I've known you since I was in I've been in Korea, and that was 2018. So almost a decade. And I think we've met because of the Discord community of like Infinium. I think that was around the time.

Jonny Kuik 1:59

Oh my god, that rose that is a big throwback. Um, I remember it was Jay Duster who ran it.

Patty 2:06

He or he was like hosting a lot of people, and then I mean I knew like Once in Love, the people who um streamed like Summoner's War and the very first Gatcha games before Gatcha was cool, and so many people from from that time like uh they either stopped streaming or I have never heard from them again, so it has been a really long time. And the other funny thing is that ever since that time until now, I still request the exact same song from you that you you already know it by heart now.

Jonny Kuik 2:37

Melts, yeah.

Patty 2:39

So when we met, even though it was that long ago, uh you were already streaming for a while. I don't know if you were already like uh uh going for a partner or we were still like affiliates. But how did you start streaming?

Starting Piano Streams On Twitch

Patty 2:55

Why did you start streaming? And did you start with the piano?

Jonny Kuik 2:59

So going all the way back, I first started streaming, I think it was 2020, sorry, 2016. It was shortly after I graduated from uni actually. And I've always had this idea because of my love for piano, I wanted to oh after I graduated, which was a music degree, I wanted to get into something a little bit more creative that not really many other people like did. Uh I knew what streaming was before I started streaming because I used to play a game called League of Legends and I was competitive in it, uh, and I was also featured in some of the streams um whilst I was playing games there, and that platform has kind of shown showed me the ropes of what you can really do on it, and I think in the early days of streaming, there were people who did a lot of IRL streaming and not just video games, and I did see one um artist that I particularly liked uh who would stream piano on the platform, um, and he was one of the very few people that did it. There was almost no one who did something like that. It was usually YouTube um that was the main source for for music and whatnot. But the live performance aspect was really cool because I as much as I like going to live concerts, I thought it was a pretty cool idea to do it online as well, and that's kind of what inspired me to get into it. So I did a lot of research, you know, investing into little little um mixes basically that you can connect your instrument into and then record it and play it online or like broadcast it basically, and that's kind of where I I tried. I remember I used to stack chairs and put my Mac laptop on top of a on top of all these boxes just to get a good angle and play piano, pretty much music that I wanted to play on Twitch. And I thought it was a good idea because I'm so into video games music and and anime that it would kind of strike an audience that way, and it actually worked. So that's pretty much how I ended up starting off on Twitch.

Patty 5:01

Oh, that that is absolutely amazing. I know I have tried uh when I had my piano, like to just connect it to the computer to play it, and I feel like that that is a big challenge, especially at the beginning. And Twitch was not what it is now, and even the tech, so that probably was very challenging. Um, but I do remember back then it was like 1919, 99.99%. Everyone was doing games, so it was very rare to find music, art, IRL, and all that other stuff. Do you did you feel like you were gonna do good because you were different or like the the opposite?

Jonny Kuik 5:44

Not because I was different, but because it was relatable. I think the fact that I was into video games music kind of I wouldn't say set a trend, but like I can relate that the games that other people played who came onto the channel can hear it and be like, oh cool, this guy can play this on piano. When well in real life at the time, I didn't think there was many people who were like me who had this interest in playing video games music on an instrument, uh I guess broadcasting it as well. Well, that uh in general, let alone broadcasting it online. So that very small percentage was cool because I thought it was a creative idea because not many other people would do it, but then it kind of took track, yeah, since then and brought ideas to other things. I think it I guess it sparks inspiration to a lot of people that way. Um, but to me it was it came it all came off from just an idea. Actually, initially, I wanted to do it as a way of busking, as in the term of like, you know, when people play in the streets at uh for money and then like passer buyers would go in and donate. Um, you see this a lot in like tube stations and whatnot. Um, but I thought I like the idea of that, but I wanted to do it in the in the comfort of my own home, so that's why broadcasting was like the the number one idea is that I can be warm and play, and you know, actually rather than expanding my horizons to the country, I could expand my horizons to the world. That's where my idea came from.

Patty 7:11

Well, that's pretty cool. So, did you have any goals? Because back then we already had like a partner and ways of making money. Was that like your goal while you were doing other jobs on the side, or were you treating it more as a hobby?

Jonny Kuik 7:28

It definitely was a hobby at the time because I didn't think it could take off because an idea is just an idea. I I did have a job at the time, um, so I was only doing this in my spare time, but yeah, I think slowly it started to grow, and I I never realized it until I guess a couple of years later that not only was I enjoying what I did, but I was also earning from it. But that that never really crossed my mind because I uh well at the time I never saw it as a job, but I I tend to not well for stuff like this, it was only just for fun. So I I think because I was quite naive, I wanted to try out different things in the music realm. Uh so this was just one of the many things that I I just tried doing and ended up doing, so yeah.

The Long Road To Partner

Patty 8:20

So how long did it take you to go from you know just streaming occasionally and uh then getting partner?

Jonny Kuik 8:28

Partner was not easy because I think the requirements are still the same. It's 75 concurrent viewers, not including raids. So to like have to think about maintaining that threshold all the time was extremely difficult. Before I was partnered, I didn't really have that number, and it's not like you can ask people to to like raid you and stuff. Actually, raids were quite new back then as well. But I did like the concept that Twitch was developing its platform by having like first it was hosting before raiding, actually. So people would host your channel for X amount of viewers, and then they the people would click in and stay if they were interested in it, and that was kind of the way of getting exposure at the time. But partner was not something that I ever had a goal in mind. It was in the back of my mind actually, because I was like, Oh, wouldn't it be cool if I had streamed this long? I think this was a couple of years in at the time, and actually got partnered and see where I went with it. I think the time the time I started taking it a bit more seriously was when people really wanted me to go to places like TwitchCon and like meet people and whatnot. Because I I at that point in time already, I think I'd met my followers kept growing and growing and growing, and I just got really lucky being able to meet people or people discovered me uh along the way of the streaming journey. So I would say I got both lucky and fortunate to be able to do a lot of things to for me to actually decide that I wanted to do this, but I didn't get I've actually gotten rejected three times from partnership, and I remember one of them I had 74 concurrent viewers instead of 75, and that was the only difference that they would chuck me out and and not it it wasn't easy basically. Um it took me at least a few years to get into it, and then to be honest, if I was really blunt at myself, because I like to be quite optimistic on a lot of things, but I think the only reason why I got partner is because I would I happened to be streaming during COVID and COVID brought a lot of people online because you know they couldn't go outside and there was nothing else to do apart from the internet. That's when the internet really grew and live performances did not basically exist outside, and that's kind of when Twitch started to make to make the most of it by bringing in real, like professional, proper professional artists and big artists into it to kind of give that exposure for musicians as well. Not only it gave exposure to them, but it also gave exposure to a lot of smaller uh music streamers as well, and because of that, I kind of skyrocketed in viewership that way as well. I think that was the peak of my time as well.

Patty 11:08

Yeah, I I hear that a lot, even from partners that I know now, that they got really lucky with the pandemic because there were so many people online. I that's what I hear a lot, and also this is a good way of people not getting discouraged because not everyone gets partner at their first application, even when they have the numbers. So it's it's not a thing that you know people should give up because like a lot of people get rejected one, two, three times before getting accepted. For your journey, you say it was mostly like a gradual growth for those first couple of years. Do you know or do you remember of something either that you did or that happened that was like a bigger jump other than the pandemic in the viewership?

MrBeast Drops In Mid-Collab

Jonny Kuik 11:58

Yeah, I think my most memorable one was that I ended up being in a Mr. Beast video. Really? I think this is no, this is ages ago. It's it's actually still there. Um, I did a collab stream with a professional violinist in California. His name's Jason Yang.

Patty 12:17

I don't know if I know you play with Chewie as well, right?

Jonny Kuik 12:21

Yeah, yeah. So I did this one collab with him because he he liked me, and I I I thought I never thought so like I thought I was like this little person compared to this this big guy that he like asked me to come over and play with him, and I was like, that's such an honor. This guy plays for like Madonna outside of streaming, and he's like one of the best, quote unquote, one of the best violinists in the world. And as much as I was nervous on that stream playing with him, because it was my first time like doing something of this big of a caliber, because Twitch has given me so many opportunities to do things that I never even thought I would have done. Mr. Beast then comes onto the chat and he donates like $100 saying to play Ocean Man on the piano. And luckily, Jason was so good because he's pitch perfect, and I didn't know how to play by ear at the time. He um he told me the chords, so because I know how to play chords and whatnot on the piano, he just told me to play these chords and I did. And luckily it was easy. So then somehow, well, I the song became was the meme at the time, and I ended up playing it and singing it for it, and then I didn't realize that a few days later he had uploaded a video with literally like a 10-second clip of me playing Ocean Man and Jason playing the drums in the background, and he put our handles in it as well. Well, it was on my channel, so I actually got all the attention from it. Um, since we we did like one stream on one day, on my channel on one day, and another stream on his channel on the other day, just to make it fair on the collaboration. But the time that Mr. Beast came onto the channel was on my on my Twitch channel at the time, so my handle was there, and millions and millions of people came over and like viewed my channel, and I got so many followers from then that was when it skyrocketed a lot, and I was like, Oh my god, it was overwhelming because I thought a front page stream was already quite overwhelming, but this was in a whole other caliber because the one of the most subscribed content creators on YouTube like shares a 10-second video of me. It's like the power of that can do so much, and I was yeah, I was really overwhelmed at the time, but it was a good feeling though.

Patty 14:34

Yeah, that that sounds absolutely crazy. I don't know. I knew that Chewie uh did uh work with him, but I I didn't know you did it as well. Or maybe I knew and I just forgot.

Jonny Kuik 14:45

Mine was on a much smaller scale because Jason and Chewy, they they're like they have their bromance between each other, they played so many times together, so there's there's always like a an enjoyment out of watching them two play with each other because there is a magical thing that happens between the two of them as well. That's nice.

Patty 15:02

Yeah, so we you got super attention, so you got super lucky on on that. That is the same of like uh I see a lot of people just saying to share your clips on like TikTok or YouTube or whatever, because it's like if you get one to go viral, like you got viral by Mr. Beast or you know, showing up on Twitch fails or stuff like that. That's like a small percentage of people get that and get massive attention from it, and it's certainly one way of growing, but other other than that, did you back in the day did something specifically for growing because you were doing this while having a job, right? So you you probably did not have that much time to do anything other than streaming. Were there other things that you did to try and bring people to your channel?

Requests, Personality, And Luck

Jonny Kuik 15:56

I I think at the time I really just took advantage of people like sorry, new channels. Sorry, taking advantage is such a bad term to use it. But I I call it an opportunity because um if a new viewer comes in um and they wanted to request a specific song, I'll try my best to play it. And that's kind of what drew the attention to a lot of people who did come in. That's partially how I ended up becoming to learn by learn music by ear a lot. But honestly, it was more about something I didn't realise when I stream, or something that I learned about myself, is that I think my personality ended up being quite positive among a lot of people uh in the Twitch community as well, because I I'd like to think that I'm a pretty approachable person, and I think that helps to have that. I I don't think I used to be a very toxic gamer before I started streaming, but I've done a complete 180, or at least I got to the point where I was so toxic that there was nothing to be toxic anymore, and then I just became an angel after that, and that's kind of how like I I think I think the one thing I like about music is is that there's no ego behind it, and I like I always like to be believed that music is never a competition, but it's it's a way of bringing people together to share your enjoyment and your passion and your love for music with other people, you know, video it doesn't have to be video games, music, or anime, it can be pop and um you know film music or like metal and all that sort of stuff as well. There's no right or wrong because at the end of the day it's an opinion, but my my sole purpose off streaming is to be with like-minded people like myself, because I think nerd culture in the past wasn't as isn't as prominent as today, so I had I had found it much harder to connect with people who liked the same things that I did in the real world, but in the Twitch world it was very easy. Yeah, it's a little bit different today because I think nerd culture has become the norm, and therefore, you know, it's it kind of switches on the other way around. Something that I um I think I I want to add on to what you said about you know, it only takes one video to go viral. That is true to that extent, but and I do highly think it's about luck. But some people I know a lot of people who have grinded a lot and haven't managed to obtain that, and it's and a lot of people feel shame because they think it's their fault, but I ne I actually don't think it's their fault ever. That is unf the unfortunate truth is that luck does come into play when it comes to streaming, which is why you know it's only one thing that it takes to become famous or big, but not everyone has that opportunity because, like you said, it's only a very small percentage of people that do do it, and it if everyone does it, the percentage is even smaller, right? So yeah, it's a bit of a harsh reality on that one.

Patty 18:53

Yeah, because I have a lot of friends that say that they try and do the clips and the shorts, and none of them get much attention, so it really is hard for like getting picked by the algorithm or something happened, and it's very rare, and there's so much content now getting made every single day, it's getting harder to get noticed, and it doesn't go just for Twitch. I think any type of content creation, it does have a little bit of luck playing into it for sure.

One-Hour Freestyles And Burnout

Patty 19:24

That reminds me that I don't know if you still do it, but you used to do was it once a week you did like the streams where you play for one hour, like you you just play it and then you put it on YouTube. Did that ever like bring views? Like, because you post those on on YouTube, and even I use those, like sometimes when I do my co-work streams, I just have your one-hour piano playing on the background.

Jonny Kuik 19:49

I I did it for myself, not for views, although it's nice to have, but there are a couple of issues that I had with it. I can name a few uh with this. One is I was pressured to do it every week, and that involved having to improvise a set of songs in my head that lasted for one hour. And I think on average, for a musician, an average musician plays for about 30 minutes, not one hour, which is extremely hard to do if you were going from one song to another, because actually, if you were learning an instrument or an instrumentalist, it is actually the advanced or the last level that in the exam you would have to play for about 30 minutes. But I had to do this like 30 minutes thing every week, so that was a lot to take in. Though I did have the luxury to repeat songs and whatnot, and I usually go by by you know what I'm feeling or what's been in my head lately to play, but it was more I think the more it started to build pressure on me, the less I enjoyed it, and I and then I thought about at the end of the day, it's very easy to hear someone's music if they don't whether they have the passion to play it or not the passion to play it. And I think as I've grown as as a musician, I've started to see a lot more of that, and as much as I am a people pleaser myself, I pleased other people, but I didn't please myself. So it's a little bit of self-care on that end to uh to have gone away from it. Yeah, that was one of the reasons at least. But I think if if I just name another one, yeah, I did I did like the idea that people uh ended up using my free plays to use as background music, and I was definitely okay with that. But at the same time, it's like I think the purpose dies a little bit more because I have been seeing not to be so negative, but like I've been seeing a lot of like AI music lately, which has pretty much replaced a lot of this sort of stuff, and if You did have my music as background music. What's the difference between listening to something like that and listening to something that's already on YouTube? Like pre-made kind of thing. Um or even pre-recorded. The copyright stuff is a little bit different now. Well it's a lot more lenient for live streaming, but it's definitely a lot more stricter for videos in uh specifically. So if someone wanted to record something but have background music at the same time, they're not necessarily allowed to do that anymore. I yeah, there's I I am I do try to be optimistic with this, but I think it got to the point where I started to see more negatives than there were positives, so then I was like, okay, it's probably the better option to not do it anymore, kind of thing. I do from time to time though, but it's more of the enjoyment of it than I do or the the the content of it.

Patty 22:51

Did you start it like you said for yourself? Was it because you always do what other people request and you just wanted to play what you want to play? Is that what is how it started?

Jonny Kuik 23:02

Yes and no, because when I was learning piano back in the practice rooms, I would just play to myself. And whenever I was feeling down or sad, I would do the same thing. I would play for hours and hours and hours in a practice room isolated by myself. It's kind of the recluse part of me, actually, um, of playing the piano that I'd like to close my eyes and just play music and kind of like negate, similar to playing games, just to like get out of the reality for a little bit and just enjoy, have my own enjoyment in playing. I do that in music as well as I do that in games as well. But it started to be a little bit more a lot of the inspiration actually was from doing mashups as well. I I really liked mashups at the time to mix one song to another, like a live performance, I thought was really cool. And I didn't know that you can do that with piano as well. So that's kind of where my idea comes in from for that. But yeah, self-enjoyment, I think, is the most important too.

Adding Games Without Losing Fans

Patty 24:01

Yeah, you still stream mainly piano, but now you also stream a lot of games. Uh, when did you start? Were you already partnered when you started including games? Was that like a scary transition for you?

Jonny Kuik 24:16

Yes, it was very scary transitioning because you know I've I've I mean I've seen people first. I s I saw people wanting to do variety and streams other things other than their content, but it's backlashed a lot, and that's something that I also have um personally been scared of to do that because I've always been known as the music guy, but I think sometimes you know, if you do too much of one thing, it's never really that healthy, and I did music all the time, and I think when I started to feel less enjoyment from you know doing live learns and playing some requests, I did want to stray away for a little bit, but I felt like I was at risk a lot because I think this was during the time when I was still full-time streaming, is because I don't I didn't really have a plan B, and I think that's the one of the hardest parts about one being a freelancer and two being um a streamer as well, is that there's never any stability or security that you you have. Sometimes I think that's the same as for the freelancer life as well. There'll be days where I'll make one month's mur worth of like revenue in one week, but there'll also be like months where that I'll be grinding a lot of streams and and content for very little, basically. So there's never that sense of security that you know that you're gonna do well, even though you do do well when you like if you if you stream normally or like you know had a had a good day and whatnot, even the good days can be bad days in streaming, and that's like the toughest part mentally, and I think um the other part is like taking a break actually from streaming. I once took a break for about three months, um, I had some personal issues going on um during that time, and then uh when I came back, like no one was there, and that was scary. I was like, what is the purpose of streaming anymore? Because everything's changed. Yeah, no, it's scary, it's really, really scary, I think. But from what I've learned from that, I do think it's just so funny because when I first started out, I had a job and I was streaming, so I had something to go back to, and then when I went to full-time streaming, I never knew I was very naive to not know that I don't have a plan B for whatever goes, and I would always just try my hardest every time to the point where like I didn't know about stuff like streamer lifespans, content creator lifespans, and all that sort of stuff. It's kind of similar to esports, there's a very short span for it, and stuff like burnout, you know, mental health issues that come with you know the package and whatnot. As much as you I've had all these opportunities to you know travel around the world for TwitchCon, meet new people, make lifelong friends, but it also comes with the big downsides of it. I feel like there's a very there's a high peak and also a very low depth to it as well. Some people just call it an adventure, but yeah, but yeah, no, it's been like that. I I feel like I've seen the whole thing with streaming now, and yeah, everyone's different. I think everyone has a different opinion on it. It's how you work with it at the end of the day.

Patty 27:49

Yeah, I totally feel like what do you say? Obviously, I don't need to get as many subscribers as someone like you because I'm in Port Hillier in the UK. The the cost of living is completely different, and that will change a lot of people's perspectives on streaming. But I also feel the same that's one day I will make enough money to last me two months, and then I'm gonna be streaming for two months. And some streams are gonna be amazing, but I'm not making any money from it, and like I'm questioning myself all the time like what why am I doing this if I'm not getting any money? And then one stream that's you know, we get donations, hype trains or whatnot, and it's like the the roller coaster of emotions that we never know where or to do that, and on the breaks, it's like you took that long break because you had issues, but holidays for freelancers are just nightmare. You you either save a lot so you can stop, or you never know when you're gonna be able to, you know, just take a break. And especially as content creators, I think we really need to disconnect every now and then because that it takes so much of us, especially because we do live and we have to be there. I mean, we don't always have to have the perfect day, but we cannot be as entertaining, or it always feels bad if we're not like showing our best self to the community.

Jonny Kuik 29:20

Yeah, exactly. It takes a toll on your mind for that.

Full-Time Streaming And No Plan B

Patty 29:24

When did you move to full-time streaming? Was it when you reached partner, or did you have to wait a bit longer? Did partner help, or was it just one one of the steps?

Jonny Kuik 29:37

I think I did it naively after I reached partner because I thought I could maintain all of the hype that I had at the time as a partner. Yeah, pretty much then. That's that is the only time I I was through full-time streaming then.

Patty 29:55

I hear like you did partner push, right? So when people do partner push and they get like sometimes the numbers go even higher than what they need, but then when you reach partner, even it's like the community's like, okay, he did it, there's no need to keep going back. And I see a lot of people like getting partner, and then their numbers go way lower than what they did for during the partner push. Did that happen to you? Did you have to like grind more after to keep growing?

Jonny Kuik 30:26

No, I kept the hype up for that. There was always something to work towards. Just because you hit a goal doesn't mean you retire from there. You always set yourself new goals when you get partnered. So after I got partnered, I went for like emotes pushing. You know, we ended up getting like 30 plus emote slots for my channel doing that, and then you have stuff like anniversaries that you can celebrate and do, always reminiscent of the good times and whatnot. And and then, like luckily, Twitch was quite nice about it. They give you like front page opportunities to expose yourself on there, and you know, there are other things to work on then. But over time, yes, it does go down back to the lower numbers or or whatnot. Because I feel like everyone's had their time, because there's always someone else that's pushing for partner, and and then you know, a lot of people like to see people succeed, which is which is good, and I always I always want that for people, but then they never remember that you know about the people that had made it, you know, because then the hype goes down and they kind of forget about those people as well, and don't realise that they do end up struggling sometimes too. So that was kind of my you know life lesson on that. I knew it was gonna happen at one point, but I didn't want it to happen so early on, well, or early on in general, which luckily it didn't for me, but you know, over time it does it does happen. Well, at this point in time it ha it had already have.

Patty 32:04

Did you also ever feel like because you do music and specifically piano, that you had like a ceiling of views that you could get from Twitch comparing to like gaming channels?

Jonny Kuik 32:16

No, because I have never reached as high as some of the big piano streamers in the music community. I commend them because they put so much effort into their work for streaming and they do deserve it. I guess I never like put my foot on the ground to try and be like that. Because I think I value being genuine higher than being a performative actor or something like that on Twitch. I think that's the that's part of the enjoyment of live streaming for me at least, is to be able to meet people and um make friends and you know hang out with people as well on on stream, not just the music side of things, um, but also the the interactive side of things of of live streaming as well. That's why I choose Twitch over YouTube, you know, doing videos and whatnot.

What The Partner Badge Changes

Patty 33:10

Did partner like open different doors? I know partner gets like uh slots in the front page, and I know not everyone gets them. Is there any other ways that being partner has helped you in like growing your community? Yes.

Jonny Kuik 33:30

Uh interacting with other streamers with your badge, I guess, kind of fits in it. But to be fair, I've had this conversation with another partnered streamer before. Actually, this was at a party, it was a partner party at TwitchCon. I was there with my friend, and he said to me, Can you believe that we're in a room right now with only partnered streamers? Every single person in this room has worked so hard to get this badge, and we are part of this group. And I and then it was like it was a very like hype thing to say to me because I was like, Oh crap, yeah, you never realize that because you think they're just normal human beings, but everyone has put in the work to to do to get to where they are with that, and it is incredible to be, you know, I feel like it's kind of like a talent thing almost as well. Talent as in like a group of people that are like you who do the same thing, almost like your colleagues, basically, I guess, in that sense, that everyone has gotten to that point that they um they share the same talent with you. And I thought that was really cool. So, but to answer your question, I think in terms of realizing that you're a partner, you know, people can acknowledge you, even if you go to someone else's chat, it's quite interesting to see someone as a partner streamer. They they would want to check you out immediately. It's it's kind of a I hate to say it's a hierarchy thing because I don't really like higher hierarchies in general.

Patty 35:00

You don't need anyone to shout you out. There's already a symbol there that says that you stream.

Jonny Kuik 35:04

Yeah, it's already proof that you've made it. Kind of like ranks in a video game, I guess. If you're a challenger in in League of Legends or something, you got the border, so people know you've done the grind to do to get there in that place. So yeah, it it is very positive to to be that. But I mean, everyone should see that that as a as a goal, um, if they want to get partnered and whatnot. But some people value things differently to others, some people can see the badge as just a badge and nothing else, which is totally okay. It really depends on the person, but I think it holds a lot more value than it does, than than what most people see it, in my opinion.

Patty 35:48

Yeah, I think so too. But I also have seen uh the the other side. There's I don't know, can you hide the the partner badge from chats? Like you can hide. Yes, yeah, because I know people that are like they feel like this kind of pressure when they go into someone new and they have the badge and they don't want to be perceived in that way because either they they don't want anyone to make a fuss or you know they don't they they struggle a little bit. I feel like I see that more with like new partners than people that have been for a long time. And then on the other side, when I see a partner chat on my stream, especially if it's someone that I don't know, I'm like, who is this person that is no it's a partner and it's checking me out, and it's also a really nice feeling on on the other end of uh you know someone going in chat like that.

Jonny Kuik 36:41

That's why I think it's good to be optimistic and it works both on both ends. I feel like if a partner doesn't show their badge, they seem to be someone who doesn't like fame. But like, what's the point? Why are you doing this in the first place? Kind of thing. Because I think at the end of the day, if you're a live streamer and or a YouTuber, there's two there's two ways of putting it. If you're a normal streamer that wanted to just hang out with people, that's totally fine, the for fun side, but if you took streaming seriously, and I think if you are a partner, you have taken streaming seriously, it is worse to hide your badge. I I feel like there's there's kind of a twist to it, it's like as if you got partnered but you don't want to be famous, but you can't it it cannot work both ways, basically. So that's the negative sides of doing that. Whereas if you were like an affiliate or a streamer without a badge, and you see a partnered streamer come into your chat, I would be optimistic about it because it's like, oh, a partner streamer has checked me out. Maybe in the future they would, you know, they could host me if they if they like me and if they think I'm interesting and whatnot. Uh it's not, I mean, it is nerve-wracking, everyone gets nervous because it's like a surprise almost, isn't it? Because you know, there's only a handful of partners partnered streamers are technically the top one percent of streamers in the Twitch community. So see that as a privilege or an opportunity more than anything else. But the more you do it, I think. I mean, it's like anything if you perform, if you do a presentation or a speech, you get nervous, but the more times you do it, it starts to get to the street. It gets more natural now. Yeah. So I think it's okay to be nervous, but just try your best. At the end of the day, it's just try your best and keep at it and be optimistic about this as well. Because if you want to take it seriously, then you should be thinking about these things. But if you're not taking it seriously, then it's easier to be yourself, which I think works in its own charm as well. Um, but yeah, I mean, yeah, it's different for everyone. I do like more genuine people than I do like fake people kind of thing.

Patty 39:00

I've seen both sides. There's people that like to know have a persona, character to be while they're stream, and uh a lot of people that you know just take streaming as their chill time or they can just be themselves, and usually those are the most fun for me to watch.

Jonny Kuik 39:16

Yeah, but to be honest, it's not alien to us though. I think in the corporate world it's even worse like that. There are a lot of people who wear masks just to get into the business side of things, and it kind of works the same way here. I think one of the privileges of streaming is that I guess it is considered easier in the corporate world, but at the end of the day, it's freelance, and freelance is extremely difficult unless you have the passion and the drive to keep doing it and keep doing the grind. If you're a workaholic, that also helps as well.

Redefining Success After The Peak

Patty 39:50

So you got Bartner, you went full time, and did you ever feel like you made it as a streamer, or is there like a vision of success as a streamer that you feel like you you never reached it or you would like to reach that?

Jonny Kuik 40:10

I think I have reached no, I have gone beyond my expectation for being partnered, and I'm forever grateful for that. I have had my peak, I've had my time, and I've had more than that because I've always wanted well, I like traveling in general, and I've had that opportunity that people have helped me, you know, fund trips to do stuff and do great things and meet all these other big streamers and whatnot. Um, I wouldn't say right now I have a bucket list of things to do. I think my aim and goals has gonna been a lot different now than it has been before. I think that kind of comes with age as well. But to be fair, I have other forms of enjoyment now than these goals in streaming nowadays. Um and I think it's more fun for me than it is back then.

Patty 41:05

You said you don't stream as much now. Was this like a very sudden realization, or over time you started realizing that you wanted to like stream less and do other things?

Jonny Kuik 41:19

I still like streaming today, but I yeah, I think one of my negative aspects is like being realistic with myself because I've been spoiled, and I've because I've been um I've had all these opportunities to do uh these great things in the streaming life. I wanted to keep that going, but I know that it's not gonna last forever, and I'm usually someone who doesn't like change, or I'm very scared of change in general, so I hold back and I try to prolong it as long as I can, but I think at this point I've come to that realization that maybe it's not a good idea for me to keep going, but I have no regrets, you know. I I can end it on a happy note in that sense. But I actually don't want to quit streaming though. I will still like stream and I'll still you know be there for people and whatnot, but it's more for like fun than it is. So I've gone kind of gone back to being a hobbyist, like streaming is my hobby kind of thing, more than it is. That's why I've recently felt comfortable with playing games or doing just chatting and stuff other than music, actually. Um, and that's given me a bit more insight on different things. Actually, IRL would be one of my bucket list things to do, but I'm a bit irl is very fun. I've seen you do it and you're great at it.

Patty 42:47

I love it. I would I would love to you know grow to the point that you know I could finance that because IRL is very expensive to do.

Jonny Kuik 42:55

It's expensive, yeah. I've heard I've heard a lot of stories on that. Um it's difficult, it's probably one of the most difficult categories to do in Twitch in general at at this point, but at the same time, it it's one of the most entertaining categories, uh, in my opinion at least, uh, since uh Twitch is more of a social media platform than it is a gaming platform now. Yeah. Um but yeah, no, because I've transitioned a little bit, because I do work, I I work now as a I found my niche actually, which is piano teaching that I've been doing recently. And I guess some positives from last year's that I recently passed a drive. It's given me many, many, many more opportunities to do um to branch out basically. That um I didn't know that people needed me in that sense, or there's not a lot of people like me to be there, be there for like kids and uh learners who want to learn how to play piano as well in the in real life than uh online.

Patty 43:57

But it's nice that you know you found your place and Anyway, and you you don't regret any of the things you did for streaming. Do you feel like streaming gave you skills that you can very easily use now, not only for teaching, but other work that you might want to do?

Jonny Kuik 44:18

Uh yeah, I think it's given me a personality, a likable personality. I feel like I can I'm a lot more open since I streamed because when I streamed I I talked I just generally talk about anything and everything. And I feel like I used to be quite a shy person when I before I started streaming, but now I'm actually I think personality type you know MBTI?

Patty 44:46

Yeah my breaks personality test.

Jonny Kuik 44:49

I used to be an I introvert, but now I've switched to an extrovert now.

Patty 44:55

Well, I think I'm I'm still an I. It's just while I'm streaming, I might look like an E, but if you put me in a room with actual people, I still feel like very introverted.

Jonny Kuik 45:06

Yeah, but IRAL in online is very different though. Yeah, I feel like we know that um from this, and it's becoming a lot more popular these days because a lot more people, especially kids, are using the internet more than back in the days. But I think personality-wise, um I think I don't get as embarrassed as I do as I would be when I was shy, in the sense that I am almost shameless now.

Patty 45:33

I feel that as well, especially because of IRL streams. You know, I do so many stupid things, and not only the people watching stream are looking at me, everyone else around me is looking at me.

Jonny Kuik 45:43

At the point where it's like it doesn't really matter anymore because I've you know it's like I've been through worse kind of thing, but that builds confidence in yourself, and I think confidence is very important as a life skill to have, and I think confident people just generally do better as well than non-confident people. You have to find your flame. I think that's very important. That's something that you don't really learn in life, but luckily I found it through streaming, and I'm definitely very grateful for that.

Patty 46:12

Yeah, and you have a very good community. Like I've been going to your streams for years, and I keep seeing the same people there, like for years. How did they take this shift of you, you know, streaming less and turning it back into a hobby?

Jonny Kuik 46:31

I don't think they care to be honest. But I guess it's good and bad if I say it like that, because I mean I used to I used to be a bit self-conscious to be like, if I didn't stream, uh would they be angry at me kind of thing? You know, because when I do feel bad, you know, when people sub to you and pay monthly and donate and whatnot, it's like, did it all go to waste or are you wasting their time? They still get the emotes. Yeah, well, yeah, that's what I try to think about. Um on the more optimistic side, yes. But I think I don't know, I think it's easier and easier with less viewers now because I'm like, oh, I can slowly like go into oblivion. No, yeah, I don't want to disappear completely, but I can like start to you know do what I want more than you know having to because I have I mean back in the days I I when I did try out like games or just chatting for the first time, people were like, Where's the piano? Where's the music? And I have people had people say that, and I do feel bad. Uh I felt really bad the first time I hit heard that, and I was like, Oh crap, you know what? You're right. Where is the music? I should be streaming piano, and you can tell as well mentally that when you stream piano, your viewers shoot up, but when you do something else, it's uh a lot lower. But I've um I've started to care less about that now. But yeah, I've it it's a it's a bit of it's a bit of a selfish thing for me to say, but I've started to you know to be a bit

Handling Low Numbers And Negativity

Jonny Kuik 48:05

more self-caring. If people want to join in, they're more than welcome to, and I'm there's always an open door for them. But if people don't want to watch it, then so be it. It's not my problem.

Patty 48:14

Do you also ever get negativity with like the numbers that you have now and you're a partner? Because I I do know other partners that because they took a big break and then they have a huge amount of following, but following means uh almost nothing on Twitch, yeah. And then you know, a partner attack you fell off. Yeah, it has like a 1520 average, and he tells me that people come along and be like, How are you even a partner? Do you ever get that side of negative like people coming in?

Jonny Kuik 48:47

I've had that from first-time chatters, but I don't take first-time chatters seriously compared to community per people. If a community member said that, then I would be I would question it probably. But luckily, no, not really. Well, there's a lot of people that have said the opposite. They're like, Oh, you're really good. First time chatters that come in and say, like, oh, you're a really good piano player, why don't you have more viewers? And I was like, you know, you don't know the full picture, but that's okay because they don't know the full picture, so I'm okay with it. I understand. Uh, I think one thing that I I do always keep in mind when it comes to streaming is to always be mindful of other people. So if someone like if you get a toxic chatter that comes in and says some rude stuff, I always kind of think like, oh, that person's probably had a bad day and whatnot. Because this happened in video games a lot as well. People take their rage out on other people, which is not nice and it's wrong, but I think the older I get, I just see that more in young people. So I'm like, okay, you're just young then, whatever.

Patty 49:50

That that does happen a lot here. Johnny, it was lovely having you. Do you have like any final thing to add? Anything we didn't cover that you might want to say?

Jonny Kuik 50:01

No, I think you've covered a lot of the the main topics of this subject, though. It is I think it's important to talk about these things sometimes, and it's really nice to be able to talk about this with another streamer. So, you know, it's relatable, and I don't think this is something you'd ever talk about with a viewer. Um, so no, it's been nice. It's been it's it's given me a little bit of insight, but I hope it's given you a lot of insight like wise as well. Um coming from my perspective as a partnered streamer. Um yeah, stay optimistic.

Patty 50:36

Be like Johnny, be optimistic.

Jonny Kuik 50:38

Yeah, well, be a bit realistic as well, and I think it's okay. But you know, it goes it always goes as simple as like just it's nice to be nice, but that's it. It really is is all there is to it. But yeah, but yeah, we can have bad days and whatnot, but we but sometimes we just have to suck it up. Work is like that too, but I always like to compare it to work because I well at the time I never wanted to go to work because I didn't want to have like a I think I can't even imagine myself doing like an office job or something like that. I'll just be so. So like I'm I always like to say that I'm thankful to be able to do what I I did, like you know, streaming full time and earning revenue and all that. It's fun and it's not boring. Um so because I've had that opportunity, I can be easy on other people, you know, who have had bad days or don't have that the the

Final Advice And Where To Find Johnny

Jonny Kuik 51:35

luxury to be able to do what I do, kind of thing. So yeah.

Patty 51:39

Uh one last question. I ask everybody if I could have any streamer here in the podcast, who would you like to see in an episode like this? Oh um 10 years of streaming is a long time. We know a lot of people.

Jonny Kuik 51:57

I know, yeah, but it's just like who's still around for that? I mean, the only person I can say is Bob. Who's Bob? Um Bob Chak. Oh, he's called Flying Hippo now on Twitch.

Patty 52:08

I don't know him.

Jonny Kuik 52:09

Do you not he's the Polish guy with the glasses and he plays guitar and he sings. I don't know. And he does like sad boy Mondays.

Patty 52:17

Ah I will look him up.

Jonny Kuik 52:20

Yeah, no, he's a cool he's a he's a close streamer friend of mine, basically. And yeah, no, he's cool. Yeah, I think we're both kind of we got partnered around the same time as well. So he's we say a lot of relatable things together. And I think I really got close with him after playing a game called Teamfight Tactics. Yes. Um, because I found out that he plays and he was like another music streamer that played it. So I was like, oh music streamer buddies, they play it. That's kind of how we ended up talking, and so yeah.

Patty 52:49

Oh, that's fun. And if uh people want to find you out there in the internet, where can they do so?

Jonny Kuik 52:56

Yeah, so um I'm Johnny Quick Piano on YouTube, Johnny Quick on TikTok. I want to start doing Instagram again, so it's Johnny QuickPiano on there as well.

Patty 53:06

Thank you again, Johnny, and thank you to all our listeners at home. If you enjoyed this podcast, don't forget to give us a follow. You can find the growth rate podcast wherever pods are cast. And if you have a friend that might like to listen to this episode, why don't you tell them? We'll see you next time, next Thursday, and the growth rate. Bye.