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Surely people don't pay for the content with MasterClass, they pay for the hosts. That's how it's marketed, and they of course wouldn't use these presumably ext

Surely people don't pay for the content with MasterClass, they pay for the hosts. That's how it's marketed, and they of course wouldn't use these presumably extremely expensive celebrities if they just wanted to create high quality content.

paulgb 6y ago
The premise is that you're learning from top people in each field. Sure, in some cases they are people who have been very successful at self-promotion in their field, but I don't remember seeing anyone on there who was there purely through self-promotion. The target market is basically people who would have paid $20 for a book with the same content. To them, it's not a bad deal.
- ghaff 6y ago
  And it's mostly entertainment, maybe get some interesting insights, etc. from what I gather. Presumably, people don't actually think they're going to learn screenwriting by listening to Aaron Sorkin talk about it or by watching Gordon Ramsay.
  - nsxwolf 6y ago
    There's definitely a big entertainment component. I find these things very entertaining. I've also read several books on how to write a novel even though I have no interest in ever writing one. Why? I don't know. Certainly the How to be an astronaut Masterclass is meant for pure enter/edutainment?
- Grustaf 6y ago
  Well, that may be the pretext, but of course they are chosen because they are famous. People buying it justify it by saying they want to "learn" something, but as you say it would be much cheaper - and certainly more effective - to buy a book. Compare this to Lynda or The Teaching Company. They both have amazingly high quality content, and choose teachers solely based on their ability to teach, not their fame. Lynda is focused on imparting directly applicable knowledge whereas TTC focused on serving the intellectually curious (these days they are inching ever closer to your typical airport self-help offering).
  - acomjean 6y ago
    It seems like they are not just famous but experts. Some of the names are giant in their fields, but not household names. For music for example: "Danny Elfman", "Hans Zimmer", "Herbie Hancock", "Deadmau5" are all huge. I haven't watched a master class, but they seem well produced and "aspirational" at least. I have a friend who swears by the teaching company. I did a udemy into to Unreal engine that was oddly decent. But I like to do extension school classes that force me to show up with the threat of a grade. The Deadmau5 intro video is entertaining (35,000,000 views!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtj6dDARgfQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtj6dDARgfQ "If you are not naturally comfortable on stage, from my experience, you should try putting on a F#$!!$ helmet that covers your face.."

paulgb 6y ago

The premise is that you're learning from top people in each field. Sure, in some cases they are people who have been very successful at self-promotion in their field, but I don't remember seeing anyone on there who was there purely through self-promotion. The target market is basically people who would have paid $20 for a book with the same content. To them, it's not a bad deal.

ghaff 6y ago
And it's mostly entertainment, maybe get some interesting insights, etc. from what I gather. Presumably, people don't actually think they're going to learn screenwriting by listening to Aaron Sorkin talk about it or by watching Gordon Ramsay.
- nsxwolf 6y ago
  There's definitely a big entertainment component. I find these things very entertaining. I've also read several books on how to write a novel even though I have no interest in ever writing one. Why? I don't know. Certainly the How to be an astronaut Masterclass is meant for pure enter/edutainment?
Grustaf 6y ago
Well, that may be the pretext, but of course they are chosen because they are famous. People buying it justify it by saying they want to "learn" something, but as you say it would be much cheaper - and certainly more effective - to buy a book. Compare this to Lynda or The Teaching Company. They both have amazingly high quality content, and choose teachers solely based on their ability to teach, not their fame. Lynda is focused on imparting directly applicable knowledge whereas TTC focused on serving the intellectually curious (these days they are inching ever closer to your typical airport self-help offering).
- acomjean 6y ago
  It seems like they are not just famous but experts. Some of the names are giant in their fields, but not household names. For music for example: "Danny Elfman", "Hans Zimmer", "Herbie Hancock", "Deadmau5" are all huge. I haven't watched a master class, but they seem well produced and "aspirational" at least. I have a friend who swears by the teaching company. I did a udemy into to Unreal engine that was oddly decent. But I like to do extension school classes that force me to show up with the threat of a grade. The Deadmau5 intro video is entertaining (35,000,000 views!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtj6dDARgfQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtj6dDARgfQ "If you are not naturally comfortable on stage, from my experience, you should try putting on a F#$!!$ helmet that covers your face.."