How This 33K Channel Makes $5K a Month (No Sponsors)
YouTube Creators Hub
Dusty Porter
4.7 • 551 Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2026
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What does it really take to build a profitable YouTube channel in a niche everyone says is "too small"? In this episode, Cody Moneymaker pulls back the curtain on how his bluegrass guitar channel, just 33,000 subscribers, generates right around $5,000 a month in course sales, with zero paid ads and barely any sponsorships.
We get into the exact pivot that changed everything (hint: it wasn't about playing better), why his thumbnails look like a newspaper on purpose, how he plans his entire year around sales seasonality, and the mindset shift that keeps him from burning out. If you've got a small channel and you're wondering if the numbers will ever add up — this one's for you.
About Cody:
Cody Moneymaker is a bluegrass guitarist and educator based in East Tennessee. A graduate of East Tennessee State University's Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Country Music program, he has performed everywhere from Knoxville to Vietnam. His YouTube channel, Cody M. Music, has over 32,000 subscribers, where he shares lessons and insights into bluegrass guitar, gear, and ups and downs of being a local musician.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I think there was a very big hole in the market. |
| 0:03.6 | You've heard of folks niching down, right? |
| 0:05.9 | So you've got bluegrass instructors, and there's, you know, a dozen of us. |
| 0:10.1 | And then I realized that nobody was really focusing on that beginner that I had seen. |
| 0:16.3 | Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's conversation on the Creators Hub podcast. |
| 0:22.6 | My guest today is Cody Moneymaker. |
| 0:25.1 | He's a bluegrass guitarist and educator based in East Tennessee. |
| 0:29.3 | He's a graduate of East Tennessee State University's Bluegrass Old Time and Country Music Program, which, of course, a program at East Tennessee State would have that. |
| 0:38.2 | That's amazing. |
| 0:39.1 | He has performed everywhere from Knoxville to Vietnam. |
| 0:42.5 | His YouTube channel, Cody, music has over 32,000 subscribers where he shares lessons and insights into bluegrass guitar, gear and ups and downs of being a local musician. |
| 0:54.0 | Cody, how are you today, my friend? |
| 0:55.8 | I'm doing very well. How are you, Dusty? Doing great. It's interesting. For some reason on this |
| 1:02.1 | podcast, Cody, I very rarely have fellow Southerners as guests. Not sure why that is, |
| 1:08.6 | but it's so awesome to have someone who sounds like me here on the |
| 1:12.8 | podcast with a little bit of that southern twang to their voice. So glad to have you. Give my |
| 1:19.9 | audience a bit of background as far as how did your YouTube channel start? Good question. So I think |
| 1:27.4 | like a lot of folks, it was around the |
| 1:29.1 | events of 2020 where I really started consuming more from the platform. And at the time, my ex-partner |
| 1:35.7 | and I were living in Southern Vietnam. I was a teacher over there. And we had a vlog started |
| 1:43.0 | based on our experiences living on YouTube. It's not around anymore. But it was all kind of inspired. There was a couple from Tennessee, actually. I don't know if you've heard the name, a travel vlog couple called Karen Nate. And they were... Yes, I have heard. Yes. Yeah. So I think they're still around. I'm pretty sure, but I haven't watched them in years. But point was they were the first, like, YouTube channel where I sat and |
| 2:05.4 | watched and really became intrigued at the business side of it, just kind of figuring out, okay, |
... |
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