The Berlin Twitch streamer Kilian “Tanzverbot” Heinrich is struggling with his life and work. After falling into a shopping addiction and being hardly seen on Twitch, he had fought his way back up in September 2024 and was earning about €10,000 a month through subscriptions on Twitch. But those subscriptions are all gone again.
That’s Tanzverbot’s problem: The streamer Tanzverbot goes through phases where he is active on Twitch and earns money there. For example, he was regularly live in 2021 and 2022. As we learn from the Twitch Tracker, there were months where he could earn up to €15,000 solely from Twitch subscriptions.
However, in 2023 he fell into a pit: He was hanging out with people like MontanaBlack, who can spend much more money than he can. Tanzverbot tried to keep up, but shopping excesses at the Kaufhaus des Westens led him into a financial crisis. Especially since he hardly streamed anymore, meaning no money was coming in, but he ramped up consumption. Additionally, tax backpayments from the successful years came due.
At the end of 2023, Tanzverbot made a cry for help: He was broke. He ironically noted: He buys Balenciaga shirts for €400 that don’t even fit him because he thinks he will fit into them again after a diet. Meanwhile, he keeps gaining weight.
Twitch streamer wants to push through, fans catch him – But then he’s gone again
So he pulled himself together again: The streamer managed to pick himself up in early 2024 and started streaming regularly again. In the following months, the support from fans returned. Many wanted to help him; time and again, Tanzverbot held up two fingers to the cameras and thanked loyal fans for the next big donation.
But Tanzverbot already fell into the next pit in April and was hardly active anymore.
The last active phase on Twitch for Tanzverbot was in September 2024, when he managed to work his way back up to €10,000 a month through Twitch subscriptions again. But since then, he hardly streams anymore. Currently, his earnings from subscriptions amount to about €250.
“I don’t know what to do anymore”
This is what Tanzverbot says: In a tweet at the turn of the year, Tanzverbot is frustrated with himself. He has been inactive for a long time again; a lot happened in his private life, and it dragged him down into a pit.
Additionally, he has developed an unhealthy relationship with partying. He doesn’t know what to do anymore.
From further comments, it becomes clear that although Tanzverbot does not take drugs, he apparently has emotional problems that paralyze him.
People hope Tanzverbot finds professional help
How is this being discussed? Regarding the situation on Reddit, many are offering distant diagnoses, attributing this or that problem to the streamer.
Ultimately, however, many hope that Tanzverbot will succeed in seeking professional help to address his issues. Yet suitable therapy places are scarce in many places, as we know.
This is what it’s about: Tanzverbot highlights two problems that both Twitch and being self-employed in Germany bring. Because both systems reward regular work and punish highs and lows:
The subscriptions that bring money on Twitch expire after a month. If the streamer takes a long break, people subscribe elsewhere, and it is challenging to motivate them to “resubscribe”. That’s why many streamers have complained about the enormous pressure that the system exerts and that you feel like you’re stuck in a treadmill.
For the self-employed, the tax system is also unfavorable, as earning a lot in one year and very little in the next is problematic. Because the tax prepayment of one year is based on the earnings of the previous year: so if Tanzverbot earned excellently in 2022, he first has to pay a substantial amount for 2022 and also a high tax prepayment for 2023.
If 2023 then goes poorly, he will get the money back later, but first, he has to cover it.
This certainly all contributes to Tanzverbot falling into a pit – even if we don’t know the more private reasons.
Tanzverbot himself seems especially to feel sorry for the people who financially supported him when he was in that “I will get back on my feet and push through” phase. The streamer MontanaBlack even made a money bet with Tanzverbot to motivate him to stream. But apparently, that could only delay the inevitable, as the popular Berlin streamer falls into the next creative crisis: German Twitch streamer has 1 week left to secure €1,000, feeling the pressure
