Buckethead is great and if he's having financial troubles I'm sorry to hear that. However, I feel like he's his own worst enemy.
His Pikes website layout is horrible and likely to turn off people that are new to him.
People have complained about how long it takes to receive merchandise they order from his website. Allegedly he or those close to him are doing fulfillment. There's no excuse for orders taking so long when we live in a time of print on demand and numerous order fulfillment companies.
Speaking of merchandise, he's severely lacking merchandise that common sense says should be available. There could be t-shirts with the Buckethead mask on it, shirts with images along the lines of the Monsters And Robots cover, shirts of the Pikes cover art, etc. He could easily do this with print on demand options like Teespring or Amazon, they'd handle fulfillment, and all he'd have to do is sit back and watch Johnny Socko while the money comes in.
He has absolutely no presence on Youtube or Tiktok. Natternet does far more for Buckethead online than Buckethead himself does, Why is that? He could stay in character as Buckethead, have Herbie do the talking for him if he wants, and simply do videos of him playing his or other musicians songs, or just doing funny stuff whether by himself or with others like Brain. People like Frog Leap Studios and The Doo get good views playing guitar online and they don't even have to leave their house. It would get him ad revenue and exposure. People on those platforms would probably get a kick out of him staying in character too. There are numerous demographics that would watch him: obviously fans he has already, GNR fans, people into guitar, people that like horror, and weebs just to name a few.
These are just a few examples of things he could do that would make him money and expose more people to his music. It would cost him no money or at worst very little money which he would easily recoup. He wouldn't have to compromise his artistic integrity or even leave his house. But with his current model of doing things, a person is more likely to find out what Buckethead is up to and where to buy his stuff if they're walking down a random alley and find a flyer lying in a puddle. I hate to say that. He's very talented, very prolific, a very kind person from what others say, and I want nothing but the best for him. But sometimes it seems like he goes out of his way to make life harder for himself.