What are your thoughts on Patreon?

[djax]

Sorry if this has been discussed before but I searched all of the SongStuff site and surprisingly did not come up with any discussion about "Patreon"... You know that website http://www.patreon.com that is a platform for creative folks to get $ustainable $upport for being creative.
 

Me... I'm and writing, recording, songs and videos now mostly with just the intention of self expression. And IMHO ...the stuff is OK, but far from great. Really I'm just recording my ideas so they don't just disappear.

I've got a few friends and family that think the stuff amazing and that I'm a musical genius (which although I sometimes feel like I am I know I"m not) 

It's been recommended that I set up a Patreon page but I'm skeptical. While it could be beneficial, it may also be counter productive.

Patreon seems like a great concept but I can also see the potential of demoralization... maybe because the artist really isn't as great as they thought they were... or even worse.. they are brilliant but just didn't get found, thusly, the attention and $upport they were hoping for. Or maybe they're just OK and need to quit wasting time on stuff like this and go find a "real" job.

 

Your thoughts?

 

 

[MonoStone]

I get where you're coming from...it's that 'is there more to it?' kind of feeling. Some days I feel like I'm brilliant, but mostly feel the opposite or just 'yeah, I'm not so bad'...and a few people encourage me and boost my ego...sometimes... And from time to time I wonder whether music as a creative outlet and fun is enough for me... but so far I've decided it is, perhaps fortunately. 

 

So I looked at Patreon with interest, from your link (Hadn't heard of it before). At first glance I thought...wow...people are paying all these music artists I've never heard of!? Maybe I have some hope after all lol... but then having googled the music artists listed, who mostly have just a few hundred supporters on Patreon, some have a couple of thousand, I found that actually they're not unknown...just me not knowing them... all the ones I googled popped up in the search before I'd finished typing the full name, most are signed to labels or have massive twitter/fb/youtube following, wiki pages, and such. I mean one guy who has 500 Patreons has a million followers on Twitter!  I'd be interested to see how Patreon works for us really-unknowns (well that is me, I don't know about you).

 

Have you looked deeper into it? Examples of it getting lesser known artists anywhere? 

 

Not that it could be bad, as I see it. What could be bad about it? It costs nothing except a percentage, which is nothing if you make nothing...  but to me it looks like it works as part of an overall online presence rather than promoting at all...  I dunno... I'd be shocked if anyone without an already big online presence is getting anything from it. Or are they?

 

 

[Richard Tracey]

I just had a quick look and some of the monthly pledges look really good, so I decided to Google 'is Patreon worth it?' - I got as far as 'is Patreon' when it came up with this search option ('obviously a popular search).

This link is to someone who has commented on the whole process and although he doesn't do music, it is still an interesting read if you are thinking about joining:

 

http://www.thegreenwolf.com/so-heres-what-i-think-of-patreon-seven-months-in/

[john]

I know a few Patreon peeps. I know one who funded her 3rd or 4th album via Patreon, having funded the previous album on a different crowd funding platform. She said Patreon gave her far more options and control, plus opportunities for fan engagement just not possible on other platforms. I chartered creating a Patreon page for Songstuff at that time, maybe 18 months ago, but it would take a significant amount of investment of time... and time is a commodity I just don't have.

 

For what it is worth, I think it is much more focused on artists and musicians than say gofundme.

[MonoStone]

36 minutes ago, Richard Tracey said:

I just had a quick look and some of the monthly pledges look really good, so I decided to Google 'is Patreon worth it?' - I got as far as 'is Patreon' when it came up with this search option ('obviously a popular search).

This link is to someone who has commented on the whole process and although he doesn't do music, it is still an interesting read if you are thinking about joining:

 

http://www.thegreenwolf.com/so-heres-what-i-think-of-patreon-seven-months-in/

 

It's a she... Lupa... It is an interesting read. Again, I think she has a following since she's had several books published (very niche!)... but she's no superstar, and is bringing in money from Patreon. I'd guess she's something of a star to anyone into animal/natural spirituality though.

 

Easy to make snap judgements... but my feeling is it's a really good thing...if you have a following of any size it's another tool. I think you need something people want, and need people interested to begin with. And then...why not... seems like a good idea.

[Richard Tracey]

1 hour ago, MonoStone said:

 

It's a she... Lupa... It is an interesting read. Again, I think she has a following since she's had several books published (very niche!)... but she's no superstar, and is bringing in money from Patreon. I'd guess she's something of a star to anyone into animal/natural spirituality though.

 

Easy to make snap judgements... but my feeling is it's a really good thing...if you have a following of any size it's another tool. I think you need something people want, and need people interested to begin with. And then...why not... seems like a good idea.

 

Dek - I think I have just read about 3 or 4 blogs about this and from a reasonable number of subscribers based on your funding options, most are bringing in around $1000 to $2000 a month and it doesn't seem like they are really doing a massive amount of stuff for that.

 

As a musician, you could give access to a special video talking about how you came up with a song, what the lyrics are about/mean to you. About your style of playing etc. You could also offer up a demo, or a bonus track for people subscribing and as long as you were honest with them on when they could expect this - most seem to be once a month - you could easily garner a decent amount of followers. Now getting the followers in the first place might take a couple of months, but it might be worth looking into.

 

@john is this something you would think about? Oops just noticed you posted above - ignore.

 

I don't understand why this forum changes some of your words!!!!

[Richard Tracey]

You could do a song each month, when you thank any new subscribers in the song - instrumental with just their names - some people like this kind of thing. Rusty Egan did a track on his new album (crowdfunded), but he thanked all the artists who he believed had an influence on music and that genre in particular. It was a good idea.

[john]

59 minutes ago, Richard Tracey said:

 

I don't understand why this forum changes some of your words!!!!

 

It doesn't though there is a spell checker. Are you sure it isn't your iPad autocorrect/autoincorrect?

[Richard Tracey]

14 minutes ago, john said:

 

It doesn't though there is a spell checker. Are you sure it isn't your iPad autocorrect/autoincorrect?

 

It could be, but I normally catch those ones