1 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:12,879 Speaker 1: With technology with tex stuff from Hatflog, Patre everybody, it 2 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: is tech stuff. I am Jonathan Strickland. I am so 3 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: pleased to be chatting with you today. I'm on my own. 4 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: It's another solo episode, and today I want to talk 5 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: about Patreon and patronage. I mean, for today's episode. I 6 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,080 Speaker 1: thought it might be interesting to take another look at 7 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: how people can use the Internet to make money. And 8 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 1: I've covered topics like e commerce before, web advertising, We've 9 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: covered multiple times on this show. We've even covered crowdfunding 10 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: stuff like Kickstarter and Indiego Go. But I really wanted 11 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: to look at patronage because it's interesting to see it 12 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: come back so strong. That's not to say that patronage 13 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: is new, even new on the Internet. It's not. It 14 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: just seems to be rising in prominence right now. The 15 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: idea of patronage dates back to the Renaissance, and I 16 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: gotta be honest with you guys. I debated briefly, but 17 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: I did debate on describing Renaissance patronage in the style 18 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: of the character I used to play back when I 19 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: was an employee of the Georgia Renaissance Festival. But then 20 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,040 Speaker 1: I figured, you guys, would probably unsubscribed so fast that 21 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: you'd actually hear the whishing sound of the wind filling 22 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: in the vacuum of missing listeners. So I'm going to 23 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: spare you the corny Renaissance festival character for now. But 24 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,399 Speaker 1: if you really want to hear me cut loose as 25 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,960 Speaker 1: a Renaissance festival idiot, stick around to the very end 26 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: and then you'll get a treat, or maybe you'll think 27 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: of it as something other than a treat, but at 28 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: any rate, it'll be at the end, so that way 29 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: you can not listen to it if it bugs you. 30 00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: So getting back to Renaissance and the era of patronage. 31 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: When you look at the Middle Ages in Europe, the 32 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:08,799 Speaker 1: period preceding the Renaissance, the primary social system in place 33 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: was feudalism. And in case you're not familiar with feudalism, 34 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: what the concept is or how that worked. This was 35 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: where you would have a centralized power figure of some 36 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:23,120 Speaker 1: sort to whom everyone in the region would swear fealty. 37 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: And this was a two way relationship. It wasn't just 38 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: someone lording over a lot of peasants, although that could happen. 39 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: The person in charge was supposed to make big decisions 40 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,919 Speaker 1: on behalf of the entire region, and in the best 41 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 1: case scenarios, uh, they would actually take great pains to 42 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 1: protect the people they ruled over. In fact, if you 43 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: look at stuff like the old epic poem Beowulf, you 44 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 1: hear about the the job of the king is to 45 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: hand out rings, which is essentially the symbol of wealth 46 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,920 Speaker 1: two loyal subjects who have have contributed in some meaningful 47 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: way to the area's success. That was the basis of 48 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: society for centuries in Europe. But once you start getting 49 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:15,000 Speaker 1: toward the end of the Middle Ages, things start to change. Now, 50 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: during the Middle Ages, you know the peasants really their 51 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: job was to essentially make enough food for everyone to 52 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:26,359 Speaker 1: stay alive, including the person in charge. But at the 53 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: end of the Middle Ages, the system of feudalism began 54 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: to fall apart, and it also marked the first time 55 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: people really begin gan to move in great numbers from 56 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: the pastoral countryside and farms into cities. This was the 57 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 1: era of cities having an enormous population booms, so places 58 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: like Paris and London had their numbers swell, and out 59 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: of that change grew something brand new, the middle class, 60 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: or the bourgeois in other words, and as professions became lucrative, 61 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: as people began to find ways to create things, to 62 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: make goods or provide services that were valued within the cities, 63 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: people began to make money. The middle class began to 64 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 1: make serious money. Sometimes the people in the middle class 65 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: were far wealthier than anyone in the nobility class. There 66 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:27,600 Speaker 1: are plenty of examples of nobles who were arranging marriages 67 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: with wealthy middle class families because the middle class families 68 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: lacked a title, but they had money, whereas the nobility 69 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: had titles but no money. So it became this weird relationship, 70 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,159 Speaker 1: particularly in places like England. Now some of the people 71 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,839 Speaker 1: in the middle class wanted to use the money they 72 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: made to do various things, including supporting artists of various types. 73 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,719 Speaker 1: Maybe they found it rewarding to support an artist's work, 74 00:04:59,839 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: or maybe they got some other sense of value from it. 75 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: At any rate, they became what we call patrons of 76 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:10,719 Speaker 1: the arts, and there are lots of examples of various 77 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: patrons who were really famous at the time. The Medici 78 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:18,479 Speaker 1: family is probably the best known patrons from the era 79 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:24,159 Speaker 1: of the Italian Renaissance, particularly Cosimo de Medici and his grandson, 80 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: Lorenzo de Medici. These two Medici's were famous for their 81 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: patronage of various artists uh. Together, they supported some really 82 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:38,679 Speaker 1: famous ones like uh well, names that would seem familiar 83 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,880 Speaker 1: to anyone who watched teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Because they 84 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 1: supported artists like Donna Tello, Leonardo da Vinci, and michel 85 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:51,039 Speaker 1: Angelo and Uh. The patronage actually gave these wealthy people 86 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:55,599 Speaker 1: a certain social status. It allowed them to associate themselves 87 00:05:55,760 --> 00:06:00,720 Speaker 1: with the most talented, brightest people of the age, and 88 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: it also created opportunities for the artists to make amazing 89 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 1: works of art, ranging from paintings to sculpture and other stuff. 90 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 1: Often the artists were working on a commission by the nobility, 91 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:14,679 Speaker 1: so they didn't really have a whole lot of choice 92 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: in what they were able to make, but the money 93 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: they made from that allowed them to fund other things. Famously, 94 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: Da Vinci came up with lots of different stuff. Meanwhile, 95 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: theater companies also had patrons. William Shakespeare belonged to the 96 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 1: Lord Chamberlain's Men during Queen Elizabeth the First's reign. Uh. 97 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: The initial patron of that theatrical company was a man 98 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: named Henry Carey, who was the first Baron Hunston uh 99 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: the Lord Chamberlain to the Queen. Now, eventually that company 100 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: would become the King's Men, because Elizabeth passed away and 101 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: James the First rose to the throne and became the 102 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: new patron of this theatrical company. So they provided the 103 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: budget that the artists needed in order for them to 104 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 1: do their work, and then they would also reward the 105 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: artists themselves. Um and this approach allowed ours to protect 106 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,720 Speaker 1: practice their craft without worrying about selling the finished product 107 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: to buyers, though that could also happen depending upon the artist. 108 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: So generally speaking, it was a work for higher sort 109 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: of thing. It wasn't an idea, you know, create a 110 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 1: product and then go to the market and try and 111 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,119 Speaker 1: sell the product. Today we still have patrons of the arts. 112 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: A lot of wealthy people will end up funding arts 113 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: in some way. There are a lot of foundations that 114 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: also provide funding, and others who donate to museums or 115 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: to theaters. But when it comes to supporting individual artists, 116 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: patronage had largely faded away until relatively recently, but now 117 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 1: we're in a new era of patronage and it also 118 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:51,920 Speaker 1: makes sense because honestly, the era of advertising is starting 119 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: to come to an end. We've become tired of ads, 120 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: so making money through ads has become increasingly difficult. It's 121 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: a chat lunch. It's still very important, but it's harder 122 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: to do, largely because the audience itself has become cynical 123 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: or tired of ads. Uh. You can try to sell 124 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 1: stuff in an online store instead, and that might work 125 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 1: great for certain types of artists, like people who do 126 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: graphic design work, and maybe they do sketches or paintings 127 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:22,680 Speaker 1: or comics or things of that nature, and they can 128 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: sell different prints or posters. That sort of stuff. Also 129 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: makes sense for musicians who might sell things like albums 130 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: or individual songs that kind of thing. But there's some 131 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:36,839 Speaker 1: types of creative work that do not lend themselves to 132 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 1: merchandise easily. So, for example, maybe you do a series 133 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: of videos. Like you, you have a web video series, 134 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:49,079 Speaker 1: and you might have some merchandise options, but generally speaking, 135 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: those are probably not going to bring in enough money 136 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,959 Speaker 1: to support your work. So what do you do? Well, 137 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 1: that's where patronage comes into play. Now. The best known 138 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:02,080 Speaker 1: service right now is patriot on, and that service allows 139 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: creators to build a profile for their work. Fans can 140 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:10,200 Speaker 1: contribute money on an ongoing basis. Creators can set up 141 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: a Patreon account so that the pledges are collected monthly 142 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:16,040 Speaker 1: or every time there's a new piece of content for 143 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:19,079 Speaker 1: an audience to enjoy. So, in other words, if I'm 144 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: a creator and I want to create a Patreon page, 145 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:24,720 Speaker 1: I could do it. Let's say I'm doing a web 146 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: video series. I could do it where I say pledge 147 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,200 Speaker 1: X amount per month, and you might say a dollar 148 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:35,440 Speaker 1: or five dollars or whatever that might be. Or I 149 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:39,679 Speaker 1: could choose to say pledge x amount per video, so 150 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,839 Speaker 1: every time an episode comes out, you would end up 151 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 1: contributing however much you had pledged, whether it was a 152 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,640 Speaker 1: dollar or five dollars or whatever amount. Those are the 153 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: different options. Uh, It's kind of like a subscription service, 154 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:56,959 Speaker 1: only you aren't necessarily buying something. You're supporting the work 155 00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: of someone who's stuff you like, so you're not necessarily 156 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:04,080 Speaker 1: getting something that no one else can get, although that 157 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: can play apart two and I'll talk about that in 158 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: a second. But really what it's all about is saying 159 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,520 Speaker 1: I like the stuff you do. I want you to 160 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:15,320 Speaker 1: continue to be able to do the stuff you do, 161 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: and I'm willing to pay money so that this happens. 162 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 1: And it's interesting because at least for some people it works. Now, 163 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 1: in the interest of full disclosure, I wanted to let 164 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:31,560 Speaker 1: you guys know I support to Patreon campaigns right now, 165 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 1: and I'm not asking anyone else to go out and 166 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:36,360 Speaker 1: support them. I just want to be able to talk 167 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:40,440 Speaker 1: about my experience as a patron as opposed to a creator. 168 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:44,520 Speaker 1: I don't have a Patreon campaign for anything that I do. 169 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: I just support other Patreon campaigns. So the two campaigns 170 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,280 Speaker 1: I support. One of them is for Tom Merritt's daily 171 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,520 Speaker 1: tech news show, and Tom's a friend of mine. He 172 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: does great work. He covers tech stories each weekday and 173 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: brings on interesting guests and sometimes people like me to 174 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 1: be on his show to discuss the stories and give 175 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:10,559 Speaker 1: them context. So I am one of many patrons of 176 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:13,320 Speaker 1: Tom Merritt's and I want him to continue to be 177 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:15,800 Speaker 1: able to do this work, which I think is valuable. 178 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:19,960 Speaker 1: It's entertaining, and it's informative, so that's why I have contributed. 179 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: The other Patreon campaign I support is for a group 180 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: called Red Letter Media, and that's an entertainment company and 181 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: they create online videos and plus they create films. They're 182 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:36,920 Speaker 1: they're essentially a film studio that also does online video. Now, 183 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 1: they're mostly known for their film criticism. I have several 184 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: shows that focus on criticizing films in various ways. There's 185 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: one called half in the Bag, there's one called Best 186 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:50,120 Speaker 1: of the Worst, and then there are the infamous Mr 187 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,160 Speaker 1: Plinkett reviews. So if you've ever come across one of 188 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 1: those reviews of either Star Wars or Star Trek where 189 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:01,559 Speaker 1: the persona doing the review is a crazy, the sociopathic 190 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: old guy, that's Red Letter Media. Now there are hundreds 191 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,160 Speaker 1: of projects listed on Patreon, and some of them may 192 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:13,400 Speaker 1: even be for stuff you already enjoy. So how does 193 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 1: the service work? I mean, how can it actually work 194 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:19,920 Speaker 1: in a in a in a background sense. I mean, 195 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 1: clearly it's not as simple as just a sorting house 196 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: for audience contributions, right, I mean, how would Patreon even 197 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:29,720 Speaker 1: make its own money so that it could remain in operation. Well, 198 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 1: to answer that, we need to look at the history 199 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:36,079 Speaker 1: of Patreon and then at how the service makes money. 200 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:38,840 Speaker 1: And it all starts with a pretty successful YouTube channel. 201 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: Now that channel belongs to Jack Conti and he's a 202 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 1: filmmaker and songwriter living in California, and he's also one 203 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 1: half of the group Pomplo Moose, which if you are 204 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:52,840 Speaker 1: not familiar with Pomplo Mouse, you should probably go and 205 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: check that out. They're pretty awesome. They do fun musical 206 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:01,319 Speaker 1: mashups and really creative music videos as well some very 207 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: experimental film stuff that's kind of interesting, so check that out. 208 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: In two thousand thirteen, County had a YouTube channel that 209 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:12,640 Speaker 1: had more than a hundred thousand subscribers and his videos 210 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: were racking up more than a hundred thousand views per video, 211 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 1: but he was faced with a real problem. He says 212 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:22,800 Speaker 1: he was only making about fifty dollars a month off 213 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 1: his channel from advertising, so that's a big issue he 214 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 1: was He was doing well, he had a he had 215 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 1: a sizeable audience, but he wasn't really realizing any true 216 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,200 Speaker 1: revenue from it. And there are a lot of factors 217 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:40,120 Speaker 1: that figure into this. If you allow advertising on your 218 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: videos on YouTube, you only get a percentage of the 219 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:48,040 Speaker 1: money earned through ads on your channel. The rest goes 220 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: to Google to YouTube itself. Now, on top of that, 221 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:54,200 Speaker 1: you have to choose whether your channel will serve up 222 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:58,199 Speaker 1: ads that people can skip after a few seconds, or 223 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 1: ads that play all the way through and there's no 224 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:05,720 Speaker 1: skippable option, and subscribers tend to prefer skippable ads obviously 225 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:08,040 Speaker 1: they don't want to be forced to watch commercial if 226 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: they don't have to. But if they get a skippable 227 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 1: ad and they skip out too early in other words, 228 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: before thirty seconds have passed, no revenue is generated from 229 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 1: the ad impression, so that's an issue. And YouTube also 230 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:26,280 Speaker 1: has algorithms that determine how frequently ads are shown in 231 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:30,000 Speaker 1: the first place, so not every view of a monetized 232 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: video may result in an ad display. So there are 233 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:35,320 Speaker 1: a lot of factors here that actually limit the amount 234 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 1: of money you're going to make. You on paper, it 235 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:39,600 Speaker 1: looks like you should be making a lot because you've 236 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: got so many views of your video, but if everyone 237 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: is skipping the the ads, or there are not a 238 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: lot of ads being served up on that video in particular, 239 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: you might be making very little in the long run. Now, 240 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:54,480 Speaker 1: the bottom line was that Conti was putting time and 241 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: effort into creating videos but seeing very little return on 242 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:00,200 Speaker 1: his investments. So he began to think about way that 243 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: artists could create a direct link to audiences, something that 244 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: would allow audiences to support the artist rather than having 245 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 1: to depend upon this third party advertising structure. So in 246 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: May two thousand thirteen, CONTI paired with partnered with Sam 247 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: Yam to create Patreon, and the idea was pretty simple. 248 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:27,040 Speaker 1: Artists would create a Patreon account. They would offer rewards 249 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: to people who contribute money to their efforts. Uh So 250 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: those rewards could be anything, really, but ideally they would 251 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:38,400 Speaker 1: be things that you could easily deliver reliably so that 252 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 1: people who are supporting you actually feel like they're getting 253 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 1: value for their contribution. So, for example, if I were 254 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:49,200 Speaker 1: doing that web video series, I might offer up an 255 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:53,240 Speaker 1: access to bonus videos or blooper reels and other content 256 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,680 Speaker 1: to people who contribute at a certain level, and anyone 257 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:00,920 Speaker 1: who is either not contributing or contributing at a lower level, 258 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: they don't get access to that, but they can still 259 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,280 Speaker 1: see the regular web video series. The important thing here 260 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: is I'm not forcing people to subscribe to something. I'm saying, 261 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,160 Speaker 1: if you want to support me, here's a way to 262 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:18,760 Speaker 1: do it, and in return, you get this bonus material. 263 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: But if you don't feel like you can support me 264 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 1: for whatever reason, maybe you don't enjoy the content that much, 265 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: or maybe your money is very limited and so you 266 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:32,320 Speaker 1: can't really afford to support me. That's fine, enjoy the 267 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: regular series with everybody else. You're still going to have 268 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:38,480 Speaker 1: access to it. It's only if you want to and 269 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: are able to, and you want this bonus material in 270 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:45,320 Speaker 1: the first place, that you should contribute. That tends to 271 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 1: be the general approach most creators take when they're using Patreon. 272 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: It's the idea of added value and also for people 273 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:57,840 Speaker 1: to express their appreciation for the work that you do. 274 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:01,880 Speaker 1: And it's amazing because it actually seems to work. As 275 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:03,920 Speaker 1: for the rewards, there are a lot like you would 276 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:06,919 Speaker 1: see on stuff like Kickstarter or Indie Go Go, and 277 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:11,480 Speaker 1: higher levels of contribution typically correspond to more prestigious awards, 278 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:15,639 Speaker 1: such as being acknowledged as a producer, for example. And 279 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: to give a specific incident, Tom Merritt and producer Jenny 280 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:23,520 Speaker 1: Josephson of Daily Tech News Show once read out the 281 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: names of every contributor to the Daily Tech News Show 282 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: Patreon when they hit ten thousand dollars per month. Ten 283 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:35,679 Speaker 1: thousand dollars of contributions per month, so it took them 284 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:39,719 Speaker 1: just under four hours to go through all the names, 285 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,720 Speaker 1: and they even throw in lots of puns and other 286 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:46,399 Speaker 1: silly things for almost every single name on that list. 287 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 1: And if you want to search, the video is up 288 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,520 Speaker 1: on YouTube. You can find it three hours and fifty 289 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: nine minutes. If you want to hear when my name 290 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:57,760 Speaker 1: comes up, because I was a patron at that time too, 291 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 1: it's at the one hour twelve minute mark. He's actually 292 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:03,800 Speaker 1: really nice. He gave a shout out to how stuff works, 293 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: which was lovely, so fun time there, it was interesting, 294 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 1: and that was just something that he decided to do, 295 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: and actually I think it was Jenny's suggestion. They decided 296 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,399 Speaker 1: just to do that spontaneously to thank the people who 297 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,719 Speaker 1: had been supporting them. It wasn't part directly part of 298 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:24,680 Speaker 1: the Patreon support. So that was really really fun and 299 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:26,920 Speaker 1: and showed a lot of dedication to sit there for 300 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 1: four hours and thank every single person by name. Now 301 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:34,200 Speaker 1: this might sound similar to something that's been around for 302 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:39,720 Speaker 1: several years, that being the PayPal tip jar approach, so 303 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 1: you've probably seen this around. Lots of creators have included 304 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: a tip jar on sites to allow fans the chance 305 00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:49,920 Speaker 1: to contribute directly to their favorite artists or writers or whatever. 306 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: So this would be on various sites where you see 307 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,119 Speaker 1: the little PayPal button you can click and then contribute 308 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: a certain amount. You can even make it a recurring 309 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:02,080 Speaker 1: contribution if you want it too. So that's very similar 310 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,919 Speaker 1: to what Patreon offers, and that's been around for a while. 311 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,879 Speaker 1: But it's one of those things that I think, you know, 312 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:12,400 Speaker 1: I'm sure people have collected money from it, but not 313 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 1: large amounts. It's not terribly visible, and so it's it's 314 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:21,399 Speaker 1: not like it's not like Patreon has replaced this button, 315 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: but certainly augmented it. And Patreon also has built in 316 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: tools that allow creators to communicate directly where their supporters, 317 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: which was something that the PayPal button didn't supply at all. 318 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:35,879 Speaker 1: The PayPal button was really just a way for people 319 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:39,919 Speaker 1: to contribute directly to a person. Patreon is more of 320 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:43,320 Speaker 1: a community building tool because you can actually send a 321 00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:46,720 Speaker 1: message out to all of your Patreon supporters and give 322 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:51,400 Speaker 1: them updates, give them links to special content, give them 323 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,800 Speaker 1: alerts to things that you have planned that haven't been 324 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,159 Speaker 1: officially announced yet. All of this kind of stuff. The 325 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:00,879 Speaker 1: idea of including people into an artistic endeavor is built 326 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:07,160 Speaker 1: into Patreon Now. Patreon charges the pledges at the end 327 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: of each month, so if you end up supporting a 328 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,239 Speaker 1: Patreon campaign, you're not going to get charged until the 329 00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:16,600 Speaker 1: end of the month, and that might mean for some 330 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: Paton patrons a really long wait if you join at 331 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,600 Speaker 1: the very beginning of the month and pledge, because you 332 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:24,199 Speaker 1: won't be charged till the end of the month, and 333 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:27,399 Speaker 1: you might not actually have access to the patron level 334 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:31,639 Speaker 1: rewards until your money has been processed. So if I 335 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:35,879 Speaker 1: start off on on September one and I pledge at 336 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,199 Speaker 1: a certain level because I want to have access to 337 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,959 Speaker 1: this special stuff, it may not be until the following 338 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: month until October when I'm able to actually access that. 339 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:48,520 Speaker 1: So that's one downside to Patreon. There are some others too. Obviously, 340 00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:51,720 Speaker 1: if you do not like PayPal, that's another issue, because 341 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:55,480 Speaker 1: that's the main way to contribute money through Patreon, and 342 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:58,960 Speaker 1: if you object to PayPal, then that could be a real, 343 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:03,480 Speaker 1: real problem. One thing that's nice about Patreon is that 344 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 1: it's not necessarily a means to get a project off 345 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,239 Speaker 1: the ground, So in other words, the work itself is 346 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:13,480 Speaker 1: probably already done. In most cases, you're you're not risking anything. 347 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,840 Speaker 1: You're not contributing money to a campaign that might ultimately fail, 348 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 1: which can completely happen with Kickstarter and indiego Go. Now, 349 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: of course, in Kickstarter campaigns, if the campaign doesn't fund, 350 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: you aren't charged. With indiego Go, you are charged because 351 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:31,199 Speaker 1: even if a campaign doesn't mean it's campaign goal, some 352 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:33,640 Speaker 1: of that money will end up going to the creator. 353 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:39,640 Speaker 1: In both cases, if the campaign funds but nothing ever 354 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:43,040 Speaker 1: comes out of it, you are left in the lurch. 355 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 1: And this has happened to me three times. I have 356 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: supported three different campaigns through crowdfunding that never ever went anywhere. 357 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:57,879 Speaker 1: These are the infamous smart watches I have backed, and 358 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,560 Speaker 1: all three have length wished and never got to me. 359 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 1: So learn from my lesson. Also, I think it's important 360 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,160 Speaker 1: to remember any time you see any kind of crowdfunding thing, 361 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 1: if it's for a physical product, way that with the 362 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:17,800 Speaker 1: idea that this may never happen even if the project funds, 363 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:22,080 Speaker 1: because physical products are hard to produce, uh they can 364 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,600 Speaker 1: often cost more money and have more problems than someone 365 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 1: would would have otherwise predicted. So that's always valuable to 366 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:35,400 Speaker 1: go into a crowdfunding situation knowing that ahead of time, 367 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: and if you're okay with that risk and you believe 368 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 1: in what the people are doing, that's fine. But if 369 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:43,399 Speaker 1: you're thinking of the kickstarter as a way to start 370 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: a pre order on something, you could end up for 371 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,439 Speaker 1: with a rude awakening fur their down the line at 372 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,400 Speaker 1: any rate. Patreon is not like that. With Patreon, most 373 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:55,880 Speaker 1: of the time, the creators are doing something they love 374 00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: and they're going to be doing anyway. This is just 375 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,159 Speaker 1: a means for them to be compensated for some of 376 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,640 Speaker 1: that work. So, for example, it might be a web 377 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:06,920 Speaker 1: comics artist who is going to continue drawing web comics 378 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:09,959 Speaker 1: no matter what, but this is a way for you 379 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,160 Speaker 1: to express appreciation and help support the web comics artist 380 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,120 Speaker 1: in his or her efforts to bring that art to you. 381 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: So it's it's very different in that it's not it's 382 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,440 Speaker 1: not like you have to wait for a certain threshold 383 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:25,879 Speaker 1: to be met and then you get whatever it is 384 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:30,080 Speaker 1: you're supporting. You're getting it already, so I think that's 385 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,719 Speaker 1: pretty exciting. And also, you can end your support at 386 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,400 Speaker 1: any time. You can go into Patreon and say I'm 387 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: done supporting this particular campaign. I either you know, I'm 388 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:43,800 Speaker 1: no longer interested in it, or I can't afford it, 389 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:45,920 Speaker 1: or whatever the reason, Maybe it doesn't matter. You don't 390 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: have to provide a reason. You can just stop your support. 391 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: As for Patreon itself making money, well, it got started 392 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,440 Speaker 1: with venture capital investments. You know, this is the way 393 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,680 Speaker 1: we see a lot of startups start. You know, how 394 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,199 Speaker 1: how they're able to stay afloat early on is that 395 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:07,600 Speaker 1: they get investments from outside to get things moving. But 396 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 1: beyond that, you have to create a different model or 397 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:15,919 Speaker 1: else your your business will ultimately fail. So what Patreon 398 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:19,800 Speaker 1: does is it takes five percent of all the pledges 399 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:24,800 Speaker 1: that are gathered for all the different Patreon campaigns, And 400 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 1: so as more people create Patreon campaigns and more people 401 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:32,800 Speaker 1: support Patreon campaigns, more money rolls in, and eventually those 402 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:37,400 Speaker 1: different five percent uh pieces start to really add up. 403 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 1: In October two thousand and fourteen, uh, that was the 404 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: first time we started seeing creators on Patreon collectively making 405 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:49,000 Speaker 1: more than one million dollars per month. So adding up 406 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:53,080 Speaker 1: all the different Patreon accounts, they're about a million dollars 407 00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:56,520 Speaker 1: a month going through Patreon. But even then, if you 408 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 1: look at that five percent, that's just fifty tho dollars 409 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,440 Speaker 1: a month, which that's a lot of money, don't get 410 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 1: me wrong, but fifty a month for a company is 411 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:10,560 Speaker 1: a relatively small amount. So Patreon has to stay pretty 412 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:14,880 Speaker 1: small and nimble in order to uh continue to provide 413 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:18,359 Speaker 1: this service. Oh and one other thing. That five percent 414 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:20,159 Speaker 1: is just part of what gets taken out of the 415 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:24,639 Speaker 1: final pledge total. It's not like creators are getting of 416 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:30,439 Speaker 1: the money because of PayPal. PayPal also takes a cut, 417 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: so ultimately about nine to of the money that is 418 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,080 Speaker 1: supposed to go to a campaign gets taken out for 419 00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:42,119 Speaker 1: fees of various types, So that means you're going to 420 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,000 Speaker 1: end up with around nine of all the money that 421 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 1: has been contributed to your campaign if you are a 422 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:52,040 Speaker 1: creator on Patreon. But then keep in mind that if 423 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:56,840 Speaker 1: you are trying to use advertising, for example, to support 424 00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 1: your work, you get to keep way less than of 425 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,160 Speaker 1: that money. So if you have a YouTube video series 426 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 1: and you're monetizing your videos on YouTube, YouTube is taking 427 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: a much larger chunk than ten, you are not going 428 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 1: to be able to keep of the money that your 429 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: videos earned. So that's something to keep in mind. Although, again, 430 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:22,160 Speaker 1: if this is an opt in situation where people come 431 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,320 Speaker 1: and then they dedicate their money to your work. You're 432 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 1: going to see a much smaller percentage of your overall 433 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:34,360 Speaker 1: audience willing to actually pay a monthly or or per 434 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:39,120 Speaker 1: item fee to get the stuff they could get for free. Uh, 435 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: there will be some, but it will be a percentage, 436 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,320 Speaker 1: a small percentage of the overall audience. So if you're 437 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,080 Speaker 1: a creative person, all this is kind of sounding pretty attractive. 438 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:50,879 Speaker 1: You could have a platform to reach an audience. You 439 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 1: could cultivate a following and really gain support from the 440 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,840 Speaker 1: people who love your work. But it's not that easy. 441 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,080 Speaker 1: For one thing, making people aware of the option to 442 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:04,520 Speaker 1: support is already a challenge. Discovery can be a difficult 443 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: thing on Patreon. Most people don't go to Patreon to 444 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 1: just do searches to find out what kind of stuff 445 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:13,440 Speaker 1: they love and how to support it. If they hear 446 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,160 Speaker 1: about it, they hear about it from the creator. So 447 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 1: it means that you have to use lots of different 448 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:22,160 Speaker 1: channels of communication to tell followers how they can support 449 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:25,160 Speaker 1: the work they love. It might be through Twitter and 450 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,359 Speaker 1: Facebook and Tumbler, and it might if you have a 451 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,520 Speaker 1: podcast or a video series. It could involve announcing that 452 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 1: every episode so that people are aware of it, because otherwise, 453 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:37,119 Speaker 1: if they're not aware of it, you're never going to 454 00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:41,480 Speaker 1: get any support anyway. Some people, some creators make it 455 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:45,200 Speaker 1: a point to regularly thank their supporters in every episode. 456 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:48,600 Speaker 1: So instead of saying, hey, go to Patreon and put 457 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,720 Speaker 1: money to support my work, they might say, I want 458 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 1: to take this time to thank all of our supporters 459 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:58,639 Speaker 1: on Patreon, without whom this show is not possible. And 460 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,280 Speaker 1: that's a really nice way of saying thank you. It 461 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:03,879 Speaker 1: also reminds people, hey, if you want to support this, 462 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: you can go to Patreon and be part of that group. 463 00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:10,040 Speaker 1: But it really, ultimately is more about being genuine with 464 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:13,919 Speaker 1: your audience and saying you, guys are awesome for loving 465 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 1: what I do, and I will keep doing this and 466 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:19,960 Speaker 1: keep making the stuff you love for as long as 467 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:22,480 Speaker 1: you love it. And I think that that is a 468 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: really powerful message, and it's actually true for most creators. 469 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,719 Speaker 1: I don't think most creators are out there trying to 470 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:33,360 Speaker 1: get rich quick. They're doing what they do because they 471 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:37,199 Speaker 1: love doing it, and if they're successful, that's awesome, that 472 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: is that's the dream. But if they're not, they're still 473 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:43,960 Speaker 1: doing what they love. But obviously all of this works 474 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 1: best for people who already have a large following, people 475 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 1: who have already established themselves and have an audience and 476 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: can speak to that audience and say, hey, by the way, 477 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:57,479 Speaker 1: here's this place where you can support me. So if 478 00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: you're not fortunate enough to be one of those people, 479 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 1: Patreon might not bring in enough to help sustain your work. 480 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,480 Speaker 1: But if you're planning on doing the work anyway, whether 481 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: you get that support or not, and you just want 482 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: to do it for the love of the work itself, 483 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:14,440 Speaker 1: it might be worth your while to go ahead and 484 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: make a Patreon page. You might not have hundreds of 485 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 1: Patrons supporters, but if you're going to be doing the 486 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,600 Speaker 1: work anyway, it doesn't hurt to also have the Patreon option. 487 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 1: So lots of Patreon creators offer up access to their 488 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: work in different ways, including ways that are free, so 489 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:33,840 Speaker 1: for them, the Patreon link is about giving fans the 490 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,840 Speaker 1: opportunities to support the work they like. But others actually 491 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:41,160 Speaker 1: have just specific stuff that only Patreon supporters of access to, 492 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:44,560 Speaker 1: so that creates an incentive for people to join Patreon 493 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: so they can get at the stuff they otherwise wouldn't see. 494 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: And usually there's a balance between the two. Like I said, 495 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:53,880 Speaker 1: it's not normally the case that someone says, all right, 496 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,840 Speaker 1: here's a special web comic, but you only get to 497 00:29:56,840 --> 00:29:59,360 Speaker 1: see it if you join Patreon, otherwise you'll never see it. 498 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: That's rare. It's more likely to say, oh, I'm glad 499 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:05,560 Speaker 1: you like this web comic. If you enjoy it, consider 500 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,120 Speaker 1: supporting me on Patreon, and then in return you will 501 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,520 Speaker 1: get all this bonus material. That's kind of That's that's 502 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: the more common way this this rolls out, And personally 503 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: it's probably clear. I love the idea of Patreon. I mean, 504 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,240 Speaker 1: I do support people, but I don't think I could 505 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:25,800 Speaker 1: actually use it for myself. Like I don't think I 506 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:29,240 Speaker 1: would create a Patreon campaign because I doubt I have 507 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 1: enough of a following to bring in enough money to 508 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,600 Speaker 1: support the stuff I want to do outside of work. 509 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,520 Speaker 1: But for artists who are in a different situation, I 510 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 1: think it's a great tool. It gives people an alternative 511 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,600 Speaker 1: to advertising or to trying to do direct sales, and 512 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: it gives fans a chance to be part of something 513 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,280 Speaker 1: that they love. So I think that's a win win 514 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: for everybody. And again, as long as it's opped in 515 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:53,560 Speaker 1: I'm cool with it. It's when it's when you require 516 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,560 Speaker 1: it that I start to say, well, that's less cool. 517 00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:00,720 Speaker 1: Now it's about time for me to sign off. But 518 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:03,960 Speaker 1: I believe I made a promise, or maybe the better 519 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: word is a threat to treat you, guys, to a 520 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,360 Speaker 1: little bit of my Renaissance festival character in honor of 521 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:14,720 Speaker 1: the theme of patronage, which in fact does have its 522 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:19,880 Speaker 1: origins in the Renaissance. So this is your opportunity to 523 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:24,040 Speaker 1: spare yourself the pain of hearing me be corny while 524 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:28,640 Speaker 1: speaking in a terribly inaccurate accent. If that's going to 525 00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 1: bother you, you might want to quit while you're ahead, 526 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: because the show is essentially over at this point. But 527 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:44,920 Speaker 1: for the rest of you you have been warned. Lords 528 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:49,320 Speaker 1: and ladies, thou art most fortunate this day, for thou 529 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 1: dost find thyself in the viable position of being within 530 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 1: the presence of one Lord Admiral Edmund van Lory, the 531 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:01,840 Speaker 1: the Commander of His Majesty's Navy Royal and member of 532 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:06,000 Speaker 1: the Privy Council. And though it not be known by many, 533 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: I be a distinguished patron of the arts, the man 534 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:14,600 Speaker 1: behind the purse, behind the theater behind the pub behind 535 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: the Times, run by none other than the Lord Admiral's men. 536 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:23,280 Speaker 1: There thou mayest have had the glorious experience of seeing 537 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:29,320 Speaker 1: such unforgettable plays as Anything You Want to Love's labor 538 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:34,400 Speaker 1: One and cats. Verily, it doth please me to the 539 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: ends of the earth to bring to the amusements and 540 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: entertainments of such quality that audiences cannot help but to 541 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:45,120 Speaker 1: cry out in happiness when the doors be unbarred and 542 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,920 Speaker 1: people are allowed to go home. When next thou dost 543 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:52,040 Speaker 1: have need of a distraction from the plague, or a 544 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:55,160 Speaker 1: need a place to visit, because thy house is a fire, 545 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: consider a voyage to the playhouse. I thank THEE and 546 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:04,240 Speaker 1: shall see the enough. All right, guys, If you have 547 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:08,240 Speaker 1: suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, let me know. 548 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:11,960 Speaker 1: Send me an email. That address is tech Stuff at 549 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,160 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. If you have any other 550 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 1: suggestions for people you would like to have on the show, 551 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 1: either as a guest host or the subject of an interview, 552 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 1: send that along too. I would love to hear your 553 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:26,840 Speaker 1: thoughts on it. And of course you can always drop 554 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:30,600 Speaker 1: a line on Facebook or Twitter or Tumbler at all 555 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,240 Speaker 1: three of those locations. I use the handle text stuff 556 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:38,200 Speaker 1: h s W and I'll talk to you again really 557 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:46,720 Speaker 1: soon for more on this and pathans of other topics, 558 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:57,600 Speaker 1: because it has to works. Dot com