Fans Finance Creative Ideas - Crowdfunding on Subscription with Patreon.com
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| Fans Finance Creative Ideas - Crowdfunding on Subscription with Patreon.com |
Hanifmr.com - Crowdfunding has achieved a broad breakthrough with Kickstarter, among other things.
As well as it often works, it is not permanent.
Not to mention the great expense of a successful Kickstarter campaign.
Patreon takes a different approach, which can best be described as a crowdfunding subscription.
Permanent Crowdfunding
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| Fans Finance Creative Ideas - Crowdfunding on Subscription with Patreon.com |
As well as Kickstarter and Co. work for individual large projects, it is just as unsuitable for permanent funding of creative and artistic work.
Not every artist, author, podcaster, video caster, etc. wants to implement the ONE big thing, but rather “produce” interesting and entertaining things regularly. Kickstarter is not suitable for this.
That's what Jack Conte, a video/music artist from San Francisco, thought too. Although he can now make a living from his projects, many others don't.
And so he thought it would be great if there was a way for fans to give an artist/creator permanent money. From this idea, Patreon.com was born.
Patreon.com - Not Just for Artists
It seems to me to be typically German that in this country people primarily speak of artists in connection with Patreon. But that's not how it is supposed to be.
The website explicitly says “Creator”. So everyone who creates something is addressed. And so it is not surprising that the service is used not only by musicians and authors but also by podcasters, video producers, bloggers, graphic artists, and others.
But How Does Patreon Work?
Patron translated means patron or sponsor.
It's a subscription model. Anyone creating something creative can create a profile on Patreon.com. Among other things, you choose how the remuneration should be made. You can offer a subscription model per month or, for example, ask for financial support per article, song, or video.
If someone wants to support this person or group so that they can live permanently from their passion, they simply “subscribe” to them on Patreon. You can spend from 1 dollar per month, song, video ... and the artist gets that until the subscription is canceled again.
Similar to Kickstarter, you can offer incentives to make subscribers "pay" more than $ 1. On the one hand, there are milestones. So you can, for example, stipulate that as a podcaster you record an additional special episode with at least $ 500 total income per month.
There are also “rewards” for individual supporters. For example, if you buy at least $ 10 a month, you can offer a sponsor more likely to get access to a new video.
So there are incentives as a whole, but also for the individual sponsors.
Does Patreon Work for Everyone?
Patreon.com hasn't been “on the market” that long but has already produced a few success stories.
Patreon inventor Jack Contes currently earns more than $ 7,000 per video from 1,173 Patrons. Since he publishes an average of 1 video per month, I think that's a good income.
Others don't earn badly either. For example, the YouTube video channel Lazy Game Reviews, which currently earns almost $ 2,000 per month from around 250 supporters.
Even Germans are there and can boast small successes. The Insert Moin podcast, which I love to hear, currently has 109 patrons who give a total of almost $ 700 per month. You can't make a living from that, but they are quite decent values.
However, it is by no means a sure-fire success. Others only earn the famous peanuts per month/song/video.
It is very important that you already have a loyal fan base. Only these fans are usually willing to spend money so that this person can get on with what they love so much.
If you don't have fans yet, you won't earn much from patreon.com either.
Is It Permanent?
A good question is how persistent patreon.com is. The platform is still quite young and offers a lot of potentials.
However, it remains to be seen whether the sponsors stay with them and how strong the fluctuation will be. Of course, this source of income is not certain, but what is certain?
It's an interesting thing for artists/creatives with a fan base.
Conclusion
I have to say I think patreon.com is pretty cool. It is once again one of those startups that makes you wonder why you didn't come up with this idea yourself.
In addition, the implementation has been quite successful, and, for example, the various subscription models (per month, video, song, article ...) show that someone here really knows the target groups and has created something new.
In addition, transparency is very personable and unthinkable for a German startup. You can see the number of supporters and the income. This avoids speculation.
In contrast to Kickstarter, you can usually see the results immediately. After all, the artists and creatives already exist and they have already done a lot. So you support an ongoing project and don't invest any money in something that may come in 1-2 years and then maybe even become good.
However, I doubt whether this is right for every artist. In a certain way, you have to offer your sponsors something regularly, especially if you have chosen monthly support. This pressure to deliver regularly will certainly not appeal to “right” artists.
All in all, I still think it's a great project. Anyone who has already gained experience with this is welcome to contact me. :-)
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