“We spent a long time meeting a lot of folks.”Īs for why the round is so gigantic, Conte said it’s because he doesn’t want to go back to the well anytime soon. “Because we’re so cognizant of how venture capital can also be a dangerous thing, we do want to make sure our creators know how thoughtful this round was,” he said. “They’re practically free,” said Conte, who has developed elaborate projection techniques and music video concepts that are complicated but not expensive.Ĭonte said his main concern in raising the round was pissing off the Patreon community. Since Pomplamoose’s average video costs $300, and the band puts out two to three videos per month, Conte has not been taking a salary from Patreon. The band Pomplamoose, half of which is Patreon co-founder Jack Conte, now makes more than $5,000 per video. The “Postmodern Jukebox” video maker Scott Bradlee was Patreon’s top grosser last month, because he puts out four videos per month and makes $3,900 per video. For example, the a cappella group Pentatonix brings in $12,000 per video, guaranteed. The way the site works is this: Fans pledge a certain amount of money every time a unit of work is created - say, a single video. They all have their own fan bases that love them so much they guarantee recurring revenue. Half of its users are YouTube video makers the rest are comic strip artists, podcasters and writers. Patreon has processed $2 million in pledges since May 2013 for its 25,000 creators, $1 million of that in just the last two months. Just roll with it patreon series#Index Ventures led a $15 million Series A round for the just-over-a-year-old startup. “We are nothing without you,” Conte said at the end of his statement, “and we know that.Patreon, the crowdfunding site designed by YouTube stars to fulfill their own wish for a system of modern patronage, has found some big patrons of its own. To help combat the decision, creators announced they would look into offering $0.50 and $4 tier levels as a way to convince their patrons to stay. The company initially responded to complaints by doubling down on the decision, reiterating that it was for the benefit of creators. Patreon users started posting screenshots of patrons unsubscribing in droves following the announcement. “You’re basing this decision on a gamble that may not pay off.” you are gambling on enough high rollers coming in and then growing and sustaining on that pledge base. To penalize people who want to pledge at that basic level. “Of the projects I’ve seen people back over the years, as they grow from $100 or less to over $1,000, they have absolutely been built on the backs of these $1 to $5 pledges. “This is really where it’s going to hurt the most,” Seiders said. One podcast writer, Phoebe Seiders, who uses Patreon to help fund the work she and her team produces, told Polygon that Patreon’s decision to introduce this fee was essentially a gamble for the company. 7 about the service fee changes, the community began to tweet its frustrations with the platform. “But we are utterly devoted to your success and to getting you sustainable, reliable income for being a creator.”Īfter Patreon made its initial announcement on Dec. “I know it will take a long time for us to earn back your trust,” Conte wrote. These are your businesses, and they are your fans.”Ĭonte said the Patreon team recognized that by not talking to its base of creators and subscribers, and making decisions without being informed of how creators view their business models, the company wasn’t including creators in important decisions. It is our core belief that you should own the relationships with your fans. No apology will make up for that, but nevertheless, I’m sorry. “Many of you lost patrons, and you lost income. “We still have to fix the problems that those changes addressed, but we’re going to fix them in a different way, and we’re going to work with you to come up with the specifics, as we should have done the first time around,” said Conte (emphasis original). Just roll with it patreon plus#To do this, Patreon told patrons that they would have to pay an additional 2.9 percent, plus a 35 cent fee with each pledge, as a way to help cover those remaining costs.Ĭonte added that while Patreon still needs to figure out a way to fix the problems that the new service fee was meant to address, the company will take a different approach. 18, and was arranged so creators would pay 5 percent of a payment processing fee, rather than the 7-15 percent they currently pay. The fee was supposed to go into effect on Dec. Jack Conte, Patreon’s CEO, acknowledged in a statement that the executive team screwed up with the decision to implement a service fee, most of which impacted patrons pledging $1 or $5 subscriptions to creators. Patreon will not roll out a controversial change to its service fees after facing backlash from its community, the company announced today.
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