Art Marketing Vlog: Why I DON'T use PATREON A lot of you have asked me about Patreon, a fan-funding website that many YouTubers use to make a living while they make videos. I think there are some instances where it is appropriate, like if you have a small niche channel that is unlikely to earn enough through ads to support itself or if the YouTuber, blogger or Podcaster simply does not wish to run ads and wants to be supported by their fans. It would also be a good way for edgier channels who are unlikely to attract sponsors to continue bringing content to their viewers. It is also good for educational channels that have a lot of overhead (paid researchers, expensive equipment etc.) to be able to break even on creating cool videos. However I do not think it is effective for larger channels for a couple of reasons: 1. The smaller channels who are pulling in thousands a month are really working it and treating it like a business giving perks to their patrons from paintings to prints to free videos that are not available to non-patrons. They also often have private facebook groups, hangouts and even personal phone calls to patrons. They are putting more time into it than most larger channels have to spare. I think a larger channel would do better by having a shop that is more scaleable. 2. Perception, if you are a large channel asking for fan support it's a tough sell. If you have sponsors and run ads and have a high view count you are most likely making a nice income (I have no idea what any other You-tuber makes, I am going on experience here) and asking fans to pay monthly to subscribe to you is a bit, well, wierd. If someone is trying to decide weather to fun a larger or smaller youtuber they will probably pick the one that they think needs the most help to continue rather than the bigger guy with more options. Now, these are my thoughts on 7/30/15, the digital landscape is always changing. If youtube decided not to let creators have sponsors or decided not to share ad revenue that we all would need something like Patreon to subsidize out videos if we did it full time or make less videos because we would need to make a living in another way. That is really why Patreon is around I think. BTW I am NOT judging anyone using Pateron, many larger channels do not make that much money because of the demographic they serve and they put everything out there for free from recipes, patterns, woodworking plans, podcasts, workout videos and in addition to their awesome free youtube videos and they might not have a commodity to sell, patreon is perfect for that I think. It's just not for me right now. The other outfit I mentioned for art grants is Hatchfund, I think this makes more sense for artists trying to fund art projects and outreach programs that benefit the public. Again, it is not for me right now but it might be a good fit for you. There is another option, almost every YouTube channel had a "tip jar" and if you feel like supporting a channel you can leave a tip. Mine is set up but I don't mention it because I do not want people to feel obligated, I will on occasion put up a info card though. I'm just so grateful that people watch LOL! Resources: https://www.patreon.com/ http://www.hatchfund.org/ Art Marketing Vlog: Why I DON'T use PATREON Sign Up For The Frugal Crafter News! https://tinyletter.com/thefrugalcrafter For Sponsorships or Product Reviews: http://famebit.com/u/thefrugalcrafterLindsayWeirich SUBSCRIBE! http://www.youtube.com/user/thefrugalcrafter?sub_confirmation=1 Follow along and have fun! Thefrugalcrafter Community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefrugalcrafter Join in the fun! Visit my blog: http://thefrugalcrafter.wordpress.com Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/frugalcrafter/boards/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/lindsayweirich Instagram: http://instagram.com/lindsayweirich Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/user/thefrugalcrafter?sub_confirmation=1 Music credit (if music is present in video) Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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