Patreon

Patreon (/ˈpeɪtriɒn/, /-ən/) is an American membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a commission of 5 to 12 percent of creators' monthly income, in addition to payment processing fees.

Patreon, Inc.
Screenshot
A Patreon page from January 20, 2018
Type of site
Membership platform
Available inEnglish
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
U.S.
Created by
Key peopleJack Conte (CEO)
URLpatreon.com
RegistrationRequired
Users3 million monthly active patrons
LaunchedMay 2013 (2013-05)
Current statusActive

Patreon is used by YouTube videographers, webcomic artists, writers, podcasters, musicians, adult content creators,[1] and other categories of creators who post regularly online.[2] It allows artists to receive funding directly from their fans, or patrons, on a recurring basis or per work of art.[3] The company, started by musician Jack Conte and developer Sam Yam[4][5] in 2013, is based in San Francisco.[6]

History
Logo used from May 2013 to June 2017

Patreon was co-founded in May 2013 by Sam Yam and musician Jack Conte,[4] who was looking for a way to make a living from his YouTube videos.[7] Together with Sam Yam he developed a platform that allows 'patrons' to pay a set amount of money every time an artist creates a work of art. The company raised $2.1 million in August 2013 from a group of venture capitalists and angel investors.[8][9] In June 2014, Patreon raised a further $15 million in a series A round led by Danny Rimer of Index Ventures.[10][11] In January 2016, the company closed on a fresh round of $30 million in a series B round, led by Thrive Capital, which put the total raised for Patreon at $47.1 million.[12]

They signed up more than 125,000 "patrons" in their first 18 months.[13] In late 2014, the website announced that patrons were sending over $1,000,000 per month to the site's content creators.[14]

In March 2015, Patreon acquired Subbable, a similar voluntary subscription service created by the Green brothers, John and Hank Green, and brought over Subbable creators and contents, including CGP Grey, Destin Sandlin's Smarter Every Day, and the Green brothers' own CrashCourse and SciShow channels.[15] The merger was consequent to an expected migration of payment systems with Amazon Payments that Subbable used.

In October 2015, the site was the target of a large cyber-attack, with almost 15 gigabytes of password data, donation records, and source code taken and published. The breach exposed more than 2.3 million unique e-mail addresses and millions of private messages.[16][17] Following the attack, some patrons received extortion emails demanding Bitcoin payments in exchange for the protection of their personal information.[18][19][20]

In January 2017, Patreon announced that it had sent over $100,000,000 to creators since its inception.[21]

In May 2017, Patreon announced that it had over 50,000 active creators and 1 million monthly patrons, and was on track to send over $150 million to creators in 2017.[22]

In June 2017, Patreon announced a suite of tools for creators to run membership businesses on the Patreon platform. Notable improvements included a CRM system, a mobile app called Lens, and a service to set up exclusive livestreams.[23]

In August 2018, Patreon announced the acquisition of Memberful, a membership services company.[24]

Business model

Patreon users are grouped by content type, such as video/films, podcast, comedy, comics, games, and education. These content creators set up a page on the Patreon website, where patrons can choose to pay a fixed amount to a creator on a monthly basis.[25] Alternatively, content creators can configure their page so that patrons pay every time the artist releases a new piece of art. A creator typically displays a goal that the ongoing revenue will go towards, and can set a maximum limit of how much they receive per month. Patrons can cancel their payment at any time. Creators typically provide membership benefits (commonly in the form of exclusive content or behind-the-scenes work) for their patrons, depending on the amount that each patron pays.[26][27]

Patrons can unlock monetary tiers that increase the content type they see from the user. Several content creators on Patreon are also YouTubers. They can create content on multiple platforms, and while the YouTube videos may be available to the public, the patrons receive private content made exclusively for them in exchange for aiding the Patreon user's goal.[28] Patreon takes a 5% commission on pledges. As of May 2017, the average pledge per patron was around $12, and a new patron pledged to a creator every 5.5 seconds.[29]

As of February 2014, almost half of the artists on Patreon produce YouTube videos, while most of the rest are writers, webcomics artists, musicians, or podcasters.[30] As of December 2016, Patreon's Community Guidelines allow nudity and suggestive imagery as long as they are clearly marked, but prohibit content that may be deemed pornographic or as glorifying sexual violence.[31]

Unlike other online platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, which use trained algorithms to identify potentially inappropriate content, Patreon's trust and safety team monitors users and investigates complaints of Terms of Service violations.[32]

Bans of specific users

In July 2017, conservative pundit and YouTube personality Lauren Southern was banned from Patreon over concerns about Génération Identitaire's blocking of NGO ships in the Mediterranean, ferrying migrants to Europe off the Libyan coast. A letter she received from Patreon said she was removed for "raising funds in order to take part in activities that are likely to cause loss of life," referring to an incident in May involving Southern, and the larger Defend Europe mission in July, which she covered on YouTube. Philosopher, writer, and podcast host Sam Harris, who also received contributions from patrons on the website, objected to Patreon's approach and announced that he would be leaving the platform because of it.[33] Shortly thereafter Patreon deleted the account of It's Going Down, a left-wing news website, for allegedly doxing.[34]

In December 2018, Patreon banned activist Milo Yiannopoulos a day after he created an account and also banned Carl Benjamin because he used homophobic and racist slurs in a YouTube interview in February 2018.[32] Benjamin claimed that Patreon had taken his words out of context[35] and that "the video in question should not fall under Patreon’s rules because it was on YouTube."[32]

This ban was criticized by Sam Harris and some American libertarians, who have accused it of being politically motivated.[32] Furthermore, Jordan Peterson announced a plan to launch an alternative service that will be safe from political interference, and jointly announced with Dave Rubin in a January 1, 2019, video that they will be leaving Patreon by January 15, 2019, as a direct response to its treatment of Carl Benjamin.[36][37]

Patreon banned alt-right comedian Owen Benjamin following alleged hate speech. Benjamin filed an arbitration claim for $2.2 million (later upped to $3.5 million) and told fans to file identical claims against Patreon as required by the Terms of Use in an attempt to pressure them into a settlement. Benjamin said that the suit(s) had a basis due to a disrupted economic relationship. Patreon launched a counter-suit against 72 individuals who filed arbitration claims and sought a preliminary injunction to stay all arbitration proceedings pending the outcome of its counter-suit. The injunction was denied, meaning that Patreon may be required to prefund the arbitration claims against itself up to $10,000 per claim, which it may not be able to recover even if it wins. Patreon had previously changed its terms of service on January 1, 2020, to end the conditions under which the suits attempted by Benjamin's supporters (but not himself) occurred, as the lawsuits were filed on January 6. The terms-of-service update stated that only the person banned from the platform would be allowed to file a complaint and that any arbitration fees would have to be paid by the person or entity filing the complaint. The suits open the door to lawsuits from supporters of other Patreon users banned from the platform, with far-right freelance journalist Lauren Southern preparing her suit.[38][39]

Changes in content guidelines and terms of service

In December 2017, Patreon announced a service fee starting on December 18, 2017, where some fees would be charged to the patrons rather than all fees being paid by the creator. This caused a backlash from several creators, including some who saw members of their fanbase withdraw small pledges in response. Under the new payment model, a $1 pledge would have cost a patron $1.38, and a $5 pledge would have cost $5.50, representing a 38% and 10% rise respectively.[40] Due to this backlash and the loss of many pledges for creators, Patreon announced that they would not be rolling out these changes, and apologized to their users.[41]

In 2018, Patreon was accused of cracking down on ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos.[42]

On October 24, 2020, Patreon announced that it would ban all accounts "that advance disinformation promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory".[43]

Regarding adult content

In July 2016, Patreon emailed their content creators, announcing changes for adult-oriented creators.[44] Those who worked within the "Not Safe For Work" categories on Patreon could accept payments through PayPal via PayPal's subsidiary Braintree.[34] However, in October 2017, Patreon reverted its stance on NSFW content, introducing new restrictions.[45] They published an expanded version of the community guidelines, triggering a backlash from some adult content creators.[46][47][48] A petition in protest of the changes gathered 1,800 signatures, which drew a response from Jack Conte.[49][50]

In June 2018, Patreon started to ban some creators who produced adult content.[51]

See also

References
  1. https://graphtreon.com/patreon-stats
  2. Manjoo, Farhad (March 15, 2017). "How The Internet Is Saving Culture, Not Killing It". NYTimes.
  3. The California Report.org: "Creating Patrons of the Arts Through Crowdfunding" Archived July 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine July 11–13, 2014.
  4. Jack Conte interviewed on the TV show Triangulation on the TWiT.tv network
  5. Olson, Matthew (May 7, 2019). "How Patreon Has Helped And Hindered Creators, As Told By 13 Users". Digg. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  6. Patreon.org: Intro Archived March 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Accessed July 14, 2014
  7. Levitz, Dena (September 9, 2013). "Donation, Patron Services Help Fans Support Their Favorite Authors". PBS. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  8. Tate, Ryan (October 22, 2013). "The Next Big Thing You Missed: 'Eternal Kickstarter' Reinvents Indie Art". Wired. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  9. Luckerson, Victor (December 4, 2013). "Top 10 Exciting Startups". Time. Archived from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  10. Buhr, Sarah (June 23, 2014). "Patreon Raises $15 Million Series A, Revamps Site To Focus More On Content". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 25, 2014. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  11. "Patreon Raised $15 Million". YouTube. June 23, 2014. Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
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  13. Dredge, Stuart (March 4, 2015). "Amanda Palmer races to $13,000 per release in Patreon crowdfunding". the Guardian. Archived from the original on June 9, 2015. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  14. "Creators on Patreon Receive Over 1,000,000 per Month From Patrons". October 10, 2014. Archived from the original on April 4, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  15. "Patreon Acquires Subbable, Aligning the YouTube Stars". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 19, 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
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  25. "How do I become a creator and make a page on Patreon?". Types of questions. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
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  27. Henriksen, Erik (February 7, 2014). "Portland Cartoonist Erika Moen Launches a Patreon (Also, Patreon Sounds Pretty Brilliant)". The Portland Mercury. Portland, OR. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
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  37. "We Are Leaving Patreon: Dave Rubin and Jordan Peterson Announcement". The Rubin Report – via YouTube.
  38. "Court denies Patreon injunction against fans of 'canceled' comedian". i24NEWS. August 2, 2020.
  39. Goforth, Claire (July 6, 2020). "Alt-right comedian asked his fans to sue Patreon. It backfired". The Daily Dot.
  40. Alexander, Julia (December 7, 2017). "Patreon changes have creators concerned they'll lose income, supporters (update)". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 9, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  41. Conte, Jack (December 13, 2017). "We messed up. We're sorry, and we're not rolling out the fees change". Patreon. Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  42. Wilson, Gaby (December 10, 2018). "ASMR creators want you to know it's art, not a weird sexual fetish". Vice News. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  43. Greenspan, Rachel (October 24, 2020). "Patreon is banning QAnon conspiracy theorists, joining a growing group of tech companies taking action against the movement". Business Insider. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
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  50. Conte, Jack. "A Note to Our Adult Content Creators". Patreon.com. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
  51. Cole, Samantha (June 28, 2018). "Patreon Is Suspending Adult Content Creators Because of Its Payment Partners". Vice.
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