[Preview] Net Neutrality (& Patreon's changes to fees)
Hi everyone! Here's the preview of the new Honest Government Ad - coz it's about time the FCC came clean about it's plans to kill Net Neutrality next week.
Please lmk what you think! (How are the voice/music levels sounding?) Am hoping to have this one out by the weekend.
ALSOOOOO.... you may have received an email from Patreon notifying you of changes to the way they charge fees. Creators were only told about this the day before you, so we've all had sweet FA time to understand the changes ourselves - let alone notify all of our supporters, as I would have liked to do.
So briefly: the reasons for the changes appear to be well-intentioned - so that creators like me don't end up losing so much in service fees. If you'd like to understand the reasons behind it, click here and scroll down to the Update section, which contains a good explainer: https://blog.patreon.com/updating-patreons-fee-structure
However, the way this was rolled out was absolute BS; and kinda disrespectful to both creators and supporters. So I just wanted to apologise to you all for not giving you any notice about this. Like I said, Patreon literally told me the day before it announced the changes to all of you.
I hope this won't affect your decision to support us on Patreon, coz this is literally what keeps us going and we've JUST reached the point where Juice Media is becoming financially self-supporting.
However, If some of you need to adjust your monthly pledges to account for the extra service fee, I understand. And if you prefer to support us in other ways, remember we also have PayPal and Bitcoin: https://thejuicemedia.com/support
That being said, I do hope you'll keep supporting on Patreon as it's by far the best way of giving us ongoing stability.
Alright - I need to get back to editing this Net Neutrality video - which I really want to publish by the weekend, so we can get peeps on the phone to Congress.
Coz if we lose the free and open Internet, none of this Patreon business will matter anyway!
Thanks for your support
Giordano & Team
Comments (15)
Thanks love this as I do with all your work. Citizen based taxation is something I have concerns over. Not sure if you have done anything on this or considered it.
Thanks Russell - this is the preview (have you seen the actual video?) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFkzJc7kJKc&t=27s" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFkzJc7kJKc&t=27s</a>
Hey everyone, this is amazing - Patreon is listening to its community of creators and patrons, and has reversed its decision to change the fee structure! <a href="https://blog.patreon.com/not-rolling-out-fees-change/">https://blog.patreon.com/not-rolling-out-fees-change/</a>
Regarding Patreon: Have you ever took a look at <a href="https://en.liberapay.com?" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.liberapay.com?</a> It's a non-profit organization that sounds similar to Patreon, but I never had the time to look at it in detail.
Thanks Jens, I already have a tab open with that very site! I wes checking it out earlier today. It's taken about 18 months to get to where we are now with Patreon, though - so as you can probably imagine, the idea of starting over again is a bit daunting!
Love the new audio. It genuinely grieves me that non-Americans appear to have few options to prevent the killing off of net neutrality.
Same here! This is why I decided to cover this topic - I mean, what else CAN we do!
Also here's a very interesting series of Tweets about Patreon and how this may be a money grab. <a href="https://twitter.com/cwbuecheler/status/938787629738397696" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/cwbuecheler/status/938787629738397696</a> "Any indication you see from Patreon that this was done with the best interests of the creators or the users in mind is a lie. This is a purely revenue-based decision driven by the venture capitalists who now own a huge chunk (probably the majority) of the company. 5/10"
Thanks for the link Sallita. Honestly I don't know if that maths is accurate; i've seen different interpretations of the numbers. But like I said in my reply to you other post, regardless of whether we agree or disagree with the new system, it was introduced in a way that shows no respect for crators or supporters alike. Not happy
Patreon have dropped the ball on this one. There is a good discussion over on the Amanda Palmer page about the changes. <a href="https://www.patreon.com/amandapalmer/posts">https://www.patreon.com/amandapalmer/posts</a> I really think they should make the 0.35c service charge a one off per month not per pledge and they should make the $1 pledge actually be $1. Not $1 plus 0.35c plus 2.9% plus VAT plus currency conversion charges. The difference between $1 and $1.38 is a lot and I think it will damage Patreons and creators as lower dollar pledges get cancelled. I'm here to stay in the meantime, you still have my pledge Giordano & team. As for the levels, all sounds good, the Alex Jones sample made me laugh. <3
Thank you continuing to support us <3 TBH I don't understand all the maths... this all reminds me exactly why I got into history rather than science! Some people are saying its a money grab others are saying Patreon is not making that much extra at the end of the day. As Amanda Palmer says in the link you shared, the extra money is going mostly to creators. But what we can all agree on is that the way this was done was absolutely disrespectful to the entire community. It pisses me off and I am glad to see so many Patreon creators, even big ones like Amanda Palmer, speaking out about this. Hopefully Patreon will reconsider this policy before it kicks in on Jan 18. PS. Glad you liked Alex Jones, I wasn't sure whether to include him - so this is reassuring :)
Yes, good topic. I agree that Patreon handled this badly. This should have been optional - or at creators prerogative with old choices grandfathered in
Couldn't agree more, Mark
Love it, and don't worry about me changing my pledge I still think m it is reasonable for the great content you make
TYSM Cameron <3