Patreon Updates: March 2021
Hey Friends,
We are looking to change the way our Patreon works in the next 60 days.
Here's the link to our video announcement: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CNDWCGen7VL/?utm_source=ig_web_button_native_share
Does this affect me?
Only those at the Citizen level will be affected.
For everyone else - instead of being charged "per creation" for two episode releases each month, you'll only be charged once at the same overall number.
Why are we switching to Monthly?
We want to focus less on being podcast managers, and more on being podcast creators.
We want to create a streamlined Patron process that is easier for people to understand.
We want to eliminate any guesswork from the billing cycle; monthly charges mean you don’t have to worry about whether this month releases two or three episodes.
We want to reduce the ‘bad-seed’ element from our Patreon, cutting back on the amount of people who ‘dine-and-dash.’
We want to open the option of creating more content without having to fit a charge-per-creation schedule.
We want access to the many of the new features Patreon has released, but these new features are not available to per-creation creators.
There will be a few small changes overall:
The Apprentice tier will be called ‘Initiate’ which is more in-brand across our shows.
We will be adding a new ‘Guardian’ level tier, which creates a level in which we have small-group meetings about podcasting, creating, TTRPG, or other topics that the ‘Guardians’ have interest in.
Smaller changes, like updated texts and episode remastering, you most likely won’t notice but will subtly improve your overall experience.
Also, as we begin the process of migrating our public podcast feeds to ACAST, our public shows will have ads, but the Patreon RSS will be continuously updated, and the episodes will be ad free.
All of this because we are using Patreon more and more, and every year the catalogue of content on our Patreon grows by hours and hours of content.
We also hope to make updated cover & introduction videos at some point!
Comments (18)
I’m at initiate level, but can’t find Imperial or Iluka anymore, and only the free stuff is showing up on my Acast feed. Apple captured Avrum, but not the older stuff. Trying to do a full re-listen… help, please?
Just verifying that you got it!
Fool and Scholar original material is ALWAYS my top seek. Your productions are a masterclass in world building, monthly charges just seems like a no brainer. It’s crazy to me that you were able to make the transition “visibly seamless”. There is an untold fortune of hours behind changing subscription and payment models...needless to say have fun on the east coast and TAKE A BREAK.
I'm fine with it. I appreciate all the thought and effort you put into your podcasts and communications.
I was confused by the current model when I first joined. Monthly is better.
I heard from another creator that patreon actually takes a pretty big cut of your profits in fees (up to 12% I think?). He recently announced he would be switching to another platform since it was so bad. Maybe it would be worth looking for an alternative altogether?
For us, as early adapters of Patreon, we're locked into a lower pricing scale. Also, as our primary source of income, we wouldn't be comfortable jumping to a new platform.
Clear! That makes a lot of sense. One question though (and I hate to even ask it with the amount of work Travis has already put into the Acast feed): do you see a possibility for a per-show Patreon RSS feed? I really love having all the different artwork in my podcast app and I'd just hate to unsubscribe from all the shows.
Patreon doesn't allow us to do multiple RSS feeds - HOWEVER we've organized them by "Season." Many podcast apps allow you to sort your seasons in a custom order, which may help? Alternatively you can stay subbed to our shows AND keep the Patreon RSS?
Thank you for keeping us so well informed :) I have a question about those remastered episodes with improvements... Where I can actually find andnappreciate them? I mean, I'm subscribed to your dedicated feed (rn on podcast addict) and I have some episodes downloaded when posted originally (because once upon a time we used to go offline). Do you exchange the contents of these download links as well, or are podcast feeds updated? And once again congrats on all the wins, well deserved :)
Great question! The changes are instantly made across the Patreon RSS and public RSS feeds as we put them into effect. For instance, if you re-download Episodes 3.01-4.10 of The White Vault (especially the introduction of 3.01 & 3.02) you will be experiencing the best versions. We're done with the White Vault feed, but are planning to make small changes here and there for VAST & Liberty, in addition to a large-scale Critical Research S1 remix.
Thanks for the update! The Guardian tier sounds exciting!
Might be bumping my tier up to that Guardians one, those perks sound awesome.
Thanks for letting us all know - this works much better for me, knowing what will be going out each month! Btw, does anyone else find that the Lens clips don’t ever load?
For me they worked fine so far.
Really just appreciate how accessible and transparent you are - thanks!
Will iluka ever be collected into one 'master episode', the way artifact and imperial are?
Yes! That's in the works for us. We have it compiled, but it needs a bit of work, specifically in terms of mastering. At the moment we're rushing to get Mines & Mysteries up this week, and to get episode one of AVRUM complete.