Patreon Review

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Pros

• Continuous crowdfunding for creators
• Platform facilitates reward-giving
• Fewer content restrictions than some other crowdfunders
• Industry-standard fees

Cons

• Limited help section
• No built-in promotional tools
• Some creators report issues when attempting to collect funds
• Fuzzy content guidelines

Overview

Patreon is a crowdfunding site aimed at a particular audience: artists and online personalities in the business of content creation. As crowdfunding platforms go, Patreon has enjoyed a meteoric rise in its public profile over the past few years.

Patreon’s approach to rewards-based crowdfunding is unique, setting it apart from the likes of Kickstarter (see our review) and Indiegogo (see our review). Whereas with the latter two, backers support creators with one-time pledges in exchange for rewards, Patreon’s model is that backers — patrons, as Patreon refers to them — subscribe to the content of the creator, making recurring payments on an ongoing basis in exchange for access to the creator’s content. Patreon declares itself a crowdfunding platform for creators, as its platform allows creators to draw a steady, continuous income from The Crowd. This funding model makes Patreon particularly well-suited to creators of viral videos, online journalists, writers, and musicians.

Services Offered

Patreon was founded in San Francisco by musician Jack Conte and developer Sam Yam. Conte’s oeuvre of music videos was getting a million views per month, yet Conte was only making $50/month through ad revenue on YouTube. He started Patreon in 2013 with the intent to give artists a sorely needed means of monetizing their work. Describing the reasoning behind his company, Conte said the following in a 2013 article:

I’m releasing new things on a monthly basis. I have friends releasing material weekly,” Conte said. “They’d have to almost invent an excuse to raise money after going on Kickstarter once. We’re saying, ‘No, no. Don’t make up a new endeavor. Keep doing what you do best and let people pay you each time you do that.

When you create an account, you’re asked to self-classify your work into one of the following categories:

• Video & Film
• Writing
• Drawing & Painting
• Podcasts
• Photography
• Science
• Crafts & DIY
• Music
• Comics
• Animation
• Games
• Comedy
• Education
• Dance & Theater

While Patreon asks you to classify your work, the category your choose isn’t very consequential, as you can produce whatever you like — if people are willing to pay for it, you can do it. Patreon is for entrepreneurs and creative teams engaged in creating content on a continuous basis. Other kinds of projects in need of crowdfunding — non-creative business projects, medical emergency fundraising, etc. — should instead check out the likes of Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe. Patreon’s appeal is somewhat narrowcasted, but if you’re a content creator (or a business that creates content), their platform enables you to get paid, directly, by the people who consume your content.

Another factor in Patreon’s broad appeal to creators has been that Patreon doesn’t have the same content restriction policies many crowdfunding sites have. Some of the most popular Patreon projects have an edge to them, from the “dirtbag left” political podcast Chapo Trap House to musician/provocateur Amanda Palmer to controversial “New Atheist” author Sam Harris. However, Patreon seems to be cracking down on certain types of campaigns as of late, and the company’s reputation for being laissez-faire about content regulation has been fading. More on that later.

Project Qualifications

As I said, Patreon has little in the way of formal content restrictions. Their terms of use forbid users from engaging in especially egregious behavior, such as racism, fraud, abuse, spam, and intellectual property infringement. Beyond that, projects are free to court controversy — at least in theory.

While Patreon sets itself apart from its competitors by allowing “adult content,” defined as nudity and sexual expression, but not pornography (a difficult distinction to make, though Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart might have disagreed), numerous creators of such adult content have recently found their pages banned by Patreon with little to no explanation.

Terms & Fees

These are the terms and fees for Patreon’s crowdfunding campaigns:

Patreon’s platform fee of 5% is pretty much the industry standard at this point. On top of that, the payment processor (Stripe or PayPal) charges a fee for each donation made, and these fees generally come out to an additional 5% or less. There are also payout fees to consider — the fees payable when you move funds from your creator balance to your bank or PayPal account. These fees are as follows:

• Direct Deposit: US creators receiving payment: $0.25 fee for every deposit
• PayPal: US and International creators receiving payment: $0.25 or 1% of the amount transferred capped at $20 per deposit
• Payoneer: International creators receiving global bank deposit: This may vary depending on country and currency, but will typically be a $3 transfer fee per deposit

Once you’ve taken your page live, you can add posts to your page, which can either be viewable by everybody or restricted to your patrons (at a reward level of your choosing). As for funding, you can choose to either get monthly payments from your patrons or “per creation” payments. You can also set up “goals” that will be reached when your funding level hits a certain amount. These goals are non-binding and can be changed at any time.

Like other rewards-based crowdfunding platforms, Patreon lets you offer rewards to your “patrons,” though unlike Kickstarter, they don’t require it. They do recommend it, however, noting that successful creators tend to offer more than two reward levels. The company suggests the following when considering what rewards to offer:

• Access to your patron-only feed
• Photos/videos of your process
• A live chat with your patrons via Patreon’s mobile app
• MP3 downloads
• Physical rewards (recommended for higher-tiered patrons only)

Application Process

Patreon’s application process is a breeze. Just start setting up your account, enter some basic personal information, attach your social media accounts, set up a payment method, and you can start earning money for your creations.

Other start-up funding options if Patreon isn’t for you:

Sales & Advertising Transparency

Patreon is transparent regarding its services — I never got the sense that there was anything they were trying to hide or equivocate about.

Customer Service & Technical Support

Patreon has FAQs for creator issues: one for patron issues, and one for general issues. For direct support, you can submit a question and Patreon will respond via email between 8 am and 5 pm Pacific time. They warn their users that “We’re currently experiencing a high volume of requests. Due to this, we will get back to you within 3-4 business days.” Patreon is still a young company experiencing rapid growth, so they’ll boost their level of customer service with time, one hopes.

You can also try tweeting @PatreonSupport for assistance.

Negative Reviews & Complaints

Patreon creators have been reporting a variety of serious issues with the company and its practices over the past year. Despite Patreon’s official policy of permitting forms of “adult content” that fall short of being actual pornography, creators of adult content have faced increasing restrictions on what they are permitted to post and monetize, with many facing the loss of their page altogether, often with minimal/vague justification from Patreon.

Another serious issue arose in July/August 2018 when numerous creators reported seeing dramatically smaller payments than expected due to Patreon declining their subscribers’ payments. Many creators also found that they couldn’t access the remaining funds that did make it through, with “suspicious activity” given as the reason. These same creators often received little explanation or support from the company when trying to work through these issues.

In these precarious times, people increasingly rely on crowdfunding not for a little extra spending money each month, but to merely pay the rent and the bills. The company’s handling of these issues is threatening the livelihood and even the health of creators, a disproportionate number of whom find themselves disadvantaged in and marginalized by the broader economy. Given Patreon’s rise to prominence as a lifeline for creators struggling to make it in this predatory world, the company ought to demonstrate a commitment to having its creators’ backs if it wants to maintain its market position.

As far as professional reviews go, a review of Patreon by PC Magazine was largely complimentary of the service but noted that the Help section was not as extensive as it could be. I found this to be true as well, and I’d add that they could make it easier for people to see how funding works, exactly what portion of your funds will go towards payment processing fees, and the like. As it is, that information is all there, but it requires a little digging. PCMag also points out the fact that Patreon lacks built-in promotional tools (apart from the ability to add social media links to your campaign). Indiegogo and Kickstarter are superior in this respect.

Another reviewer noted that it’s difficult to get people to make a recurring financial commitment to you — it’s a harder proposition for many than making a one-time donation.

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

The same PCMag review I referenced above claims that Patreon’s funding model is ideal for artists and other creators who produce content on an ongoing basis. They also note that Patreon’s platform is open to a wider range of creative content than its competitors.

Other reviews tend to echo these sentiments.

Final Verdict

Patreon isn’t the crowdfunder for everybody. If you’re looking to raise funds to launch one particular project, like the creation of some cool tech gizmo, look into Kickstarter. If you’re seeking funds to help cover the cost of purchasing new equipment for your business, check out Indiegogo or Fundable (or, alternatively, check out online lenders such as LendingClub, Prosper, Accion and Kiva and apply for a crowdfunded loan). And if you’re trying to raise money for your friend’s kidney operation, set up a GoFundMe page.

If, on the other hand, you’re an indie video game company, a cartoonist, an author, a podcast host, a musician, or you’ve inexplicably garnered a huge YouTube following by just recording yourself sitting in an oversized gamer chair playing Fortnite while yelling at people, Patreon is well tailored for you. As it can be difficult to get people to make even a small recurring financial commitment to you, it helps enormously if you’ve already built up a large YouTube following and/or a heavy Twitter presence. But if you (or your business) produce creative goods that inspire people, Patreon’s platform is precision-engineered to help you monetize doing what you already love. It’s a boon to creatives everywhere, it’s easy to set up and maintain, and it’s a reason for renewed optimism about the power of the internet to create opportunities for those who lack an institutional platform but deserve to be heard.

Unfortunately, Patreon’s recent missteps have called into question its commitment to creators, which is why I must take the company’s rating down to 4 stars (from 4.5). I’ll be monitoring developments on this front, as Patreon has previously shown an ability to learn from its mistakes, such as when they rescinded their unpopular new fee policy last year after creators objected en masse.

I’ll end with this: Through Patreon, “dril” of Weird Twitter fame makes more than $3K a month creating absurd Tweets and bizarre Photoshopped images. If Patreon can provide the crowdfunding infrastructure to support the livelihoods of future artists like dril, there may yet be hope for our fallen species.

Other start-up business loan options: