How has COVID-19 changed Patreon’s working culture?Ĭarlos: Our work culture was already somewhat remote. It's so fun to listen to an album with an artist you really like and to hear how they think about the baseline, the jam track, and how much reverb is on the background vocals. There are also artists doing exclusive hangouts through community forums like Discord, offering album listening sessions. Jacob Collier has been doing a lot of really cool live stream experiences and songwriting too. He’s playing music and showing fans what life is like for him at this time, and it's a really cool way of engaging with people.
CARLOS CABRERA NYC LOCKDOWN SERIES
Can you talk about some of the most interesting projects artists have been working on?Ĭarlos: Ben Folds has been doing a series of live streams from Australia that he calls the Lockdown 2020. We're always trying to explore new ideas, including teaming up with some major restaurants to launch on the platform, and building new landing pages for small businesses and restaurants to help them through this time. We've also done some fundraisers, including a stream-a-thon and a What the Fund fundraiser, where a whole bunch of people contributed money to help support artists. I just watched someone with ADHD on a YouTube channel I really like, and she was describing the process of trying to get the video shots and record her videos without the resources that she would normally have.
It's helpful to hear how other YouTubers, bands, and podcasters are finding a way to create their content. We've been live streaming interviews with artists and creators, asking them what they're doing to cope with changing times.
We are a support mechanism to help creators sustain their businesses through these times. From the beginning, Patreon has been about helping artists make more money - we charge less than half what most other platforms charge. How has Patreon helped artists to connect with fans during lockdown?Ĭarlos: Patreon is a solution for artists who are looking for a connection with their fans. It's helpful for folks at a time like this and people are using Patreon to get that sense of connection and community as well. But Patreon is also about having a human connection with an artist you care about. Do you think there’s a psychological angle here as well? That we’ve needed music and the arts even more during lockdown?Ĭarlos: Oh yes! Obviously a lot of people are stuck at home and looking for great content online. A lot of fans are doing that, and it means the net impact has been a lot more fan growth than we've experienced before. If a band you love has had to cancel their show, you can see them online instead. Some folks are deleting their pledges because of economic difficulty, but that has been offset by Patrons who are stepping up to support artists and creators during this time. In fact, the opposite has happened: net acquisition and retention have both significantly improved as a result of the pandemic. I expected folks to delete their pledges or maybe just be less likely to subscribe. Tens of millions of people are unemployed right now and the economy sucks. I was worried about the impact of the pandemic on Patreon in terms of fans. That’s because if you can't tour, and you're having to play shows online, Patreon gives you a way to monetize it.
We've had a lot more bands launch than usual, and they're bigger bands than before. We’re seeing fitness instructors and yoga teachers who can’t teach classes in person turning to Patreon to monetize their online classes. Patreon works really great for them, but there are also some new creators launching on Patreon too. Have you seen any changes in the audience coming to Patreon since the pandemic started?Ĭarlos: Our core audience are YouTubers, musicians, podcasters, and other creative folks who already have an online business. We’ve added tips to help guide new people through the experience, we're also running live streams and product tours and we've published a lot of blog posts to help educate people about best practices. As a team we’ve really had to rally so that we could support these new folks. We’ve seen a very large influx of creators over the past two months, and more than 100,000 artists have launched on Patreon in the past two months alone. A lot of artists in the world are struggling because their tours have been canceled and online ad revenues have gone down too, but as a result a lot of people are turning to online forms of digital monetization, and that's what Patreon offers. What has been the impact of COVID-19 on Patreon’s business?Ĭarlos: A lot of companies are suffering, obviously, but Patreon has been quite fortunate.
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