In March 2015 I started a series, 30 Artists in 30 Days, where the plan was to find 30 artists to support on Patreon. The 30-days part ended up being a little loose. Read that post first if you haven’t already.
It’s been about 18 month since then, and I thought I’d go back and see how Patreon is working out for those artists.
Here’s the list:
Active means has posted on Patreon since June 2016.
| Artist | Current Status | Mar 2015 | Sep 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nate Maingard | Active | 153 | $1343 | 269 | $1309 |
| Amanda Palmer | Active | 3935 | $29,193.25 | 8,317 | $33,080 |
| Cyra Morgan | Inactive | 22 | $140 | 25 | $139 |
| Julia Nunes | Active | 504 | $2,010.84 | 531 | $1,424 |
| Dan Newbie | Inactive | 16 | $43 | 21 | $49 |
| George Aguirre | Inactive | 16 | $221 | removed | |
| Okori | Active | 13 | $50.50 | 23 | $68 |
| Walt Ribeiro | Inactive | 28 | $158.11 | removed | |
| TimH | Active | 53 | $844.35 | 55 | $968 |
| Peter Yuen | Active | 47 | $558 | 78 | $838 |
| Peter Blanchard | Active | 14 | $251 | 18 | $177 |
| The DarkSide | Active | 1 | $1 | 1 | $1 |
| Raina Rose | Active | ?? | ?? | 62 | $198 |
| James O’Deorain | Inactive | ?? | ?? | removed | |
| Caitlin de Ville | Inactive | ?? | ?? | 61 | $336 |
| Danielle Ate the Sandwich | Active | 181 | $1,011.85 | 193 | $693 |
| Nika Harper | Active | 302 | $1,918.41 | 194 | $877 |
| Scott Bradlee | Active | 955 | $3,427.59 | 620 | $1316 |
| Lauren O’Connell | Inactive | 342 | $1,463.68 | 357 | $1,193 |
| Ana Free | Active | 75 | $445.00 | 53 | $390 |
| Sean Osborn | Inactive | 3 | $31.00 | 5 | $37 |
| David Sides | Inactive | 5 | $9 | 4 | $7 |
| Cyrille Aimee | Active | 79 | $705 | 152 | $1,125 |
| Phil J | Active | 9 | $34 | 9 | $40 |
| Tony Lucca | Active | 178 | $1,373.00 | 165 | $1,003 |
| Christopher Bill | Active | 48 | $287.50 | 47 | $98 |
| Walk Off the Earth | Active | 1448 | $15,805.50 | 1,287 | $9,512 |
| Taylor Davis | Active | 370 | $1,857.00 | 412 | $1,707 |
| Unwoman | Active | 293 | $593.61 | 399 | $751 |
| Gabby Young | Active | 40 | $226.00 | 51 | $260 |
Like Wikipedia, the concept behind Patreon seems to me like one those things the internet was designed for. Freeing up artists from the middlemen so that they can interact and earn directly from their audience.
So I was quite surprised to see that the majority have seen a reduction in their Patreon income, some quite substantially. A few no longer have Patreon accounts. Only 12 of the 30 have seen an increase. Most have fewer patrons, but even some with more patreons are earning less – so the average pledge has come down. I can’t really see a good reason for this. Patreon’s site was exploited in in October 2015, and perhaps this had an effect, frightening people off. But Patreon’s still getting good press, and still seems to be attracting new artists, so it’s a pity and a mystery to me that artists have not been able to grow their income in a way many would have hoped.
Related posts:
* 30 Artists in 30 Days