Crowdfunding Saturday: Ongoing Crowdfunding

in #crowdfunding6 years ago (edited)

I've written a fair bit here about crowdfunding campaigns, the kind that have an end point. Those are things one can and should create competition for on the Steem blockchain. However, there's another kind of crowdfunding platform, one I think Steemit is already in direct competition with.

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I'm talking, of course, about Patreon. The Patreon model is simple: You sign up to support a creator or creators, and decide how much money you're willing to give per month or per published item. Patreon takes a fee, and there are processing fees.
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Patreon's front page. The top of it ignores users

Patreon is a great idea that got a lot of traction by having first mover advantage, this despite the fact that seem to not be very good at their jobs. This was evident by how incredibly bad they were at discovery (ie, the ability to find creators to support) early on, and by the fact that they're still not great at it. It was even more evident last December, when they decided to change their fees in a way that made support at the 1-3 dollar level basically impossible. After massive blowback, they rolled the change back, but a lot of good faith was lost.
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drip's front page is a step ahead

drip is Kickstarter's answer to Patreon. Though still in beta, it already hosts some cool projects. And Kickstarter is a more trustworthy company than Patreon, due to being a B-Corp, and due to the fact that the owners seem to have zero interest in selling.
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Discovery on Patreon has gotten better, but is still kinda crap

I support quite a few creators on Patreon and a much smaller number on the newer drip, but I wish I could support them here instead. My highest support level on Patreon is $5 a month. I could easily cover that with upvotes.

For creators that decide to move to Steemit, it would require a higher level of engagement, and probably some ramp up time as existing supporters sign up to the platform and get enough SP for their votes to be financially meaningful. It's definitely a higher degree of difficulty from the post-and-done way of Patreon. But I suspect many of them would find it beneficial.

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Discovery on drip is WAY better

Some creators may never move to a platform like Steemit. The decentralized nature of the platform can certainly make some feel unsafe, and I don't know if that's an issue that can be resolved. But for others, the transparency of the platform - plus the underlying principle of getting paid with upvotes - could really work. I don't think someone like Amanda Palmer, who is currently making over $38,000 per post, is likely to move.

The questionable judgement Patreon has shown has certainly increased the chance people me be interested in moving, but I suspect quite a few of them would prefer to move to drip, which provides the same service as Patreon from a more reliable company (readers of my crowdfunding posts will know that I think KS is a stellar company).

Previous Crowdfunding posts:
Crowdfunding rules
Crowdfunding campaigns: Keeping momentum
Crowdfunding Campaigns: The Emotional Toll
Crowdfunding: How Neil Gaiman Saved My Campaign
Crowdfunding: Steemit As A Crowdfunding Platform
Is Kickstarter Doomed? (spoiler: it is not)

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This is great. I’m resteeming so I can have it around...I do a lot of crowdfunding for artists out in the world, and it’s one of the reasons steemit was so interesting to me (how does this type of platform enable content and story-led crowdfunding?!). I don’t have the whole answer yet, but I didn’t know about any of this and it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thank you! Might hit you up with specific questions once I’ve done my homework!

I'm always happy to answer questions from friends.

I am really behind the times.
Thanks for the info helping me learn about these different platforms.
I just happened across Steemit because my son said I should dip my toe into Cryptos.
It was suggested I may like Steemit as a place to share some of my favorite photos.
Now I think I'm addicted and realizing there's always a lot more to learn.

good post sir @didic

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