Updates to Patreon in November

TRANSCRIPT

Hey everybody, Gregiffer here, with some major updates that’ll affect the channel and everyone watching, but will especially affect those who have been generously subscribing to my Patreon and have been supporting the channel financially. Recently, Patreon has announced changes to acquiesce to the Apple App Store’s policies, meaning that a) if you subscribe to Patreon through the Apple App Store, you’ll be subject to a 30% store fee, so maybe think about subscribing through your PC instead, and b) Patreon will no longer be supporting the per-creation billing model, which is what I’ve been using from the very beginning.

This has been incredibly frustrating, and counter to my philosophy as a video creator. I average about three videos a month, but if something comes up and I only make two videos that month, you pay less for less work. That’s been very pertinent this year, which has seen a great decline in videos because of my living situation. Now I simply have no choice, and if everything goes as it should, my Patreon will switch to per-month billing sometime in the first week of November, sometime between the 4th and the 8th.

Unfortunately, I can’t give you an exact day, because the process of making the change is needlessly complicated on the side of Patreon. You can’t just flip a switch, you have to get in contact with a Patreon employee through email, who may or may not be a robot, and they schedule the switch months away. I tried to get this going on September 2nd, and it took them more than a month to tell me that the switch will happen vaguely within the first week of November. Thanks a bunch, guys.

So what will this mean for you? First off, you will all want to consider how much you’ve been giving. If you subscribed at $1 per video, with the expectation of three videos a month, you may want to consider updating your subscription to $3 a month once the switch over has happened. Obviously, how much you subscribe for is entirely up to what, whatever you’re happy and comfortable with. Second thing to consider is time of billing. It is my understanding that for Patreon’s per-month billing model, you are billed the day you subscribed, instead of the end-of-the-month system the per-creation model uses. So for example, if you subscribed for a Patreon on the 15th of a given month, you’ll be billed every 15th.

So if you have certain times of the month where being billed would be inconvenient, like before a paycheck, you may want to consider unsubscribing, waiting until a more appropriate date, and then resubscribing.

Now let’s talk about subscriber reward tiers. They’re going to have to be readjusted. Once the switchover happens, it’ll shake out like this: $1 a month will still get your name in the credits, just as before. Getting the little advertising spots at the end of most of videos, where you can promote your channel, podcast, book, etc, that will now set at $3 a month, and I’ll be needing those who wish to continue with that reward to send me fresh links and information, or at the very least a “keep things the same” message so that I can get all of that sorted.

For early access and extra content, yes I know I need to do better at the extra content stuff, that tier will be bumped up to $10 a month, which is actually theoretically cheaper than when it was $5 a video and I was making three videos a month.

So, there’s a lot to think about, and further adjustments may need to be made as this switch develops. Keep an eye out for further updates on my social medias, I'll try to answer all the questions I can, and I’m sorry these changes are being forced on us. However this ends up shaking out, thank you so much for supporting me and this channel of mine, being able to support myself making silly little videos has been a privilege that I don’t take lightly. Here’s to the future.

[dskillz]

It was thoughtful to take the time laying this all out. Will certainly continue to support.

[crazyandorian]

The apple change only affects NEW subscriptions, not currently existing ones. If you’re currently subscribed through the apple app, you should be fine. It’s only if you decide to subscribe to a new creator.

[samsonevickis]

Well I hate you are having to deal with this big change, I want you to know I support you regardless of the system and will be making the change on my computer when it changes over. I have never noticed a lack of videos, sometimes I like to let them pile up so I can watch several at a time. You are doing the hardest research possible when it comes to Nick stuff, you are just now about to be really covering the stuff I grew up with and I think a lot of your audience and future audience did as well. I hope you get more subs and supporters going forward, as for me I am in a position to pledge more and will do just that. I hope you get your living situation sorted sooner than later and hopefully you will end up with more money to pay rent or afford utilities or whatever you need to continue your work. I really appreciate all that you have done and all you are going to do!

[yuliyakovalyuk]

You need to put The Monkees and Elephant issues on internet archive as they are blocked on my country, so like the Spartakus video can you reupload to internet archive please, PLEASE

[FlowingThot]

I know this is hard on you, but this change will see me sign up for the Patreon where I wouldn't before because I can be more sure about how much and when I will be charged. I hope there are more people that will support the great work you are doing.

[leegoldsmith]

I appreciate your philosophy but patrons are patrons by supporting you through life, not just productivity.

[codyssmith]

I believe I had already had mine set up to be a one time $5/month payment.

This sucks but not much we can do for now.