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greetings from paris, and a question/topic (so, comment). (Patreon)

Published:
2017-04-03 14:42:09
Imported:
2023-04

Content

(patron-only).

hallo loves.

i'm writing from the world's best air bnb in paris - you can clearly see why i am in love. everything's crooked. our host is a 70-year old french artist named edith. i say no more. literally, as i write, the church bells are playing beethoven outside my door. in heaven. i am going to do a tiny TINY (i mean TINY - like....for 25 people, in a very, very special space) ninja gig in a couple days and i'll post the info here first, then on social media. since it's so so small i am literally going to post to twitter and FB an hour before the time - but i'll let you guys know in the earlier part of the day.

i am still digging out from under the laundry - both psychic and literal - of the last few weeks, especially the time i spent in the camps in lesvos.

a couple things:

i've been thinking long and hard about it and i think i'm going to write a lonnnnnnnnng piece of reflection about lesvos....it's all too large, personal, poetic and complicated to just hand over to the guardian in 1500 words or less. and i don't even know if i have a thesis. but i want to share the feelings.

 so i'm going to sit down today, tomorrow, and for as long as it takes, really, and write everything as a story. i haven't sat down to do any long-form writing since "The Art of Asking", and i think everything that just happened in lesvos is worth sharing. 

i miss blogging. so many things took me away, bit by bit: twitter, touring, social media disintegrating my blog readership, and then the book...i focused so long on writing the book that my blog really died a full death.

and baby. the baby made time go away.

but i'm ready to write things about feelings again, and you're my audience. so here we go.

since i'm planning on spending a week or more writing this, and hiring an editor, and since i have a goal for the dough in mind (charity - specifically for the refugees in lesvos), i'm going to Thing it if i'm happy enough. you'll be the judge of whether it's kosher but fair warning.

......

i also wanted to ask you guys a very direct question about my patreon page's so-called "forward-facing number".

since the beginning of patreon (i joined two years ago), i've been asking them if they can vanish the $$ amount on the creator pages. it's not so much about transparency as it is about comfort. i'm really happy to celebrate the fact that so many people keep joining (we're over 9,000 now) but i wonder about the necessity of having the whopping dollar amount staring everybody in the face.

my feelings about this are complicated and informed by everything i learned from my pain with kickstarter (and if you read my book, you know).

on the one hand, it's amazing to be able to celebrate the resources: LOOK AT ALL THIS MONEY I CAN SPEND ON MAKING ART AND PAYING PEOPLE!! and on the other hand, there's two downsides: there's the "why would she possibly need any more support" factor (i think people really do possibly shy away from supporting my work because they think i have "enough", which is weird, because it doesn't actually work that way). and then there's the perpetual fear of backlash i have ("why would amanda palmer possibly be charging people that much money for art?").  other crowdfunding platforms have systems that tuck away their grand totals (pledgemusic hides the total, whereas kickstarter advertises it, etc). 

there's also the weirdness that the forward-facing number only reflects the "first" project i thing per month. since people's pledges are capped, the funding for every project after the first one goes down by a factor of about 20% or so - so that number isn't even quite...true.

anyway....patreon has FINALLY inserted technology that allows you to toggle the forward-facing number "off", which means you wouldn't see the total amount of dough i'm making per (first) thing.

i'm pretty sure i want to toggle it off, but i wanted to throw the discussion out to the community to see if you guys had any insight or thoughts about it.

i'm reading.

comment below, please-o.

i love you.

x
a

 

-----------THE NEVER-ENDING AS ALWAYS-----------

1. if you’re a patron, please click through to comment on this post. at the very least, if you’ve read it, indicate that by using the heart symbol. i know, i know. 

2. see All the Things i've made so far on patreon: http://amandapalmer.net/patreon-things/

3. join the official AFP-patron facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/afpland/

4. AFP-patreon-related questions? ask away, someone will answer:
patronhelp@amandapalmer.net

Files

Comments

Anonymous

If you feel better about it toggle it off. <3

Anonymous

Hmm. I have to say I don't really base how much I contribute to your campaign - on how much is already being pledged. I just base it on the fact that I'm not working much these days so I'm just grateful there's a $1 option at all. I talk about you, and the patreon. A lot. I cover your songs (as well as playing my own) when I perform. I'd love to crowd-fund a book myself , but I don't have a 'profile'...and I keep using that as an excuse not to do it. But while ever you're around the idea never goes away. I think supporters do what they do, for their own reasons and the actual dollar amount - is of less influential consequence than you'd imagine. It's kinda like saying "I won't buy that band's CD, they're clearly already popular enough and don't need my approval". :) love you.

Anonymous

As many have already said, I do not base my involvement on "the FF number." I will give/participate in a way that feels right to me, supports your art, and fits my life at the moment. I find minutiae of the Patreon page a little time-consuming anyway, so I rarely even look at it, especially at the maths that don't affect my consumption and appreciation of your art. I read your posts mostly in the email format, --not the Patreon page or app-- to keep me from the rabbit-holes that can entice when engaging with another platform. So, the number--toggled on, off, or even blinking--doesn't affect my decision to give at all. I came here today to tick the heart to let you know I'm reading, and to respond to the query. That being done, I'm going back to my joyous struggle to create my own good art, and hope you'll continue to do the same with enthusiasm. <3

Anonymous

Seems like a lose/ lose situation. If you toggle it off, the complainers will just complain that you have something to high. People will speculate as to how much you are making and probably over inflate things. I would leave it on. I think your fans appreciate your honesty and transparency.

Serious Monkey

Go ahead and toggle it off. I think it's presence is more noticeable than if it weren't there at all. As for my personal patronage (patreonage?), as long as your making music and paying the rent I don't care how much we give you. I'm just happy to support you.

Anonymous

I've never noticed the $$ bit. Do whatever makes you happy!

Jigme Yli-Rasku

I didn't comment on here, because this hit me as "Just wrong". I know that I have shared your Patreon page with some people to get the response of "Who the fuck does she think she is, asking for all that money, and actually getting it." I really wanted to defend you. But I wasn't exactly able to do so successfully, even though I do understand where, and why this makes sense (at least to me). My feelings are that the transparency that you have been offering is a big part of what allows many of us to contribute genuinely. I know that for me, I personally don't have an issue with the value you are offering. I do understand there are a couple of different things that make the figure "non transparent" as I see it. The obvious thing to *me* is that most people see the figure as "supporting Amanda Palmer". By that, they see that it is supporting one person, or one household. This, as I understand it, is not how this works with you (or the vast majority of creators here). I estimate that your "most simple things" probably require 80 person hours of work to produce. And I expect that to be very much a low ball figure. Personally, if there are 400 person hours involved in a "thing" I fully understand why the amount which you are getting per thing may not be enough to feel you can simply "let it be free" and I would not be at all surprised to find out that the total amount of work for a lot of what you present as a "paid for thing" is a lot closer to 400 person hours, than 80 person hours. But people do not understand that. The other issue, which seems to be less important (but then again I might be missing stuff) for you, is that the figure as you stated, only represents your first thing of the month. The reason I think it might be less important for you, is that I am not sure how often I have seen you put up multiple things in a month. I know that I have never felt that there are a lot of them, and that I figured that it at least averages out to about one per month. If I am not mistaken,

Jigme Yli-Rasku

If I am not mistaken (previous message ended up getting sent "early) Patreon now tries to account for the number of paid posts that you make in a month. So for me (at least as I understand how my patrons support me) I actually end up making more per thing, if I end up posting more paid things. This ends up getting reflected in the figure that Patreon posts. I believe that every month the amount they have listed, has actually been lower than the actual amount I have received. Not by much, but by enough that I have no concerns that Patreon is making me look richer than I actually am.

Jigme Yli-Rasku

The only thing that I think for me would lead me to be more inclined to support you, would be a more complete accounting for what went into the thing you posted, and if there are other income sources for the production of the thing than your own patrons. I think, if anything more openness would attract more people like myself.

Anonymous

I'm 100% supportive of you not making it the up front first thing you see upon logging in...for all the reasons you noted. Being an artist who is currently re-tooling/trying to figure out moving forward in a functional /able to be sustained way, I feel you. Thinking about other projects we've done & working with...for instance...friends who are the lead in bands or various projects that aren't big enough for outside management and the insane struggles around the lack of understanding of costs / cash flow / overhead...$$$$ doesn't mean that $$$$ goes in your pocket. $$ goes to expenses housing food transportation etc $ goes to collaborations studio expenses etc $ goes to production costs and as long as all that keeps flowing you have the cash flow to exist. Any major drop off anywhere and you spend a bunch of cycles figuring out how to re-flow the $$$ to make it work. You aren't made of money. You are producing great work. And people support you. And if there are folks arguing with you on that...when one buys a ticket to a show or buys music in whatever form...or prints...there is no accounting to the public of the whole cash flow of it. Do what makes you comfortable and what makes it work for you. I know that when I get the projects in working on & ones in helping with...we will be gratefully making use of the feature you just fought for. So thank you. As always, you are thoughtful and awesome and AFP!

Anonymous

I'm proud that I contribute even a minute percentage of that number every month if it means helping you make Art! If it bothers you, then by all means, toggle it; who needs more stress, amiright?! <3

Anonymous

I don't really see any need to know how much you are being supported, I just want to do my part. I listen you your art, you deserve my shekels. Hide it, show it, I'm here to stay at whatever level I can maintain, as long as I follow your work (and sometimes in the periods between following it, life being what it is.)