Dec 13, 2017

Patreon reverses course on new fee structure

Kia Kokalitcheva

Patreon, a company that lets artists collect monthly dues from their fans in exchange for access to content, is reversing course on newly announced changes to its payment structure after significant backlash.

Tough decision: As CEO Jack Conte tried to explain last week, the company wanted to tackle some issues with its current model, including the month-to-month variations in fees incurred by artists and creators. Unfortunately, as users quickly pointed out, the new fee structure, which included a flat per-transaction fee, would have disproportinately impacted small pledges of $1 and $2.

  • Many artists worried this would discourage their fans, who would now pay those extra fees, from contributing.
  • Some critics even accused the company of making the changes solely to boost its own revenues (it takes a 5% cut from earnings) now that it's raised new funds from venture capitalists.

Instead, Patreon says it will work with its users to come up with new ways to fix its fee issues.

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