According to TED.com : “It’s been a weird 100 years for artists and creators, says musician and entrepreneur Jack Conte. The traditional ways we’ve turned art into money (like record sales) have been broken by the internet, leaving musicians, writers and artists wondering how to make a living. With Patreon, Conte has created a way for artists on the internet to get paid by their fans. Could payment platforms like this change what it means to be an artist in the digital age?”
“As a solo artist and member of folk-rock duo Pomplamoose, Jack Conte garnered millions of views for his offbeat “video songs,” including his breakout hit “Yeah Yeah Yeah” and “Pedals,” a robotic tour-de-force with a set that duplicates the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.”
“Despite his success, Conte noted the disconnect between page views and revenue, and he realized that if you’re a widely viewed artist and you aren’t making money, “that’s not your fault — it’s technology’s fault.” His solution is Patreon: a membership platform built on recurring payments from patrons to support creatives with ongoing projects.”
How artists can (finally) get paid in the digital age by Jack Conte
For those of you not familiar with TED Talks here is a brief summery from www.ted.com: “TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize”
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I look forward to your thoughts and comments!