The State of the Union and How We Got Here In 2014, when Apple bought Beats for $3.2 billion, they brought Ian Rogers and Trent Reznor on board. The two of them have done more for direct-to-fan business models than almost anyone in music.

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Trent Reznor gave a keynote speech where he spoke about a future where artists could communicate directly with fans, access their data, and sell anything at the point of consumption. That was the dream and it never came true on Apple.

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As Facebook began pay walling fans, I could see disaster looming. Instagram was always a bad idea: you couldn’t repost, share, or even link out from a post. I watched My Space fall and wipe out a generation of artists who didn’t adapt to new platforms.

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Then came SoundCloud. Artists paid thousands of dollars for pro accounts just to stream their own music. At least there, I could still communicate with fans but it was nonsensical. Why were we paying someone to host our music? Inevitably, record labels were going to attack for streaming rights.

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Then we pushed fans to Spotify, with no guarantee that artists would ever be paid fairly. I knew algorithms were going to destroy music discovery. I watched as artists began gaming the system, creating songs that sounded nearly identical to every other hit.

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Here’s Trent Reznor showing discontent about artists gaming Spotify’s algorithms using the waterfall strategy

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Others are also talking about gaming Spotify’s algorithm:

 

 

 

It’s no wonder we haven’t had a new genre in years. Here’s one user’s recent reflection on algorithms and music discovery: 

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Thirdparty ownership of a fan base is evil a necessary evil. I wish in 2008 we could’ve convinced artists to stop signing record deals and drive traffic to their own websites. Unfortunately, that doesn’t feed what motivates a world class artist. They weren’t going to drive traffic to something they owned, because it didn’t feed their ego or their need to have higher numbers than their peers.

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When Topspin entered the picture, we managed with plenty of persuasion to get a few forward-thinking artists to experiment with direct to fan tools. The Pixies, Bassnectar, Trent Reznor, Amanda Palmer all found success in different ways.

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I see Patreon as the website we always wanted them to build.

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In 2015, the owner of Hype Machine went off the rails blocking musicians, blogs, fans, industry professionals and artists. He destroyed one of the most important music discovery tools because he felt it wasn’t organic enough or that people were gaming it:

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That decision caused a ripple effect that decimated blog based discovery. Bigger music blogs began focusing on artists with strong SEO who could drive traffic back to them, while smaller or lesser-known artists couldn’t get coverage without paying for it.

Around the same time, SoundCloud collapsed wiping out fan bases and streams. Kaskade’s deletions come to mind:

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Mashups, remixes, and bootlegs have always been a cornerstone of discovery. Think Dido and Eminem where would we be without “Stan”? I don’t want to imagine a world where Aerosmith and Run D.M.C. never met. Somewhere, right now, there’s a young Rick Rubin masterfully creating new sounds that algorithms and copyright laws are preventing us from hearing.

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How would I solve that? I’d go to some of the best producers I know and have them start a record pool on Patreon. Host the downloads elsewhere to avoid licensing issues, and let fans subscribe through Patreon.

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Patreon’s business model could even bring back A&R. Once piracy took hold, labels lost the money that funded that vital position.

We know unknown producers will pay hundreds just to have one song placed on a blog or playlist.

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Using a model like Submit Hub, each label could collect that money through its Patreon hub. Without A&R, artists have to “know someone who knows someone” to get their music heard and that stifles the evolution of sound.

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Artists with record pools could also charge for submissions.

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I pride myself on being a problem solver someone who creates new revenue sources so artists can make art forever.

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In 2019, artists began abandoning their fan bases because of the dystopian hellscape Twitter had become:

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The state of the union across all platforms is not good. X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok they’re all devolving into algorithmic chaos in a desperate attempt to compete with each other. The ability for an artist to communicate with fans is dying. And even when they can reach them, they have to wade through a swamp of negativity to do it.

 

Here’s Deadmau5 today, raging at the machine. He’s speaking for every artist. They’re tired. They have platform fatigue. The few spaces left where they can connect are overwhelmingly negative. Artists can’t create beautiful art while surrounded by hate and rage bait:

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It goes on for several more posts. Musicians are on the Titanic and they can see the iceberg. It’s time for them to move their fans to a safe space. I believe that space is Patreon.

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I’ve already imagined the campaigns it would take to pull Deadmau5’s fans off those platforms and onto Patreon.

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The state of the union is not good in any way. Spotify is creating AI music and AI bands essentially, they could hire actors like Milli Vanilli to tour while keeping all the profits:

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Artists are running “delete Spotify” campaigns and who can blame them? The CEO is taking profits from their art and investing in war drones.

It’s not just Spotify. YouTube is flooded with AI news, AI music, and fake artist videos. AI influencers manipulate people online.

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It’s time for a platform to step up one that allows artists to separate themselves from AI generated garbage while assuring fans the art they’re consuming is human.

When I think about Taylor Swift, I’d bet the farm she doesn’t want her fans on X or helping Elon Musk make money.

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Add to that a U.S. government tightening control over the arts and canceling visas for touring artists. Not being able to play in America can destroy a career:

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I see it happening to artists big and small. These artists pushed their fans to Bandcamp to help fund their visa battles. The question becomes: why Bandcamp and not Patreon?

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Patreon offers far more robust tools. Artists could blog their experiences, take fans along on their journey, and stay relevant during their struggle.

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I can think of two other times when visa restrictions destroyed careers after 9/11 and during COVID. The right team would meet this moment. Bandcamp won’t save them.

 

I’m passionate about my work about artists, and about their fans. I’m a fan too. I treat each one the way I’d want to be treated. I was a huge part of putting fans on these platforms. I’d like to be part of moving them to a safe one.

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I’ve been on a break for a while. I could feel the shift coming my tools becoming obsolete. You can’t market music to an algorithm. My life’s work has been building and moving fan bases. I can hold someone’s dreams in the palm of my hand. That’s a huge responsibility. If I couldn’t give them the best, it was better to step aside. I thought some young, eager person would fill my shoes and invent a new way.

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An artist like Deadmau5 was born with a phone in his hand. He rose to fame livestreaming every minute of his life, playing games with his fans. He’s always been a natural. I remember once his managers hired a bunch of PR people and he went online and banned them all because it was so obviously not him. I laughed, knowing the execs at Three Six Zero Group were losing their minds. No one had ever seen a Deadmau5 just being himself completely unfiltered.

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People were scared of that. The powers that be didn’t understand it. But that authenticity that connection made him one of the most prolific artists in dance music.

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As I dug through Patreon to understand it better, I was delighted to see Deadmau5 looking for the same thing. He said on Threads, “I don’t know the answer.” I’d like to help make Patreon the answer.

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I can see fan bases circling the drain. I can’t imagine how much it would cost Deadmau5 just to boost a post to reach his fans. It’s upsetting the kind of thing that makes me want to kick off my flip flops and spring into action. When a fan looks at an artist’s page and sees four million followers but only a thousand interactions, it plants the idea that the artist is irrelevant when in reality, Joel Zimmerman isn’t going to pay Mark Zuckerberg $100K to boost a post. Zuckerberg is banking on artists being willing to bleed themselves dry just to stay visible.

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I understand the psychology behind why artists choose the platforms they do. I’m certain we can create exactly what they need to move one more time.

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I hadn’t even heard of Patreon until one night, half asleep, I heard someone on YouTube say, “We built our site around the follow button. If you follow a creator, you should see their content. 

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While Patreon still needs a few tweaks to be more appealing to musicians, with input from artists and industry leaders, it absolutely can be. Steve at Red Light and I have talked about this and he agrees it’s vital to find solutions.

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While Patreon still represents third party ownership of a fan base, it’s an ethical partnership. Your willingness to share data and let artists also own their audience is incredible.

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I’ve watched many of Jack Conte’s interviews. While I don’t agree with everything he believes about fan bases, there’s an old saying: “If you’re the smartest person in the room, find a different room.” I’d love to challenge each other’s ideas on what it really means to activate a fan base.

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I watched his SXSW keynote where he talked about Facebook’s 2009 “ranking fans” shift. My experience led me to a different interpretation of what caused it and how to deal with it.

 

I believe in relentless pursuit. With all my industry expertise, I believe Patreon is the answer.

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I’m goal oriented. There was a time I thought I’d accomplished every goal possible in music the Grammys, the Diamond records, the hits, the laughs with fans, the shows at Red Rocks and Coachella.

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I was just a little girl with a laptop and a dream. I did everything I set out to do. I have a legacy of music I helped shape and I’m proud of it. I practiced marketing in the music industry with integrity. I never charged an artist unless I believed I could deliver world class results.

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All of my work came through word of mouth. I’ve never handed out a business card, built a website, or asked a manager for a client. I’ve never made a résumé. Everything came from the industry recognizing what I could do. This is my first time doing this I’m a fish out of water. But I believe it’s necessary.

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Artist dissatisfaction has reached a fever pitch and their fans can feel it. History shows us: when artists move, their fans follow. Not just the superfans all of them.

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I can feel Jack Conte’s passion for what he’s built in every interview. And while this tectonic shift is happening across the internet, Patreon is perfectly positioned to be the answer.

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If you’ll have me, we can set the next goal: creating the perfect platform for Taylor Swift to say to her fans, Follow me to Patreon.