…Unlikely I think, due to Patreon being more than a money transmitter; I imagine it could easily apply to a barebones alternative, like Flattr or Ko-fi (were they to offer donation batching), but Patreon ties donation amounts tiers (and pledges in the case of per-creation patreons) to blog posts on the blog they provide. They’re more than a money transmitter. Though I suppose if it applied to them, it would apply to Kindle Unlimited to, given that Amazon’s business model there is to put all the subscription fees in a pool and pay them out based (simplistically) on pages read.
Moreover, the way many creators use it as a kind of store, selling access to goods and services based on subscribing would also help them avoid that sort of regulation.
Amanda Palmer sent out a gigantic post last night about her follow up thoughts on the matter. To summarize she still thinks Patreon is one of the best places out there that enables decentralization of traditional business for artists, and lets artists bypass those gatekeepers and do business directly with their audience. Kind of. Really the most direct way is for an artist to set up their own site but then it silos communities that could benefit with being on the same platform, and consumers find comfort of having a middleman to be responsible for something.
So for the time being she’s going to stay on Patreon and hope they do something to make it right, but ultimately she’s loyal only to her fans and if they all decide to leave she’ll find an alternative. If she leaves Patreon will be losing one of their most visible creators so we’ll see how everything shakes out.
Patreon’s support account just accidentally confirmed today that they are in fact going to be raking in money on extra transaction fees, at least at the start, because per-pledge fees start on the 1st, but pledge deaggregation apparently does not.
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