greetings from above a bar || more about the new tiers n stuff…
(public post. super long. but important so read it & comment, merci).
my loves.
thank you for your fantastic response to the hip/hop/patty song. i was scared sorta. i am so glad people love it. it’ll gret a good remixing and proper release sometime down the line then people can dance and yell at the same time. i had a kind of spiritual reckoning yesterday that hit me like a train: i found out that twitter has been algorithming (for those of you who don’t know that that means, it basically means that twitter, like facebook and instrgram, is now selecting what it puts in your feed, bumping things out of a timeline and making viral things more viral, exactly what this planet does not need, in my humble opinion). it’s sort of optional, but most people won’t know about the option. i must have missed this memo because i was in the toddler cave. what the fuck. there i was thinking i was in a safe haven of twitter as facebook and instragram paved the path to hell with their evil algorithms and now i find out that there’s a REASON that my tweets have either been landing dead in the water or getting shared 3,000 times. i was wondering. wthe world doesn’t need this. we are getting further and further into the backwater of an echo chamber, and i feel guilty being a part of it.
i cherish this patreon. it’s direct, it’s not based on viral content, it’s real. even when i send you a naked selfie, that won’t lead to MORE or LESS of you reading this. it means i just get the pleasure of being free and unhindered with my body at you. and that’s what i miss about the internet. the freedom, the randomness, the liberation, the fun, the exciting moments of daring without heavy-handed self-conciousness.
my first thought when i learned this news about twitter was: “RIP old internet. thank fuck for the patreon.”
so thank you for being here with me, and hello from a very very very loud airbnb on the lower east side of NYC. i’m here for a week and change and the joint is literally above a club that has live bands and loud as fuck DJs until 4 am. then the afterparties go til 7am. jason (who is staying here) is not convinced we can make it. I AM CONVINCED however. am i a freak because i love noise? especially after being caged in the woods for a while (don’t get me wrong, the woods are great, and i’ve gotten into being caged by trees, especially when the snow falls and cages you in silence) the sound of pulsating bass and glasses rattling and people yelling at each other in hispanic is like fucking velvet to my ears. bring on the bar. CLOSE THE DOOR BEHIND YOU AMANDA, WHAT WERE YOU RAISED IN A GODDAMN BAR? i wish. maybe i will raise my child in a bar. neil and i are still on the struggling where-do-we-live tightrope of doom and i’m thinking: bar. library bar. for neil. he can live in the library part. who’s down?
ok for realz: i’m here breaking ground on a VERY FETAL new project….giant announcements coming soon – i’ll try to tell you everything on monday. it’s gonna be big and huge and scary for me and i think you’re gonna like it. the patreon will help me fund my time to work on it (the last time i checked, theater still doesn’t pay any money unless your show goes all hamilton, which this definitely won’t, it’s too weird, and no jazz hands whatsoever, so thank fuck for patreon, again).
down to serious business.
thank you so much to ALL OF YOU who has left such great, smart and insightful feedback and in the comments of my last everything-patreon post (read it HERE:”a big important email about upcoming new patreon tiers & more. read it & comment.“)
you guys inspire me. you really do. i love you.
how else would i have come up with the term THING-BENDING?? that’s what’s happening, fer sure. it’s actually a really good way of explaining this evolution.
someday i’m going to have to write a book about all this. i’m takin gmental notes. you are the subject, i am the subject, we are the subject. art is the subject. money and giving and taking is the subject. feminism and how new forms of community are going to rise out of the ashes of the patriarchy is the subject. THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME.
meanwhile.
CLEARLY i need to clarify some things, and so here you go….and please keep commenting until this is all fully understood and ironed out. i want everything to be crystal clear and not weird before i sally forth and open up these new tiers and Thing the Month of March.
1) first off: re: charging per-month / per-Thing
i tried to explain but people were still confused. this is the best way i can summarize it: i will be keeping this patreon on a per-Thing cycle (not per-Month), but i will be “Thinging a Month” as an extra Thing. make sense?
this is where capping your pledge becomes very important. more on that below. people had questions about caps, which leads me to:
2) capping your pledge this is so crucial: if you didn’t know, you can “cap” your pledge on patreon so that you a billed a set, maximum amount a month and never higher, no matter how many “Things” i Thing. this is very important, and i encourage you to use this feature, especially if you pledge at a high level or have any concerns about the number of Things i may make and release at any given time. this is key: YOU STILL GET EVERYTHING. there was a fair amount of confusion about this. even when you hit your cap…you still have access to everything as usual. (and as i see it: it’s a safeguard to make sure i don’t feel guilty as an artist for going overboard).
for example, if you can at-most afford to support me at $10 a month, you have several ways to do that the wisest path forward (instead of pledging $1 and capping at $10) would be to pledge at the $10 level and cap it at one charge of $10. then you get all the perks of the $10 level. if you’re on a tight enough budget and would be happier to only get charged $6 on a month where I only put out two things…go ahead and sign up for the $3 tier and cap at three charges, equating to $9 total…however, if I only thing ONE thing that month, you’re only in for $3. boom.
as you can see, there’s a lot of ways you can slice it. if you know you have at most $50 you’d like to contribute per month (yay, wow), you can pledge at the lower reward tiers and set a cap so that you don’t exceed $50 any given month (pledge to the $25 reward tier and cap it at 2, presto). patreon also lets you pledge a monetary number that exceeds the reward tier. so if you want to pledge $50 per month, you can select the rewards of any reward tier that’s under $50 – you can select to pay $50 per Thing and be in the $1 reward tier, even. but if you want the perks of the higher rewards (like the Art In The Mail – HOW COULD YOU NOT WANT?) go for the highest reward you’re eligible for. everybody’s different.
3) as far as the existing $100 tier patrons and how the new $250 tier effects them: everyone who is currently pled,ging at the $100 level can certainly stay here and continue to get everything they’ve been getting (VIP guest list, hand-written postcards, etc). the only change here for the $100 level is that you will now be getting an EXTRA perk: the signed Art In The Mail cards. you will not be getting anything less. business as usual, lovers. if you’re in the $100 tier and you want to bump up to the $250 tier, you certainly can. the $250 tier won’t be limited, any number of patrons can join in, but the $100 tier will stay limited to 30 patrons, only (probably forever and ever. it takes me a lot of time to write 30 postcards 
)
4) i love the idea of THE STATE OF ALTHINGS!
this will be us:
we are gonna work hard on a great ALTHINGS wrap-up for y’all at the end of this month. hayley will be clocking a fair amount of time on this from my office in NYC and it’s going to be a work in progress. we’ll try something and ask for feedback, and you can guide us/her & we will tweak it as needed – this is all a new way of reporting on the state of the patreon, my work, all that.
5) now….a word about DOWNLOADS:
the $1 tier right now only gets downloads when i’m feeling super-giddy – because technically the $3 tier is the “download tier”. BUT….when i’m really excited about something i want to share (or when it’s going on bandcamp for free anyway), i usually bop it to the $1 tier to be generous. got that? so $1 people will sometimes get downloads…but not always. the $3 tiers gets them like clockwork.
does this all make sense?
ask if it doesn’t.
6) COMMENTS & ANSWERS:
here are some more stand-out comments, and my answers, cut n pasted from the comments section of the last all-the-things post….
Lisa Stefanac wrote:
I’m fairly open to this, but would appreciate the monthly expense being transparent and that we as patreons only get charged that exact amount versus what I think is way larger amount per thing, given all your followers. Does that make sense? It wouldn’t feel right to me if you thing your monthly expenses and you make money off of us if your monthly expenses are less than your “thing” takeaway. Ultimately, I love all your art and want to support the way you are making it happen, but only that amount, nothing more, and please stay transparent! We all have our own monthly expenses, too!
AFP:
i wonder what a good way of doing this would be without making life a mess (because most of the time, I can’t even follow my own accounting, there are 129881 excel sheets). i’ll give that a think…
Kevin Yank wrote::
Although I suspect I’ll be in the minority, I don’t love the idea of being charged for operating costs. I like supporting the capital-A Art, and am pleased to support that Art at a higher tier to make all the Extras (blogs, streams, photos from the road…) possible, but it’s important to me that the dollars ultimately (however indirectly) support the production of Art. Charging operating expenses as Things decouples the patronage from the production of Art from my perspective (although I understand that from the inside it may not feel that way), and I do believe that the the fact that “I need to make more money this month” leads directly to “…and therefore I must produce new Art” is a healthy mechanism.
All that said, I am happy to be a minority view on this, and I will continue to support you regardless. ❤️
AFP:
this is a great comment….so many people have nailed it: the art and the business are very very very hard to separate. where does one end and begin? and you’re RIGHT: i think the reason i’m keeping the “per thing” along with the monthly-cover-my-ass-please-concept is exactly that reason: doing a flat “per month” deal seems like the opposite of motivation to me. i still want to be rewarded for working my ass off and producing MOAR content and the idea of “per month” would seriously terrify me…i could literally do nothing or everything and the financial results would be the same and what fucking fun is that. also, truth be told, i have a personal trigger about the per month thing: it reminds me too much of being a teenager and having a fucking allowance. and my life is practically run by my fear of being “patronized” the way i felt i was being “patronized” (in the negative sense) as a kid. funny, that, isn’t it. my greatest fear has become my greatest reward. i never wanted to feel patronized…so i opened my life up to patrons, but in a way i could control. does that make sense?
Sam Baxter wrote:
I’m in, I completely get it, and I love your creative solution. I do have one food for thought item: As I won’t be at the $25+ level, I worry a little that you’ll create something some month that I just holy-crap-must-have-that! Perhaps you could sell those things independently of subscription as well, allowing me to buy that cannot-live-without-it item. Feel free to make the price worth your while at such an ex post facto store!
AFP:
…i wonder how we could create some kind of a-la-carte possibility for certain art-in-the-mail. we can think about that for sure.
Mike Johnson wrote:
I wanna join the $1000 a thing club but it feels weird. I can afford it but it just feels like… weird. I don’t know. What does that say about me for spending that per a thing every month. Almost like buying a friend. Just feels wrong and gross. But another way to look at it is I’m just going to blow it on gambling and toys and other random bullshit. I just don’t know.
AFP:
man…..this is such an honest fucking comment. to be honest back, mike, the reason i canceled them out was for the same reason. i was so afraid that it was just too much money and it would all feel super-awkward and i’d feel too indebted to these rich people and blah blah blah. and then i spent almost 3 years working on the patreon and i watched PRETTY MUCH ALL of the patreon money get paid out to my staff, and to hundreds of other artists and musicians and designers and so forth, and i was like: right. this isn’t crazy. this is me acting as a vessel, hundreds of other artists & people are getting paid, i’m my own little art-economy, and goddam this is amazing, and fuck it, if rich people want to give money to me and my crew instead of to museums and the ballet and the NEA and NPR and whatever…YES. we deserve it, we are making great shit and we don’t have all the red tape they do. we can make whatever we want and not have to answer to a board of directors. so if you do it, don’t think of it as “buying a friend”. think of it as supporting a huge bunch of artists, with your head artist over here (me) thanking the fuck out of you every once in a while, knowing that you don’t goddamn own her. like any $1 patron, you’re a patron, and you’re just here to help me, not to buy me. and you sound awesome, so if you do it, i look forward to dinner. x
……
Willinwoods wrote:
Dear fucking Amanda,
I love and respect what you’re doing, but sincerely: Could it be that you are sometimes, perhaps, overthinking things just ever so slightly? I mean, likewise creative-and-lovespreading Danielle Corsetto had the audacity to say “I don’t know what I want to do right now. Please support me for the time being?!” and people up and did. Just my two cents, but again: I think people know and trust you enough to know that you’re not going to stop being creative, just because you’re leading a reasonably good life in between things, Things and THINGS. As a wise person or 1,000 said: “REST! TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! WE WILL WAIT FOR THINGS!” So I don’t think you should aim to please (us), at least not to too great an extent; you are better, and deserve better, than that. That said: I would personally prefer to give monthly, thus hopefully securing you a steady, monthly income, no matter what. Love.
AFP:
ha. you are talking to a workaholic and a chronic overthinker. but these comments are all saving my life. i know i’m super supported here. maybe it will make taking time off a littler easier? i dunno….
………
one last thought for you all, as i was googling about the confusing difference between “to patronize” as in, “to be condescending” and “to patronize” as in “to go to the same bar every night”. opposite day, right?
i found this.
check it:
“It must be remembered that to act as a patron was to be in a superior position to the person one was helping. Largesse could be given or withdrawn at will. Consider Samuel Johnson’s definition of a patron:
Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labors, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it.— Letter to Lord Chesterfield
You can see that Lord Chesterton’s offer of patronage after Johnson had achieved success was not only spurned, but resented as condescension. But if Chesterfield had offered it earlier, Johnson would very likely have accepted it gratefully.
Short answer: this is the other way around and it was probably end of 18th century. The main reason these two meanings coexists is that the verb has evolved two times.
First from the social and historical meaning of patron (going back to Roman antiquity), a wealthy man keeping a group of attached men and giving them money and places, financing familiar artists like Maecenas who was the patron of Virgiles. As these lords or rich bourgeois had the habit to interfere in their protégés’ works or to moralize them without being interrupted for fear of losing the protection, hence this meaning of patronize.
Second, the word patron began to be used as a very obsequious term for “customer” in the 17th century by city merchants. This word is now quite neutral but used to be a flattery, implying a status and a wealth high enough to be a protector of artists and craftsmen, not merely purchasing items in the shop but subsidizing art. The verb’s meaning has faded with the word’s.”
……
all i’m saying is: YOU ARE HERE NOW. when i need you.
so thanks.
FUTURE IS THIS.
ask more questions if you got ‘em.
i love you all.
stay warm and loud and quiet as yer heart desireth,
xxx
AFP
———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.
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. new to my music and TOTALLY OVERWHELMED? TAKE A WALK THROUGH AMANDALANDA….we made a basic list of my greatest hits n stuff on this lovely page: http://amandalanda.amandapalmer.net/
5. general AFP/patreon-related questions? ask away, someone will answer:
patronhelp@amandapalmer.net
