Maybe I’m stupid, but I fundamentally don’t understand the difference between the “rock” and “pop” music genres.
It’s a continuum, but to be honest, I don’t know for sure, either.
If you are enjoying the free podcasts, the Patreon bonus episodes are a bargain at whatever tier you select. That said, before you join read the following message Andrew Hickey posted today to avoid paying more than you have to.
I have copied the below from Cat Valente, who posted it at https://www.patreon.com/posts/on-upcoming-at-114950348 , with her permission, because she expresses this better than I could… (I have deleted a handful of sentences that apply specifically to her Patreon and don’t apply to mine because we have different billing structures and rewards). Hoping to have a bonus episode up on Pentangle tomorrow or Thursday, and the next main episode up a day or two after that.
Ughhhh I DON’T LIKE MAKING THIS POST ANY MORE THAN YOU’RE GONNA LIKE READING IT.
No one wants to read about website changes, and holy shit I promise no creative on Patreon wants to spend any time at all writing about what’s up on the backend around here.
BUT WE HAVE TO SO LET’S GET THROUGH THIS TOGETHER.
Despite running a very successful website that allows artists all over the world to actually make a steady living and create more art, and despite the fact that THERE IS NO NEED TO FUCK WITH THIS VERY WINNING FORMULA EVERYONE LIKES…Patreon is once again going to fuck with their formula.
On November 1st, most Patreons will switch over to charging 30% more per patron IF AND ONLY IF YOU SIGN UP THROUGH THE PATREON APP or otherwise utilize the Apple AppStore when you subscribe to a creator., in order to pay Apple’s fees.
If you are already a patron of me or anyone else, none of this applies to you unless and until you want to change your tier.
Now, Patreon has given us all a choice of eating that 30% or letting our patrons cover it, but let’s be real, very, very few Patreons can afford to cut their earnings by a third overnight. We don’t have a lot of choice but to let Patreon increase the fees ONCE AGAIN, ONLY THROUGH THE APP.
I keep capitalizing, bolding, and italicizing these comments because there’s a pretty simple fix here that causes none of us any issues or extra fees: DON’T USE THE APP TO SIGN UP FOR ANYONE OR CHANGE YOUR TIERS.
All this is ostensibly happening because Apple charges that fee and I guess Patreon doesn’t want to cover it anymore, but they also want to drive more traffic to their (very not good) app, so this is their solution, which naturally creates a lot more problems.
So my recommendation for you and anyone considering signing up for a paid membership to any creator is to just ignore the app and make all your transactions on a desktop, which is annoying (maybe), but saves both you and I all that money.
As usual, this is not my, nor any other Patreon creator’s fault or choice, we are at the mercy of digital CEOs like everyone else. Most creators I know are…peeved…to use a nice word.
In conclusion, Patreon, please do not ruin yourself Elon Musk-style looking for infinite growth, a whole lot of people need this place to live.
Postscript: if you are a free member reading this, hi! One of Patreon’s previous amazing choices was to slap a subscribe button on everyone’s front page that strongly implied clicking that button was all you had to do to get all the content…yet said button only linked to a free membership with no clear path to the actual tiers and information. FUN.
If you meant to subscribe in a way that got you the bonus material, please go and sign up for a tier. Many people signed up before I figured out how to turn that button off, and…you know…probably at least one or two of those wanted to see the stuff I actually do here. Hope to see some of you join the fold!
So basically: if you haven’t subscribed yet, don’t do it through the app. If you’re already a subscriber, don’t change tiers through the app. Better yet, don’t use the app at all. Because Apple wants their 1/3 cut.
What wasn’t clear to me is, is this just for the Apple app or does it also apply to Android users?
So we’re at about one podcast every three or four weeks now instead of weekly. But based on Hickey’s latest Patreon post, he wants to start doing a weekly newsletter about comic books and Elvis albums. Dude, maybe focus on getting your podcast back to a weekly thing before piling more stuff on your plate?
Sorry, I’m just getting a little impatient, because I know that if he ever finishes the podcasts for this current Beach Boys series, next up is Fairport Convention (and Richard Thompson!).
Hickey says that taking short breaks to write about things like comic books and Elvis will actually help him get the pod episodes out faster. Every writer has their preferred work methods and I’m not going to second guess those of such an already prolific scholar.
That said, I wish he managed expectations a little better. “Should be up in a day or so” almost always means a week or more. I’d be happier with “It will be ready when it’s ready.”
He’s also said things should start moving more quickly once he’s past the Beach Boys episodes. The Beach Boys and the previous Rolling Stones episodes were apparently very difficult to write (as was much of 1967-68). But I think the first of the Stones podcasts was in what, July? So basically six podcasts in the last six months.
I agree with what you say about lowering expectations though. Don’t say “a couple days” if you know it’s going to be a week or more.
I also realize that a lot of things, like his health and noisy neighbors, are somewhat beyond his control. And especially where his health is concerned, I’d rather have him take care of himself even it means more time between podcasts.
I just need to tell myself “Patience, grasshopper”.
Right there with you. It’s been over a month since the last one. And I agree with the poster upstream that he really doesn’t need to spend hours on digressions that only seem to pad it out. (though I’ll admit I appreciated said digresssions in the Zappa and Velvet Underground episodes). At the pace he’s going, I’ll be in my seventies by the time he wraps up, if he ever gets there.
God, the “Hickory Wind” episodes drove me nuts. I didn’t really have an opinion on Gram Parsons before them but now he annoys the hell out of me.
Ha! The next installment of The Beach Boys/Manson epic just dropped.
I didn’t know where else to post this but…
Last night I was watching something on Netflix on my phone, when suddenly the video paused, and the audio switched to the theme music for the 500 Songs podcast. I have no idea how or why it happened, but apparently the Nick Drake bonus episode (which I had already listened to a couple weeks ago) just spontaneously started playing itself in the Patreon app. Very weird…
Well, I would rather my phone was haunted by the ghost of Nick Drake than Charles Manson.