The Rise (and Fall) of Patreon

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A video about Patreon. Its rise, and ongoing fall...

Written, directed and presented by Tom Nicholas.
Edited by Georgia Burrows.

Chapters
00:00 Patreon in Crisis
04:04 Jack Conte and the Birth of Patreon
08:28 Enter the Venture Capital Investors
11:36 Making a Monopoly
14:08 10X Growth and Increased Fees
18:30 Patreon-19
22:17 Stagnation
23:59 Patreon's Whales
27:15 The Enshittification of Patreon
33:52 Payout Problems

Bibliography
You can find a bibliography for this video on my Patreon, here:   / video-rise-and-90135596  

For ten years now, Patreon has been at the core of the creator economy. Since it was founded by Jack Conte in 2013, it has enabled huge swathes of YouTubers, podcasters, illustrators and other content creators to derive an income from their work, to expand their budgets and to be more ambitious in the work they produce.

But, recently, it's found itself in a bit of trouble. After experiencing mind-boggling levels of growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has since hit a patch of stagnation. And, with venture capital investors looking to recoup over $400 million in investment, that's going to be a problem.

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Select footage courtesy of Getty
Music from Epidemic Sound