Have you considered contacting the people behind Setapp (https://setapp.com/developers)
Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?
41–50 of 67 posts
Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?
#42I'm always confused why a dev would use Patreon. Wouldn't it be a fairly simple task to set up your own website/blog with a donation feature and keep 100% of the donations?
Patreon conveys a certain amount of legitimacy and customer service to the donors, in a way that a random website doesn't.
Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whereas AvE has been so successful on Patreon that he just bought a 5 axis CNC Mill[1]. He does let you watch the videos a week early if you're a Patron though. Another YouTuber in the same kind of section, This Old Tony, announced he'd start a Patreon a week or so ago, and is already over 1000 Patrons[2]. He is offering no benefit other than supporting the videos he was already making. These are just the 2 more rece…
How do people manage access control for videos? Self-hosting for patrons then public on youtube?
In AvE's case, it's an unlisted YouTube video that is embedded and linked to from his Patreon page, then a publicly listed YouTube video for the regular release.
Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?
#44I'm always confused why a dev would use Patreon. Wouldn't it be a fairly simple task to set up your own website/blog with a donation feature and keep 100% of the donations?
I don’t donate to those. Almost nobody does. I donate when it’s through a trusted service like Patreon. Many creators have observed this when they moved over.
Patreon has had some pretty major fuck ups over the years. How can you consider them a trusted service?
Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whereas AvE has been so successful on Patreon that he just bought a 5 axis CNC Mill[1]. He does let you watch the videos a week early if you're a Patron though. Another YouTuber in the same kind of section, This Old Tony, announced he'd start a Patreon a week or so ago, and is already over 1000 Patrons[2]. He is offering no benefit other than supporting the videos he was already making. These are just the 2 more rece…
How do people manage access control for videos? Self-hosting for patrons then public on youtube?
I am supporting several interesting YouTubers on Patreon that offer early access and they just post the link to the unlisted YouTube Video to their Patreon Feed.
Technically there is no access control other then that YouTube links are not easily guessable.
It is probably not a huge concern for these YouTubers if there are a few people who see the video early when they are not supposed to.
Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Meanwhile, CGP Grey gets $19k+ every time he posts a video (though that's become pretty rare!) https://www.patreon.com/cgpgrey (Edit: I should note that I'm sure that Patreon has the same sort of long tail that everything else does... unless one is doing something unique and notable and gets discovered, Patreon is likely to produce little revenue, just like other revenue sources)
Grey also has other revenue streams- Ad revenue from YouTube, YouTube Red, podcast sponsorships, a merch store and some sort of office job related to media consulting. He's not all-in on Patreon.
Source on the media consulting?
Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?
#47Derek Banas produces high quality educational videos[1] and he is not able to meet a modest goal of $500 per month on Patreon[2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwRXb5dUK4cvsHbx-rGzSgw [2] https://www.patreon.com/derekbanas This is just one data point but seems like when people have an option of not to pay, they won't pay.
Meanwhile, CGP Grey gets $19k+ every time he posts a video (though that's become pretty rare!) https://www.patreon.com/cgpgrey (Edit: I should note that I'm sure that Patreon has the same sort of long tail that everything else does... unless one is doing something unique and notable and gets discovered, Patreon is likely to produce little revenue, just like other revenue sources)
Hmm, perhaps people are more interested in paying for Entertainment.
Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do people manage access control for videos? Self-hosting for patrons then public on youtube?
I am supporting several interesting YouTubers on Patreon that offer early access and they just post the link to the unlisted YouTube Video to their Patreon Feed. Technically there is no access control other then that YouTube links are not easily guessable. It is probably not a huge concern for these YouTubers if there are a few people who see the video early when they are not supposed to.
It's worth noting this isn't the best method of doing it. Some people like to make personal YouTube playlists, and they like to include, or sometimes specifically add Patreon reward unlisted videos to their playlists. They then forget to list their playlist as private, meaning it's discoverable via a youtube search.
Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t donate to those. Almost nobody does. I donate when it’s through a trusted service like Patreon. Many creators have observed this when they moved over.
Patreon has had some pretty major fuck ups over the years. How can you consider them a trusted service?
They have also facilitated many more donations that have gone extremely smoothly. The choice here is between an entirely unproven (homemade) service and one with an 99%+ successful service. It does not seem like a very hard choice to me...
Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?
#50I wouldn't recommend Patreon or anything similar in your situation. Basically you need to compare your app income to the additional work it takes to keep customers happy and buying. And at some point you might just as well open source it and move on... It seems as if Donations don't work for most Open Source projects. Even when they do, it's often almost a B2B like relationship.
> Even when they do, it's often almost a B2B like relationship.
Lots of people are saying something to this effect, like it's a bad thing, but why? I'd be perfectly happy for businesses to pay me. Maybe even happier, because they have lots of money, and are willing to spend it.