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Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

news.patreon.com

381–390 of 1001 posts

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#381
post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Putting it in quotes is misleading, they are actually being forced: They're not literally forced, they have a choice: A) abide by the rules of the platform or B) leave the platform. I agree that it's shitty by Apple, but if you start playing the game (being on the AppStore), don't be surprised when you have to continue playing the game by adjusting how you do things.

Let's not forget that if Apple created something called "Apple Creators", they would instantly gain 100% of the market share because there would be no fee (assuming feature parity) This forcing apps to use your payment platform through extortion is anti-competitive. Full stop.

Don't they already have this for podcast subscriptions? I feel like this is a direct move to get more customers over to Apple Podcasts, which can now be 30% cheaper for customers.

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#382

Let's not forget that if Apple created something called "Apple Creators", they would instantly gain 100% of the market share because there would be no fee (assuming feature parity) This forcing apps to use your payment platform through extortion is anti-competitive. Full stop.

>would be no fee

Because fraud doesn't exist?

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#383
post #80

As a longtime YouTube creator who uses Patreon for financial support, the news is terrible: Patreon informed me that all creators must switch to a monthly subscription schedule instead of the per-creation schedule that I and many other currently use. The whole point of per-creation is that it allows me to take time off, and only charge people when I release something, thus incentivizing me, and being fair to my suppo…

I don't understand why Patreon has to drop the per-creation model. Can they not just not offer that on iOS, and continue it on other platforms? (Perhaps with a "convert from susbcription to per-creation" feature online?)

hey, i answered your email about aleph last wednesday; no stress if you're answering slowly, i just wanted to check to see if it had fallen into your spam filter

unfortunately i don't think i have any other way to contact you other than email and hn comments

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#386
post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's a reasonable workaround. I believe Patreon also allows creators to "pause" their account, suspending payments for an indefinite amount of time. So, I could just keep the account paused, then unpause for a month when I make a video. Although, I believe that Patreon doesn't want the per-creation model themselves, since charging the same amount each month is simpler, and easier to project revenue, etc, so they…

So why is Patreon doing this if even they don't like it?

iOS market share is near 60% in the US and a bit over 25% worldwide. They can't afford to leave that on the table.

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're able, my artist friend has had a lot of success running their own site and doing their own payments through PayPal.

1. Building and running your own site is a lot more work than using Patreon. 2. Now you're at PayPal's tender mercies, which... well, you do you, but I wouldn't advise it.

Keep it simple, use templates.

In fact, how amazing would it be if someone who was about to embark on yet another decentralized protocol fiasco instead just released a Patreon-like template? There are other payment providers.

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#389
Another point that Patreon isn't really emphasizing here that seems relevant to any conversations about "fairness" is that Apple's fees on Patreon subscriptions in-app are now higher than Patreon's fees.

It's important to recognize any time that we're talking about the market that services charge what they can, not what is fair. The market does not have a concept of fairness, only competition. This is why there is no such thing as a benevolent monopoly that charges fair prices - because fairness does not exist in the market, only competition.

BUT... since fairness gets so often brought into conversations about Apple's fees, often with the implicit suggestion that Apple "deserves" to be compensated for all of the work they're putting into hosting and curating apps and for (in heavy quotes) "creating" a market that they supposedly also don't have duopoly control over: does anybody want to argue that Apple hosting the Patreon app on iOS provides more value to Patreon subscribers and creators than the existence of Patreon itself does?

Like, if we're going to talk about what's egregious and what's not egregious, charging higher fees per-transaction than the platforms you are hosting seems like it might be a good indicator that things have gotten out of control.

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