Patreon CEO Jack Conte says the company will “press pause” on planned change to service fee for each pledge, set to start Dec. 18, after uproar from creators
Patreon Backing Off Its Awful Payment Policy Changes Julia Alexander / Polygon : Patreon attempts to bring back subscribers following exodus last week Stephanie Chan / VentureBeat : Patreon apologizes for ‘overstepping’ on fees that everyone hated Shawn Knight / TechSpot : Patreon listens, won't be implementing controversial fee changes Timi Cantisano / Neowin : Patreon apologizes and reverses course on its changes to fee structure Tory Foulk / iMore : Patreon won't be changing its fee structure after all Tristan Greene / The Next Web : Patreon rescinds maligned fee restructure: “We messed up. We're sorry” Sasha Lekach / Mashable : Patreon might destroy itself while trying to figure out how to pay artists online Geoff Weiss / Tubefilter : Patreon Calls Off Fee Change Following Widespread Creator Consternation Brent Knepper / The Outline : Patreon hurt its small creators. Now how will it fix the damage? Nate Hoffelder / The Digital Reader : Patreon Backs Down, Says It's Not Going to Jack Up the Cost Bryan Menegus / Gizmodo : Patreon to World: ‘We Messed Up’ Rob Beschizza / Boing Boing : Patreon decides not to change fee structure: “We messed up” Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios : Patreon reverses course on new fee structure Tweets: Alexis Ohanian Sr / @alexisohanian : Excellent response by the @Patreon team. Great job, Jack Conte and squad: direct apology, honest, and responsive. http://blog.patreon.com/... Jonathan H. Gray / @jongraywb : Okay, good — but if those lost patrons never decide to come back I honestly wouldn't blame them. And if a better service comes along for creatives I still think it'd be well worth checking out & leaving. That's what happens when you cannonball yourself in the foot. http://twitter.com/... Studio Glibly / @nototally : 2. A disappointing omission is discussion about how this intended move really (further) exposed Patreon's business bias towards larger creators. Will that change? Studio Glibly / @nototally : As for that last point, the very least @Patreon owes us aggressive (consensual) communication to all patrons past and present about the reverse of this decision. Studio Glibly / @nototally : 3. Simple regret over what they've cost creators isn't enough. It's deeply ironic that a platform built on the understanding of the necessity of actual $ for creators can only muster “sorry you lost patrons” Studio Glibly / @nototally : 1. Glad that Conte's three emphasized points align with concepts that were totally ignored in the first explanation as to why the change would be “better” Patrick Klepek / @patrickklepek : This isn't a surprise. It's a surprise Patreon settled on this change in the first place, and it says bad things about Patreon's future. http://twitter.com/... Ming-Zhu Hii / @mingzhuhii : Hey, I know a lot of folks in the creative community have been cranky af with Patreon and rightly so. But as far as corporate apologies and walk-backs go, this is a great example and on that note, I'm impressed. http://twitter.com/... Andrea Rene / @andrearene : @Patreon This is good news, but @WhatsGood_Games like many creators, already lost many patrons because of the policy change http://twitter.com/... Studio Glibly / @nototally : A few extremely quick thoughts on this (besides the very obvious fact that this is the right thing to do) http://twitter.com/... Scribbler / @obabscribbler : Oh wow, it seems Patreon is a company that listens to feedback, cares about users and isn't too proud to change bad policies that negatively affect those that rely on their service to make a living. Hey @YouTube! You listening!? http://twitter.com/... Retro Ryno / @retroryno : I'm quite proud of @Patreon for doing this, with how many companies and sites (cough cough @YouTube ) not listening to the users, Patreon showed that it really is for the people. Share this with anyone you know was upset over the whole ordeal. http://www.theverge.com/... @patreon : Creators & patrons: We've heard you loud and clear. We're sorry, and we're not rolling out the fees change. http://blog.patreon.com/... Tasha Robinson / @tasharobinson : I'll be very curious to see whether all the Patreon users who lost subscribers over the new plan now get any of them back. http://twitter.com/... Going In Raw Podcast / @realgoinginraw : Kudos to @Patreon for being one of the few companies out there willing to listen and adjust, without them, we'd probably be baristas. Well, Larson would be a barista, Steve would work at Target that had the Starbucks in it that Larson worked at. http://twitter.com/... Starlee Kine / @starleekine : Impressive example of a company listening to its users http://twitter.com/... @moderatelyokcos : This is a big victory for creators and patrons alike. Good move, Patreon http://twitter.com/... @sims : Wow. But also come on... how did you not see the backlash coming http://twitter.com/... Marc Watson / @marc_irl : I assume that behind every sweeping tech decision with immediate negative impact is a community manager or customer service rep who is screaming internally. And maybe externally. http://twitter.com/... Mikey Neumann / @mikeyface : Patreon did the right thing. http://twitter.com/... See also Mediagazer