Temrin brought up this idea in a thread - I am not sure if “marketing” is the ideal category for this, but maybe there is someone from Patreon actively moderating this site, so they can move this thread wherever it suits
The idea I would like to promote is to create a video “show” that does some (ideally weekly) “show and tell” of creators of various kinds: Visual artists, musicians, authors, craftspeople, tutorialists, whatsnots. We could start this concentrating on Patreon creators to gain some momentum both through the platform as such and because you can actually support (ideally “reach”) the artists interviewed.
Yes, I think there should be a personal touch to this. I wouldn’t want to watch a show that does plain advertising (“in your face big fonts screaming music loud PR for some channel”) but learn about the human beings behind what I can see/hear/touch/experience. I do realize that many artists prefer to let their art speak for them and “hide” behind what they do and that’s fine. It’s just that these artists - in my vision - don’t fit into a “show” like this.
That is not to say that creators have to be SEEN, but I think a good interview (I have some experience in doing technically adequate interviews) might be a good compromise.
What I personally could not provide is any kind of “artistic appreciation”, I just cannot tell art from rubbish, so if I’m going to start this thing - because someone has to start it, not talking about PROMOTING myself here - then I’d need some help from people who can give directions on what is “good enough” to get promoted in the first place. Which is, obviously, another subjective thing. But hey … we’re human beings, right? We need to cater for our prejudices …
What do you think? Are you in? Suggestions on whom to start with?
I would love to see a blog of some kind, accompany this for those who aren’t into videos, have limited data/wifi, etc.
Also, yeah, not everyone wants their face broadcast to the world. Even just audio of them answering some questions or perhaps them working on something but you don’t see their face, etc. Those options are good.
Why not make the videos NOT about “what is good/not good” ? I mean, everyone is going to have an opinion on what the art makes them feel, or weather they think it is good on their own. What about just letting the artist speak for themselves? Do an interview, let them show off a few pieces or content of their choosing, talk about why they do what they do, their inspiration, and leave it at that. It doesn’t need to be about whats good and whats not. Why can’t it just be about art and showcasing a person with a skill/talent. The audience can choose for themselves weather they want to look into the artist further. (I would hope their links and sites would be linked in the video description, etc.)
I’m just going to tell you a story about my experience with doing a similar thing…
One of the social groups I belong to on Facebook started posting an artist of the week, since so many of the group’s members are also artists of one kind or another. I signed up to be featured, and was. Yay!
I thought this was a great idea, so I posted to my various social media, and to my email list, that I’d like to do the same thing on my mixed media blog. I also posted to a bunch of art groups, including a painting group with almost 60,000 members. The process is simple: fill out a form, giving some info about yourself, links to wherever your work can be seen, and a link to one great photo of your work you’d like me to use.
sure - I did not mean to discuss the quality of art, but to point out that I am not in a position to “pick” creators that are “good enough” to be promoted this way. Because to me, personally, this thing would not make too much sense if it was just “randomly” picking someone from somewhere and basically scare the audience off …
@lisavollrath - I hear you. I have no doubts that starting something like this will gain about 0°K of interest in the beginning. It would be something that I would personally like to listen to (I would probably ignore the video if it is going to be a video show and just rip the audio track in order to have it running when I am walking the dogs).
That’s why I would be looking for help to pick artists to get into the show. I keep saying “artists” - I would definitely not limit this to artists, but “creators” in general.
The way I would approach it is: Contact artists that “we” consider worth / interesting enough to interview, ask for some interview time and probably stuff to showcase and then try to produce two or three shows within a few days, broadcasting only one per fortnight to start with. That way we could, hopefully, “pile up” a bit and, if things work out, switch to some weekly show (I do have my doubts that this will happen, but we can try).
Like I said, too, I would not limit this to visual arts or any kind of “topic”, but on the other hand try to have some publicly addressable channel where the audience can see/hear/learn more about the people interviewed. This could include pro bono event managers, fireworkers or puppetiers. I personally, obviously, have special effects people in mind (and know at least three that wouldn’t mind giving an interview).
Brainstorming on this - it could even go beyond just pointing the audience towards … creators that are looking for patrons (lack of “e” intentional) but maybe even “educate” to some degree what is “out there”. What you can do as a “freelancer”. How it works out (or not).
Like: Can you live from making music on the internet? How does it feel work 24/7 on a hollywood movie and not even getting a spot on the credit roll? How did you find your readers and are you really making a living from writing ebooks about young white women abducted by slimy green aliens and finally marrying a bratwurst?
And so on.
No - I am not stupid. I know that this probably won’t run for much longer than it takes me to correctly pronounce “subconsciousness”.
Which is another reason why I am looking for supporters. Both to get this rolling - and to convince me to jump of the train in time.
I think in choosing a creator/creators (how many were you thinking per episode?) you should start with some of the larger earning creators, folks with a name already out there to draw people in. They are the ones that show Patreon as a valid platform. If you were to do multiple creators per episode you might have one large patron number creator (500+), a mid-size (100-499 patrons), and a smaller creator with <100 patrons. No need to consider what’s good with the larger creator as they’re obviously doing something right. Same thing for the mid-size creator although you want to make certain both this creator and the smaller creator do not have the vast majority of posts behind a paywall. It would be frustrating to watch the video and then go to the trouble of going to their Patreon pages and not be able to see anything. It wldn’t matter so much with the large creator as you could do a behind the scenes kind of video of them and that would give an inside look into their process.
As far as finding someone for the smaller creator, don’t worry so much about judging the quality of their work, but rather the quality of their work ethic. You wouldn’t want someone who started a Patreon, made two posts, shared one time to Facebook and then gave up. There are a LOT of really great artists out there who don’t have the commitment to validate Patreon. There are some good artists who post consistently and are great about meeting patron rewards and they may be workin’ it for 2 patrons.
I would also suggest not having all the same type of artist in an episode as that wouldn’t showcase the talent on Patreon, but you could do something within a genre. Example: A sci-fi writer, sci-fi artist, and a musician who makes all their music electronically.
