A question about Patreon
🕑 Added 2017-05-29 01:26:22 +0000 UTC Ok here is my issue:Everyone above $5 gets early access. Usually it would be much earlier but for this one it will be a day or maybe less. That is because this is a big release for me and Brainfeeder are helping me promote it and it makes more sense if it comes out everywhere at more or less the same time.
Now I don't want Cream getting leaked out to everyone before the launch so I created a password protected Vimeo video and will give all the early access folk the password a day early (whilst kindly asking that you don't share it)
The actual properly released video itself is going to be on Youtube and that is the one I want to share with the public, not the vimeo one
OK so the question is: when I post the early access one - does it just charge people above $5 or does it charge everyone?
If it only charges the $5+ then how do I make sure they don't get charged again for the normal release.
OR do I not charge for the early access - and just charge everyone at once for the regular release? and just hope the $5+ don't all change or remove their pledges once they have watched it?
TL;DR
OK I know I have over explained and complicated this but what is the correct Patreon way of releasing something early to those above a certain tier? I know there is an early access option but it doesn't do what I want it to.
Comments
Will Davenport
I heard you say in an interview you made some 20 minute long cartoons when you were just starting out, do you think those will make it onto this site at some point? I'm sure we'd all love to see them
Robbie Cumming
Oh, yeah I can imagine, they'd do anything for the traffic. Anyway, I'm glad you're doing Patreon, I've followed your work since the very beginning so it's great to now be involved in a tiny way.
David Firth
I will do that in the future but with Cream I didn't want sneaky blogs to post it out before my official release and get all the traffic. That tends to happen.
Robbie Cumming
Hi David, I usually just publish my videos just to Youtube but as unlisted for about 12 hours before releasing to the general pubelicks. I know that probably doesn't help at all but might be of interest!
Bester
Good spot though, I didn't think of that.
Dan Alsop
Two ideas: 1. Forget the Vimeo version. Just do YouTube, but keep the video as "Unlisted" for a couple of days. If those that have paid for EA share they're shooting themselves in the foot. Then you can keep the same URL in the Patreon post, just changing the YouTube status to "Public". Alternatively, my other idea would be to simply edit the Patreon post to change from the Vimeo to the YouTube link after the EA period is over.
Michael Graf
Hi David, maybe you could ask the Patreon staff about this issue which is probably a common one?
Nimboon
You could charge everyone for the early access release, and then not charge for the actual release. If it's only about a day early I can't see it upsetting too many people.
MagikGimp
This is usually how it's done. It's a nice gesture to make an effort with passwords and whatnot but at the end of the day, er, that is- it would be only one day, so it's not that big a deal for most patrons I should wager. I think I can speak for the majority in that we want to support content creators above all and getting extras is a nice bonus but not the be all and end all. That's all.
Simon the Delusional
You could upload the film earlier on youtube, keeping it unlisted and posting a link in a post that is only available to $5 people and above (Patreon lets you post things only to certain tiers) people could still leak it but there really isn't any way to make sure that it never leaks.
remove early access as a feature, make a different $5 reward, problem solved
David Firth
No. I don't want the $5+ post to ever go public because it links to a different version of the video - a password protected version that is only for early access people. The one for everyone else will be on Youtube.
Arron Craig
It appears you can set up an EA post that goes public after x number of days. <a href="https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001971426-How-do-I-setup-an-early-access-post-" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001971426-How-do-I-setup-an-early-access-post-</a> Is this what you meant?
David Firth
It is informative but doesn't address the main part of the problem which is the time difference between the 2 releases. Early access needs to be at least a day early in my opinion.
Arron Craig
This may help David, Probs not though. <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/patreon/comments/69bi77/how_tier_rewards_work/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/patreon/comments/69bi77/how_tier_rewards_work/</a>
jou
I don't have an answer, but be assured that i wouldn't remove my pledge between the 2 videos... that would be just mean man
Brian Gama
I'm pretty sure you'll want to charge once it's officially released on the 30th. Though in doing so, hopefully people won't back out before you release. Then again, it's only one day, not much time for anything major to happen
Aleks
Just post the link and password as a message to all $5 tier + people, or not? Alternatively, why not release it on Patreon using the standard early access mechanism? If a punk really wants to leak it one day ahead, he will also manage to leak a PW protected one.
Ceecee Costly
Good question...know this isn't much help but love the tags
V3XXE
I've seen different Patreon pages do it differently. A few do the messages, some post the preview up here then don't post it on the release day so it just gets released on YouTube then. If you are wanting to password protect it then messaging is probably the safest bet!
David Firth
Is that the normal way of doing it? That's probably the best option really.
John
Whatever your decision I'm looking forward to viewing the release
David Firth
I'm certainly not going to be charging anyone extra. I think I might just post the early access link without charging and hope the nice folks stay with me.
David Firth
yeah I should have asked them earlier - it says "due to a large volume of queries - answers may take 2 working days" . Anyway I think I can work it out if no one knows.
V3XXE
That way when the normal post goes out it will charge everyone at the normal level.
V3XXE
You can private message everyone over a certain pay level in one go. Put the link and password in there, then it shouldn't charge extra :)
John
I'm ok with giving an extra 5 for early access.
Connor Armenti
Isn't there a Help option for the website you could contact? Not saying we don't care just feel like you'd get better results from them
Cameron Jorgensen
I don't know. :'(