2020 Wrap Up, Thank You, & 2021 Plans (Patreon)

Happy New Year!

I hope that you've had a good holiday whatever and wherever you celebrated. I wanted to make this post to cover a few topics about my Patreon, thank you for the past year, and let you know about my plans for this year. I've separated the details into sections, but there's a TL;DR at the bottom if it's too much.

THANK YOU

Over the past 2 years Patreon has become an integral part of my business. It's why I felt confident last year not crunching to force out an album. And it's why I was able to release Isolated Frequencies last month - which I feel is one of the best albums I've ever released.

Patreon has given me more confidence to do what I love. Over 10 years ago, I got into music with the goal of just being able to support myself with what I love. At the time, I was still working a day job but I pushed and pushed. As I progressed, eventually that goal expanding to include you, the listeners - in doing what I love but also somehow connecting with you, through music, with the hope of making your day a little better.

And I get to continue to do this because of you. Thank you. 2020 has been a crazy year for all of us. And I'm grateful that you've chosen to support me in these tough times. I hope that you'll enjoy the content in 2021 because I feel like my best music is yet to come!

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CONTENT - (IN THE PAST AND MOVING FORWARD)

On other platforms I've been testing different types of content out since about 2017. I have to come to several conclusions about the content I make and in 2021, I want to be a lot more consistent. Patreon ties into all of this, but here's short of it:

In terms of finished content, the main focus is on YouTube and Spotify:

• YouTube: The platform does not support original content as much these days and I've tried other types of content (Making Music in Minecraft, Vlogs, tutorials, etc) but it doesn't work on my channel - the main focus on YouTube is 1 remix per month.
• Spotify: The platform does not support large albums (if you look at Isolated Frequencies, you can already see this happening) - the main focus on Spotify is 1 original song per month.

In terms of my process, the focus is Twitch:

• Wednesday production streams are weekly from here on out - 12PM ET US starting Jan 20.
• On stream I'll be generating new ideas every week, as opposed to streaming the creation of a song from start to finish over the course of the month. I feel like this is the most watchable part of the music writing process (not many people tuned in past the initial session each month), and it's a lot easier for me to do the more detailed sessions (sound design, mixing, etc) off stream without distractions.
• Friday DJ Streams will continue at 5PM ET US every week, but I may have to change how I do them because of Twitch DMCA rules.

In terms of actual content, 2021 looks like this:

• 2 streams every week: Wednesday & Friday
• 2 videos on YouTube every month - 1 remix on the 2nd Friday/Saturday, 1 original song on the last Friday/Saturday
• 1 original song releasing on Spotify every month - On the last Friday.

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PATREON CHANGES (WELL, ADJUSTMENTS REALLY)

Tier Adjustments (Effective Feb 2021):

• Listener ($2) & Music Producer ($5) stay basically the same
• ANimals ($15): Your name will appear in the credits of 2 videos every month this year starting in February - in 2020 it was super variable because my release schedule wasn't consistent but moving forward I'm locking in 2 videos per month.
• Creative Crew ($50): You'll be getting your own slide/page on YouTube videos (instead of sharing with Executive Producers)
• Creative Crew ($50) & Executive Producers ($100): Music feedback sessions will continue but in a different fashion:

Once per month on a Discord call after a Friday stream we are going to go through some of my works-in-progress together and you can give me notes, feedback, etc (just as before). Friday's should be easier to make since it's stream day and it will be super chill so if you can't make it, no worries - I can link up later in the month if you want.

We'll boot this back up in February

What about Polls? - Polls are some of the most viewed content here on my Patreon so I want to give them more meaning.

• Once per month you'll be voting on the genre of song we are writing on stream for the month (similar to before). I'll be writing 4-5 different song ideas in your voted genre each month. 

The WIPs will be posted each week after every stream to listen to and download for ANimals and up.

Each week, I'll be sourcing from the Discord VIP room on what emotion or theme we should write about (some weeks I might opt to just write, though).

• Once per quarter, you'll be voting on a remix for me to do.

These voted remixes are only to backfill content on YouTube. My main focus for remixes on YouTube is to get relevant search tag content out when it's getting traffic. So these would only be for months when nothing is happening.

For that reason, I'm only committing right now to 4 per year (1 per quarter), but that could change at some point down the road.

What about the Monthly Mixes? - For now, these are on hold until I can figure out what Twitch is doing about DMCA and other things. I'll revisit later this year because I do think it was fun putting these together!

OVERALL, what content can you expect on Patreon this year:

• 1 post every week that includes the idea I created on stream (Downloads available for ANimals and up).
• 2 Downloads of finished music every month: 1 remix for all tiers & 1 original song (2-7 days early) for Music Producers and higher
• Credit on 2 videos per month.
• 1 Poll every month to determine what type of music we're writing on stream for that month.
• 1 Poll every quarter for a Patreon-Voted Remix.
• 1 Discord Music Feedback session for Creative Creative Crew and Executive Producers per month.

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TL;DR/SUMMARY

2021 is all about consistency & structure for me. In the past, it's when I've been at my best and I believe it's how I can produce the most & the best content.

There will be guaranteed weekly content (barring emergencies). The overall Patreon content includes:

• Polls every month
• Occasional remix polls
• 2 Songs to download every month (1 original song early, 1 remix on release)
• WIPs to listen to/download every week
• 2 guaranteed YouTube videos (patrons in credits)
• Discord Feedback Sessions for the higher tiers

My content outside of Patreon looks like this:

• YouTube: 1 remix & 1 original song per month
• Spotify: 1 original song per month
• Twitch: Weekly streams every Wednesday & Friday

All of this will officially kick off in February - I am currently reformatting my studio and laptop computers and I want a buffer in case I run into any issues. And as you'll notice, there's not really any drastic changes here; I'm just getting more consistent and organized.

I will revisit all of this in July/August to reevaluate and make any necessary changes.

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Thanks as always for your support. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, let me know in the comments!

I'm looking forward to the new year and I hope that your start 2021 is going well. Stay safe, stay healthy, & have a great week!

- Andrew

PS - I also posted a new WIP preview of a commission I've been working on yesterday, check it out!