A Little Knowledge... #20

📬 BULLETIN NEWS: Patreon adds free membership option and shopping features 

Patreon is all about fans paying to become members of their favourite creators’ communities, right? It's not just that any more, thanks to changes announced this week:

• Fans will now be able to join communities for free, while creators will be able to sell them standalone digital products and content
• The pitch for the free memberships is that creators “can grow their communities by welcoming even more of their fans, whether they’re ready to pay or not”
• It positions Patreon squarely in competition with the big social-media platforms. “Share what you want directly to your fans. No algorithms. No ads. When you share it, they see it,” as the company put it
• There is also a new Shopify-style suite of commerce tools focused on a-la-carte sales of videos, podcast episodes and “other downloadable files” including music. Patreon will take a 5% cut of commerce transactions, which is lower than the 8% share it takes of paid memberships
• Musician Wreckonize is one of the first to test the new commerce options, selling his new single directly to fans
• For now there’s a waitlist for access to the new features, but the planned rollout to all creators on the platform is later this year

The company has attracted a number of artists over the years. British artist Beardyman experimented last year with adding a membership tier to his Patreon for fans who wanted to collaborate with him on music - he chatted to us about it for our Music Ally Focus podcast. Free memberships and commerce could attract more artists, although we’ve learned to wait a few days when big creator platforms announce changes or new features, to gauge the response of their communities. You can read the full article here.

👉 Music Ally archive: Patreon

🌏 COUNTRY PROFILE: Japan's recorded music market returns to growth

Music Ally's Country Profiles cover the main and emerging music markets around the world, with the latest data, growth forecasts, trends, charts, and interviews with key market figures. Our most recent profile is for Japan, where the recorded music market has returned to growth after two difficult years:

• The total market grew by 9% to total more than ¥300bn ($2.25bn) in 2022
• Physical sales remain incredibly strong - accounting for 70% of the total market
• In fact a recent survey by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) found that 55.8% of people want to own CDs of artists they support - an increase on the previous year
• But digital - and streaming in particular - also performed well, with streaming revenues growing by 25% in 2022
• RIAJ executive director Yoichiro Hata believes there is still considerable room for growth in the market

 👉 Music Ally subscribers can read this report in full at our Country Profiles archive 

🤔 A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA...

And finally… our daily Bulletin newsletter is loved by subscribers for its instant industry analysis - but secretly, the part they like most is the ‘A Little Something Extra’ section at the bottom of the email. Here's a few of the best recent links:

• Could you eat 3.5kg of French toast and toppings to win... a spoon? Maybe just watch YouTuber BeardMeatsFood give it a try instead
• This B3ta•com competition to "beat AI" and expand art beyond its borders has some hilarious entries
• Our next new favourite game on Steam: Disco Simulator!

This is only a glimpse into this week's newsletter – subscribe for FREE to The Knowledge and every Friday it’ll arrive in your inbox, with:

🎓 Exclusive access to selected courses in our LEARNING HUB, 🛠️ The best new platforms in TOOLS, 🌍 Highlights from our latest COUNTRY PROFILE REPORTS 😵 💫 Some great and/or strange music in SOMETHING 4 THE WEEKEND, 🕰 A look back in TIME MACHINE, 🎧 The Music Ally Focus PODCAST, and 🤔 more links to our favourite unusual stuff in A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA.