A bunch of years back (likely 10-15) there was a radio interview on a discussion program related to some sort of internet topic. One of the topics that came up for discussion was online piracy, and as part of that one of the points expressed by the guest was in regards to monetization. He believed that creators were at some point going to have to potentially embrace a reality where only a subset of folks consuming content are actively funding it, but that funding could be enough to create the content and keep the cycle going.

While the discussion above was about a subset of consumers purchasing the content (and the rest presumably getting it for free in various ways) I think we’ve seen that general methodology really starting to come to pass in the “creator space” with patreon and similar mechanisms. I’ve seen it gaining traction in more traditional web spaces, like small topic focused journalism outlets. That sort of direct funding has been around a very long time but I think consumers are more widely willing to chip in vs in the past expecting everything to be 100% free in exchange for more passive types of monetization.

I don’t think it’s a universal solution applicable to everything, but I do think it’s a viable model, especially around smaller, focused web spaces, especially if they can create some sort of genuine “community” where enough people involved will feel enough obligation to pitch in a little.

You’re never going to get 100% of people to care enough to pay 100% of the time, and there’s no guarantee it would be sustainable for a specific creator or project forever, but I don’t think there’s going to be any sort of “one size fits all” method going forward either.

However I do believe this sort of direct funding method (whether very directly or done through a service like Patreon) will continue to be viable even as the big companies go through their cycles of rising, falling, and merging, but never really quite dying.