March 14, 2020
This is an announcement to do with my Patreon, so you can skip it if you have absolutely no intention of ever contributing to that. It's also to do with the coronavirus, as everything at the moment seems to be.
I am very aware that because of the economic slowdown due to the virus, and people having to not do shift work, take time off sick, and so on, people will be shorter of money than usual, so I completely understand that some people might end up cutting back on things like Patreon subscriptions. If anyone backing me has to do that, I *absolutely* understand. The podcast remains free to listen to, it hopefully always *will* remain free to listen to, and nobody is under any obligation to pay me a penny. I don't want anyone to feel bad about not being able to afford to support the podcast.
But at the same time, the podcast is my single biggest source of income, and I don't want to lose too many backers -- and ideally, I would like to continue gaining backers, as I have in recent months. I like to eat and pay my mortgage and feed my dog and so forth.
So I've decided to do something to make the Patreon better value for money, to thank those backers who will be able to stick around, and to give those of you who are on the fence a reason to sign up.
I *was* originally planning to offer these things as stretch goals for when the Patreon gets to a thousand dollars a month, but in the current circumstances I think I'll just offer them starting now.
In the middle of each month, I will put together a private Spotify playlist for backers only, with liner notes. Sometimes the music will be stuff we cover in the podcast, sometimes it'll be what I'm listening to that month, sometimes it'll be other things. Sadly to listen to that you'll need to have a Spotify account, but I don't know of any other music streaming services that allow for private playlists. Even those without a Spotify account will be able to read the liner notes and see the tracklisting, and you could listen to the songs on other services.
Then, at the end of each month, I'll also do a quick backer-only question-and-answer podcast, answering any questions backers have about music, my process, the future of the podcast, or whatever.
This will all be on top of the normal Patreon bonuses, which are a ten-minute extra podcast every week, and for higher-level backers free copies of all my self-published books as they come out. And I'll be trying to think of more ways to make the Patreon more value for your money.
Again, *NONE* of this will change the status of the podcast, which is going to remain free, and nobody should feel pressured into backing the Patreon. I value every one of my listeners, and am grateful that you take the time every week to listen to what I have to say.
And I hope that all of you, and all your loved ones, stay safe and well and get through this crisis with as little difficulty and heartbreak as possible.
I'll be back on Monday, with an episode on Buddy Holly.
A book based on the first fifty episodes of the podcast is now available.