Half Expertise Scout, Half Trade Insider, Half Creator Advocate, All Patreon

Tom McNeill as soon as let a baroque chamber orchestra conductor take the stage in an Insane Clown Posse t-shirt. He was pondering, “This man clearly loves Insane Clown Posse simply as a lot as he loves Bach!” The board of administrators nonetheless had been pondering, “What on earth is a juggalo?!” A number of jobs and one continent later, Tom remembered that conductor when he helped Insane Clown Posse launch their Patreon. It introduced his decade-plus-long profession within the music business full circle and helped show his level that each one music – and all creativity – has worth, it doesn’t matter what that board might have thought.

In his days as an artist supervisor for a expertise company, Tom would work with perhaps 12 artists, 365 days a yr. Now, as a Creator Partnerships Supervisor for Patreon, he works with 365 artists a yr for 12 days every. Working this fashion, he’s capable of make an even bigger affect on extra creators and assist of us like Beardyman, KT Tunstall, Mona Chalabi, and others launch their companies with year-round success.

You by no means know what a mean day for Tom will maintain. Some days, it means reaching out to Joe Budden’s agent after listening to about his Spotify breakup. Different days, it means serving to Insane Clown Posse launch their web page in a single day. After which working with their streaming associate after the juggalos handle to crash the positioning with the sheer quantity of their enthusiasm.

On the floor, Tom’s job sounds very, very cool, and that’s as a result of it’s: as a Creator Partnerships Supervisor, Tom is liable for reaching out to all kinds of creators after which serving to them launch on Patreon. He brings creators to the platform in a number of other ways—some discover the platform on their very own and others by way of focused campaigns run by Tom and the Creator Partnerships group. However then there’s “the magic bucket of goals,” as Tom cheekily calls it. That is how a few of the greatest names discover their approach to the platform. Creators could be referred by their brokers or pals, they are often a part of Patreon’s prolonged community, or, within the case of Rhiannon Giddens, they’ll come from Tom sending an e-mail after listening to an NPR Tiny Desk Live performance.

On any given day you could find Tom listening to Tiny Desk live shows. “All of the flamboyance is stripped away — they’re intimate.” And tuning in to these live shows isn’t simply enjoyable for Tom. They’re inspiration. “You see Tiny Desk live shows and that intimacy of individuals sitting in the identical room, only a meter away from the artists—that’s the sensation {that a} actually good Patreon membership ought to have.”

However in fact (and I promised Tom I might say this), his job is just not all Tiny Desk Concert events and emails to business connections. A significant a part of his position is ensuring creators are set as much as construct probably the most profitable Patreon communities doable. Typically that requires Tom to persuade a skeptical agent that Patreon is the fitting platform for his or her shopper. And typically, like when the SUPER NUNS launched their Patreon membership final yr, Tom has to achieve out to the Vatican for particulars on the “papal Paypal.” As a result of the precise pope turned their first subscriber. The precise pope.

However all that apart, his favourite half isn’t (just about) rubbing elbows with celeb creators or assembly artists he’s a fan of. Considered one of Tom’s favourite elements of the job is simply being part of constructing the brand new artistic financial system. “So typically within the leisure business, it’s important to sit inside a silo. You select your lane and also you say, ‘I’m going to change into an knowledgeable in movie, music, TV, or podcasting.’ However one thing that I like about Patreon as an organization and about Artistic Partnerships as a job is that you just’re capable of see what all people’s doing, and get a extremely broad view of what a podcast is doing that video creators can be taught from, and what a video creator is doing that musicians can be taught from…It encourages experimentation and studying.”

For Tom, it’s not nearly serving to a musician make extra music, or serving to a YouTuber make extra elaborate movies. It’s about letting creators categorical their true, genuine, artistic selves and serving to followers join with that.

Considered one of his favourite examples of that expression comes from the rapper NoName. She makes use of her Patreon to run a e book membership specializing in authors of coloration, and her viewers loves it as a result of it’s so authentically her. For Tom, it’s an ideal illustration of the brand new artistic ecosystem, the place an artist can say, “don’t make me select a style; don’t make me decide a lane and keep in it. I’m a artistic particular person, and I wish to type an genuine, impartial group across the issues I care about.”

That sort of experimentation, range, and inventive freedom is actually distinctive to Patreon. And solely at Patreon can one particular person get to play an element in serving to media icon Joe Budden launch a fan membership, the SUPER NUNS fight human trafficking, numerous bands and musicians survive a world lockdown, and so many extra artists carve out a spot for themselves with their followers and the world at giant.

You possibly can (in regular circumstances) discover Tom in Patreon’s New York workplace, assembly together with his group over Shake Shack and discussing the newest Tiny Desk live shows. And in 2021, our Creator Partnerships group’s position is about to continue to grow as Patreon works with larger names with even larger communities to assist them launch sooner around the globe. You possibly can be taught extra about our open roles right here.