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 considering, “This man clearly loves Insane Clown Posse simply as a lot as he loves Bach!” The board of administrators nonetheless have been considering, “What on earth is a juggalo?!” A couple 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 trade full circle and helped show his level that every one music – and all creativity – has worth, it doesn’t matter what that board could have thought.

In his days as an artist supervisor for a expertise company, Tom would work with perhaps 12 artists, 365 days a 12 months. Now, as a Creator Partnerships Supervisor for Patreon, he works with 365 artists a 12 months for 12 days every. Working this fashion, he’s capable of make a much 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 companion 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 accountable for reaching out to all types of creators after which serving to them launch on Patreon. He brings creators to the platform in just a few alternative ways—some discover the platform on their very own and others via focused campaigns run by Tom and the Creator Partnerships staff. However then there’s “the magic bucket of desires,” as Tom cheekily calls it. That is how among the greatest names discover their solution to the platform. Creators could be referred by their brokers or mates, they are often a part of Patreon’s prolonged community, or, within the case of Rhiannon Giddens, they will 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 after all (and I promised Tom I might say this), his job isn’t all Tiny Desk Live shows and emails to trade connections. A significant a part of his function is ensuring creators are set as much as construct probably the most profitable Patreon communities doable. Generally that requires Tom to persuade a skeptical agent that Patreon is the best platform for his or her consumer. And generally, like when the SUPER NUNS launched their Patreon membership final 12 months, Tom has to succeed in out to the Vatican for particulars on the “papal Paypal.” As a result of the precise pope grew to become 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 economic system. “So usually within the leisure trade, it’s important to sit inside a silo. You select your lane and also you say, ‘I’m going to develop into an skilled in movie, music, TV, or podcasting.’ However one thing that I really like about Patreon as an organization and about Inventive Partnerships as a task is that you simply’re capable of see what everyone’s doing, and get a very 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 specific 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 colour, 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 choose a lane and keep in it. I’m a artistic particular person, and I need to type an genuine, impartial neighborhood 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 individual get to play a component in serving to media icon Joe Budden launch a fan membership, the SUPER NUNS fight human trafficking, numerous bands and musicians survive a worldwide lockdown, and so many extra artists carve out a spot for themselves with their followers and the world at giant.

You’ll be able to (in regular circumstances) discover Tom in Patreon’s New York workplace, assembly together with his staff over Shake Shack and discussing the most recent Tiny Desk live shows. And in 2021, our Creator Partnerships staff’s function is about to continue to grow as Patreon works with greater names with even greater communities to assist them launch sooner all over the world. You’ll be able to be taught extra about our open roles right here.