The single biggest piece of advice I have for you: if you have someone's email address (+ permission) you have an earned relationship. If you have to beg a platform to contact them, the platform owns the relationship. Get the email.
(This generalizes much farther than artists.)
(This generalizes much farther than artists.)
Youtube subscribers, Twitter followers, Facebook fans, and all analogous relationships are not defensible assets in the way that someone expecting mail from you is. They're dependent on the week-to-week policies and quarter-to-quarter strategic imperatives of the platform.
The platforms offer incredible reach! Incredible! Reach! And the bargain they offer is Faustian. Platforms need their creators to bake the cake; they then propose allocating 60~80%+ to them as an opening bid, do not contractualize that (for smaller creators), and smile.
"What do you mean they do not contractualize that?"
I mean that you have neither a contract *nor even an understanding among equals* that the terms you currently enjoy are the ones you will have in the future. Businesses sign contracts with vendors important to them.
I mean that you have neither a contract *nor even an understanding among equals* that the terms you currently enjoy are the ones you will have in the future. Businesses sign contracts with vendors important to them.
Do you remember the contract negotiation? No, because doesn't work at scale but also because You Are Not One Of Their Important Accounts.
Any term you think you're entitled to is going to be renegotiated by Darth Vader: "I have altered the deal; pray I do not alter it further."
Any term you think you're entitled to is going to be renegotiated by Darth Vader: "I have altered the deal; pray I do not alter it further."
So back to the question of building your own platform:
1) You want your own place on the Internet; I think that is, for most people, a website.
2) You need, need, need an email list. Software for them is cheap to get started with.
3) Above all things:
1) You want your own place on the Internet; I think that is, for most people, a website.
2) You need, need, need an email list. Software for them is cheap to get started with.
3) Above all things:
"As an independent creator, I will comport all my conduct on other people's platforms with the intentional, strategic goal of enticing some portion of the audience to join me on my platform, where the lion's share of value I produce is, and where I make meaningful money."
