Well renowned artist Slugbox has announced he will be leaving Patreon. In statements picked up by Sankaku Complex, Slugbox explains how Patreon has made his life miserable, in what he describes as a likely attempt to get him to voluntarily retire from the platform.
Everything he does, he claims Patreon monitors. Preventing him from interacting with his community and fans without having to walk on eggshells over everything he says or does. As an artist, this is particularly troublesome as it can and often does leave fans filling jilted or slighted, resulting in them taking their money to artists who are more engaged with their community.
The site has even gone so far as to ban Cteno, one of his oldest and most beloved original creations. Their justification? She’s an animal, on account she doesn’t have breasts.
Compounding the issues he has faced with the site, a recent terms of service update gives Patreon ownership over content creators’ brand and material. Allowing them to dictate where and when you can operate.
Big Changes & Platform Switching! 2020-06-28 12:47
I’m making this post against my financial judgement, but out of respect for myself and you all, who have supported me so much over the years. The large issue here on this platform is that they’ve recently attempted to exercise a scary amount of financial and public control over me. Keeping this site as my main source of income is no longer an option for financial AND personal reasons.
Essentially, under the modern Terms of Service here, “slugbox” becomes a “project” that belongs to Patreon. Meaning they reserve the right to dictate where slugbox can operate, where slugbox can make money, and how can slugbox can make money, and then hold my success here as a hostage. If I make ANY income here, they own EVERYTHING I do elsewhere as well. Obviously this is designed to prevent competition from other platforms, where I am obviously also active. This is… really ugly…
As per the rules, I do not directly link my other projects and never have, but I will be moving the VAST majority of my support system to SubscribeStar, as well as an idea to run my OCs over on OnlyFans. Might take on some commissions to fill the gaps…
The fact I’ve never linked these sites from here wouldn’t matter anyway. There was a conflict with a service I used back in 2014. Six years ago. The service isn’t ACTIVE anymore. The link was HENTAIFOUNDRY, which I haven’t even used in… years and years…?? That’s not even this same site?? Last year they flagged Cteno, my own OC, as inappropriate because she doesn’t have any breasts. It’s why I haven’t drawn her as much here. That… that’s no way to live… I’ve been happy to bend my work to the needs of any singular platform to achieve success, but I cannot stand for a platform demanding 100% loyalty and control, especially in a creative field, and even more so in an adult content field.
I’m doubtful of this post. I feel like I have a gun to my head and can only say nice things. If they‘re stalking my abandoned HENTAIFOUNDRY, of course they’re reading this. The past few days have been rough because of this. I do not feel able to communicate with you guys, my supporters who I love, ANYWHERE, let alone here. It’s a very “They’re watching” feeling. But this is no way to live or be creative, especially in a field like this. I feel like I have to lie to you all, and I have been forced to be uninformative as a result.
But I‘m saying it anyway because you all deserve to know the truth, and if possible it’d be good if you guys went to SubscribeStar and got rewarded before the month ticks over.
In an encourage-to-move measure, I’m going to drastically cut the content released here for the next month or so, assuming they let me stay, and then likely suspend this “project.” I can’t afford to just CUT it suddenly yet… But this policy is not something I can in good faith encourage. SubscribeStar will run as it always has, and you should move there if you can. I’ll have some revamped tiers there too while I’m making the best of this situation.
I just didn’t want you guys to be charged another month without knowing what’s going on. Thank you for all of the support over the years! I couldn’t ask to work for better people than you all. 2020 is really bad huh?
I definitely feel this is part of a purge of the midrange adult content. The big names aren’t going to have trouble yet, and the smaller artists aren’t worth going after yet… but here in the middle…?
Pretty scared right now, abandoning all I’ve built is… a bad feeling… but it’s the right thing to do long term. And I want to be honest with you all about it. You deserve that.
– slugbox
–
Payments Paused and The Final Hour 2020-07-01 13:04
PAYMENTS PAUSED
THIS PATREON IS PROBABLY ENDING THIS MONTH
DO NOT SUBSCRIBE IF YOU ARE A NEW PERSON!!!
I was hoping to resolve this BEFORE July’s payments went through, but Patreon hasn’t been very helpful or prompt. Which I’m taking as further signs they want me to “voluntarily retire.” As such, I will continue to deliver this coming month’s rewards, although some will be in limited capacity due to their sudden change of heart about me in particular, but then probably unlaunch this page. And I can only do this at THEIR leisure. This page might get suspended at any time! I am asking them to give me a month though. BUT BAIL NOW. If you have a pledge, move it to Subscribestar! Where I will be active for the time being! If you do not want to switch over, that is fine!
I don’t think I can rectify Patreon’s ambiguous selective enforcement. (My own OCs are inappropriate??? Cteno is an animal??? I can’t draw her anywhere, not even here??? Other people can draw shortstack furry all day though??? If they make a lot of money??? I can’t use other platforms??? Other services??? Suddenly at the same time they’re doing merch fulfillment???), and I can’t afford to delete my entire backlog of work all over the internet to appease them. Nor can I afford that and still be able to grow while having my income held hostage.
THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL OF THE SUPPORT OVER THE YEARS! But Patreon’s refusal to enforce all of their guidelines evenly, and unwillingnessto allow income on other platforms is not longer something I can ethically live with. Let alone financially…
I am so sorry for this inconvenience, but I definitely feel we are no longer welcome here. And they are forcing me out by making using the site impossible to use, instead of outright removing me. Which, hey, they might still do. So again, switch to SubscribeStar, or at least remove your pledges!
Thank you all again for everything!
– slugbox
Slugbox has a long-established reputation in the art community, but one need not take his word alone on these behaviors from Patreon. Even though he is not the first and likely won’t be the last Patreon themselves states they carry out the behaviors described in Slugbox’s posts.
Abusive Conduct
….
Don’t do anything illegal, abusive towards others, or that abuses our site in a technical way. If you are a creator raising funds on Patreon, we may be held accountable for what you do with those funds. As a result, we also look at what you do with your membership off our platform.
Your creations
TLDR: You keep complete ownership of all creations, but you give us permission to use them on Patreon. Make sure you have permission to use creations that you offer on Patreon.
You keep full ownership of all creations that you offer on Patreon, but we need licenses from you to operate Patreon effectively.
By posting creations on Patreon you grant us a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, sublicensable, worldwide license to use, reproduce, distribute, perform, publicly display or prepare derivative works of your creation. The purpose of this license is strictly limited to allow us to provide and promote memberships to your patrons. We will never try to steal your creations or use them in an exploitative way.
You may not post creations that infringe others’ intellectual property or proprietary rights.
Patrons may not use creations posted by creators in any way not authorized by the creator.
Let’s review the highlighted passage.
Royalty Free: Patreon doesn’t have to pay the creators to use their content.
Perpetual: this agreement has no termination date.
Irrevocable: users cannot terminate this agreement.
Non-exclusive: you can license, sell, and distribute your content through other channels.
Sublicensable: Patreon can license out any creator’s content.
Worldwide license to use reproduce, distribute, perform, publicly display: Patreon is allowed to make use of, distribute, or perform your works for their profit.
Prepare derivative works of your creation: Patreon is allowed to create knockoffs of any creation made utilizing the platform. This means even if you own the copyright for your creation, they are legally entitled to create, directly or through licensing, any derivative utilizing your franchise.
As insane as this is, everything Slugbox claims is directly stated in Patreon’s policies. The reason Patreon is policing what users do offsite so vindictively is that under these terms, the legal argument could be made that they are a publisher, not a service. As a global company, by their own admission, they can be dragged into court over content violations in the nationals in which they operate.
If you are an artist and you haven’t already, get off Patreon before the platform implodes. You are better off taking the hit in the short term than scrambling when the – by their own words unsustainable – platform croaks after losing too many content creators.
(Thanks for the tip msoltys)