Make Music Happen

The most potent way for people who love music to connect with music they love.

How Patronism Works For Artists

What is Patronism?

Patronism is the simplest and most effective fan engagement platform.

Our unique blend of features allows you to earn a living by serving your fans. No other platform is easier to use.

Replaces lost album sales

Patronism was designed in the search for an answer to "How can I make a living as a musician when fans no longer buy CDs?"

Patronism puts value back into your music by moving away from album sales and to fan-supported subscriptions.

Create a monthly salary

Not all of your fan base will become patrons.

But by serving those fans who want to be patrons, you can create a more stable income than from album and merchandise sales.

Getting Started

No upfront costs, no signup fees.

We pass 85% of the subscription on to you. We cover storage, streaming, and credit card processing fees for you.



Why use Patronism?

Other platforms simply get in the way of you being a musician. Patronism was designed to maximize what you already do - create and perform great music.

Earn a sustainable living

By serving the patron subset of your fanbase, you can generate a sustainable monthly income and devote more time to being a musician.

Highest payout

We pass 85% of the subscription on to you and never make a claim on your music rights.

Let us do the work

You've got music to make and fans to entertain. Let us worry about maintaining websites and adding new features.

Artist Testimonials

Press and Awards


Music Site Gives Bands New Way to Lure 'Pay What You Want' Fans
10 New Ideas That Could Save The Music Industry

Harvard Business School and Berklee College of Music Business Model Competition
5 Big Ideas for the Future at SXSW

How Patronage Is Different

Making Minimum Wage:

For a SOLO artist to make U.S. minimum wage on different platforms an artist must:

  • Sell 155 self produced albums per month via Amazon or CD Baby. That's over 1,700 CDs each year. Keep in mind that only 5% of musicians EVER sell over 1,000 albums.
  • Sell 12,388 tracks per month on iTunes.
  • Reach 880,000 plays per month on Rhapsody.
  • Reach 1.5 million plays per month on Last.fm.
  • Reach 4.5 million plays per month on Spotify.
(data from thecynicalmusician.com and David McCandless)


Or they can have 137 patrons with an average subscription of $10.00 per month and out-earn them all.

Micro-patronage really adds up:

Patronage directly empowers musicians to do more.

  • A $2/month subscription is the same as if a fan bought three CDs per year.
  • A $5/month subscription covers one professional guitar tune-up per year, but a fan would have to buy 10 of their CDs to provide that same tune-up.
  • With a $10/month subscription a patron can provide two hours in a professional studio per year. That's like buying 20 CDs per year.
  • Seven patrons at $10/month can cover one studio-quality microphone per year so that artist can produce better recordings at home. The same number of fans would have to buy 140 CDs from that artist.
  • $15/month covers two sets of strings per month.
  • $20/month covers half a day in a studio per year.
  • $50/month covers a full day in a studio per year.

How much artists really make on the sale of a CD:

Many fans prefer to purchase an artist's CD, but artists make very little on the sale of an album, anywhere from 30 cents, a typical record label deal, to $1.00 if the artist has a REALLY GOOD record label deal. In the best case scenario an artist can make $7.00-$8.00 per CD if they self produced the album. (This amount does not cover studio time, just the physical cost of making the CD.)

More dollars to the artists:

Artists receive 85% percent of the revenue collected by Patronism. Out of the remaining 15% we handle payment processing, streaming, hosting and site development costs, as well as deliver a host of resources to the artists to help grow their careers.