Poke through the existing campaigns and I think you'll find even the newer, smaller audiences are generating meaningful income for the artists. Their model does

Poke through the existing campaigns and I think you'll find even the newer, smaller audiences are generating meaningful income for the artists. Their model does a few things extremely well. It more-or-less removes the pain of paying for the patrons by making contributions small, automatic, and feel-good. You're a patron! You're supporting the cool, small artist that you tell your friends about! Your money is where your mouth is, so to speak. Just like Kickstarter, the successful tactics "larger" stars like Pomplamoose, Walk Off The Earth, and SMBC use get co-opted by the little guys. They learn how to do self-promotion from people who are like them. Direct monetization of fans means phenomenally fewer fans are needed to support a full-time artist. SMBC is making $8,700 per month, which is $104,000 per year! That's from a group of 3,300 fans. There are professional comedians who've been on Comedy Central who make less than that, even though their audience is 10x that size.