[Photo by Atom Moore]
A few facts to introduce this interview:
- Molly Lewis’ (@molly23) ukulele cover of Britney Spears’ Toxic, which she first played at her high school talent show, went viral on YouTube in 2007. Now Molly writes witty, original ukelele songs and opens for Jonathan Coulton.
- Molly Lewis is a YouTube star, but she doesn’t much like YouTube anymore, at least not as a way to earn a living (via advertising). But she likes Patreon a lot.
- Patreon, an online arts patronage platform founded by Jack Conte, announced a $15 Series A round of funding this week. They now have over 25,000 creators signed up, 180 more signing up every day, and have grown their revenue 10x in 5 months. On Monday, they held a webcast for their creators and patrons, with hundreds participating and asking questions about new features and product direction.
- Molly Lewis makes $2535 (as of this writing) from her 402 patrons on Patreon every time she releases a new original song.
Intrigued? So was I. So I interviewed Molly via email.
