Patreon ditches its creator 'con' for celebs like Issa Rae, Patton Oswalt

Patreon, the membership and payment platform for independent artists and their fans, appears to be banking on celebrity. 

The platform has announced a new invite-only "digital summit" that it's calling Patreon Assembly. It's an event for creators that will feature talks from celebrities like Issa Rae, Whitney Cummings, Killer Mike, and Patton Oswalt.

While only invited creators can attend the flagship event in LA and "viewing parties" in SF, NYC, Seattle, Chicago, anyone will be able to stream it online for free. The inaugural event will take place on November 2.

Patreon Assembly is a shake-up of Patreon's previous in-person event called PatreCon, which it ran for three years. In December 2018, hundreds of current and prospective Patreon users gathered in Los Angeles for keynote addresses as well as hands-on working group sessions about making a living as an online creator. Now, the previously peer-to-peer event will take on a new form and name. Read more...