During the last year plus dealing with the pandemic there were days I’d feel very down. I found the combination of working from home, working more than ever with the absence of the routines that balanced my life out to be very depressing. I could work 8,9,10,15 hours per day, but I couldn’t balance out my routines with the gym, concerts, socializing with friends, seeing family, seeing relatives, etc. There were Zoom calls and walks around the block, but lets be honest people need human connection. Not just a little, a lot. Replacing human connection with never ending work is an insult to the human soul. One thing I did find helpful is motivational music, videos, affirmations, speeches etc. I turned off the predictively negative news and turned on hopeful messaging. This is why I’m excited to bring a company I found to my readers attention. The company is called Affirmafit. Affirmafit produces YouTube affirmation and motivational fitness videos and needs your support on Patreon.

People sometimes say that they can’t get into motivational content, it “doesn’t do much for me.” I say did you go to the gym once and say to yourself “that was OK, but I didn’t see any results?” Like fitness I believe motivational content is part of one’s daily routine. It isn’t everything, but it surely will help you develop yourself into the person you want to be. Affirmafit gives the money generated through Patreon to free counselling, therapy, and mental health support. In addition to YouTube videos Affirmafit also creates life changing/balancing guides and participates in interesting philosophical discussions.

Visit them on Patreon here:

https://www.patreon.com/Affirmafit?fan_landing=true

Levels Of Support: 

Companies like Affirmafit need our support, especially now. If interested there are 3 levels of Patron Support to choose from. Level 1 for $4 per month 50% of profits will go towards mental health awareness and support charities. With a fund set aside to provide free ‘Fitness Therapy’ sessions for those in need or counselling with one of our qualified team. Patreon exclusives including meditation videos, ad free episodes, and more. Level 2 $11.50 support gets you all the benefits of the previous level plus two live guided meditation sessions per month. Also, you will get a shout out, private community, fan requests, livestreams, limited time merchandise, and more. The final support Level 3 for $35.50 gets you all the extras from previous tiers and much more. Members of this tier get access to the loyalty program (Stickers, TShirt, Mug & canvas Tote bag) also can sponsor a future session.

Check Them Out On YouTube

Want to learn more about the organization? Check them out on YouTube.

Conclusion

If you are like me and felt down many days this past year during the pandemic you know how important mental health is. Please consider supporting Affirmafit on Patreon to make their mission to improve mind, body, and spirit possible.

Musician Evan Ballard is creating a new album and needs your help on Patreon in order to see his project through. If there is one group of people that have suffered the most during the Covid lockdowns it’s musicians. Evan Ballard is not only a musician, but also a father and husband. In addition to dealing with all issues of 2020 and continuing into 2021, taking care of his family, he is also dealing with bipolar disorder. Ballard has been creating music all the way back to his teenage years, but due to bipolar disorder has been unable to distribute a music release. Fast forward to today and now there is a platform called Patreon! With your Patronage we can help Ballard get to the $5,000 per month suggested support level.

Consider Supporting Evan Ballard On Patreon Today:

https://www.patreon.com/HBallard?fan_landing=true

Sometimes in life we aren’t consistent and that costs us. With the current state of Internet affairs I’m afraid the algorythm Gods highly favor consistency. That’s why Patreon is so important as a platform leading the way into the future as a sustainable business model. People with issues, like mental illness, that prevent them from being 100% consistent can count on the monthly support from Patreon. When the $5,000 per month goal is reached Ballard’s plan is to cover costs on his very first solo album. Those that join Ballard on this journey will be able to get updates on his progress, some undisclosed goodies, and a free album once it’s released.

Many Patreon pages include a lot of free content, but Ballard’s page is pretty much locked. Meaning you will have to pledge your support to his page at the $5/month level to unlock the content.

Progress So Far

Surprisingly Evan Ballard is already working on his 7th song. That was back at the end of Feb. so it might be more now. To find out if you like Evan’s music or not go to his page and scroll down to the Jan. 10th post titled ‘Shotgun’ that’s a streaming audio post open to the public.

What Are The Rewards?

There is one level of support and that is the $5 level. With $5 per month you will get one raw recording per month. This recording may or may not be on the final album. Right now at the time of this writing he has the support of 11 Patrons. That’s a great start!

Conclusion

I’ve said this countless times on my blog, we need to support the thing we value in culture. The support doesn’t always have to be financial, we could follow and like their content. If you really want to see the proliferation of artists you need to support them on platforms such as Patreon. You could also buy their complete album, buy their merch, or go to their concerts. Whatever you do make it known! If you like something make it known to your community that you value it. Consider supporting Ballard and the other artists I’ve featured on this blog in the past.

Talk Of The Town if you don’t already know is a media movement based in New Orleans Louisiana. The mission of the media network created out of concern for the future of New Orleans is to bring a voice to those that don’t have one. The impact of canceling Mardi Gras and Carnival alone means the loss of about 1 billion dollars for the economy according to MarketPlace.org. It looks like the economy of New Orlenas won’t recover until next year at the earliest. If this project is supported on Patreon Talk Of The Town will move from just Louisiana to other cities. Also, the organization will scale up to the Bitcaster Network thus reaching more people this way. Talk of the Town Nola (WTOT New Orleans) is on Patreon and needs your support!

Support Talk Of The Town On Patreon Today:

https://www.patreon.com/Talkofthetownnola

Talk Of The Town was started by Philip Begnaud, with the help of Oliver Stokes, also known as DJ Black n Mild(google). This idea began when he was working as the program director of a talk radio station in New Orleans. Oliver died of Covid when the pandemic began so everyone involved has been driven to see this project expand. The current iteration of the organization can be found on Bounce 24/7 on TuneIn, Night Time Fire, www.talkofthetownnola.com with 80’s Babies, and Donald Harrison’s Jazz Collective coming soon. The goal is to transform this project into a terrestrial radio platform by the end of 2021.

“I felt it was time for a communication platform that is truly for the people. Where honest conversation and commentary surrounds current events, issues, politics, and trending topics relatives to locals and those who love the city of New Orleans. We are trying to build a communication engine that is as true of platform as media can be. We need help.”

Wouldn’t that be refreshing? Honest conversation surrounding current events and other important topics. Sometimes I feel when information is too market driver the message can get skew to a certain degree. The art of conversation is something that I think have made Podcasts extremely popular. May be we need more small radio shows like Talk Of The Town.

How It’s Going To Be Done

It’s really interesting actually how they plan to set up this radio station. The goal is to build a terrestrial radio station (This is difficult). To do this cost effectively they will set up small transmitters that will cover about 2 miles, the more they get the better. This has been done with success in San Francisco, California.

What’s The Goal?

The Patreon goal right now to get things started is $5000/month. There are several membership levels to choose from each with their special reward. At the $10 per month level get thesatisfaction of helping the team with their mission. At the $40 per month level submit a 30 second commercial and they will air it daily. At the $80/month level you can submit a 60 second commercial or announcement that will air daily. At the $100 per month level if you create a show they will air it. Finally at the $300 per month level you will sponsor the team and their purchase of transmitters. These are some really cool promotions especially if you are a small business in New Orleans. It’s a no brainer to take advantage of these offers!

Conclusion

Talk Of The Town is just at the beginning stages of their Patreon and need your help now to make this campaign a success. Please consider donating to their Patreon to help the community of New Orleans and possible expanding to a city new you.

As I mentioned last week in a Cash Sherpa post the one thing I miss the most during this pandemic is live music. In my city just a few weeks ago they shut down bars and restaurants again, and music venues… well music venues haven’t been open for almost a year now. If you are like me and want great music to continue and not devolve into soulless baby shark songs everywhere consider supporting musicans you care about now. There is another interesting artist doing great things listed on Patreon that I’d like to bring to my audiences attention. His name is Mark de Clive-Lowe and Mark creates jazz-meets-electronic genre music heavily incorporating music technology (ableton, native instruments maschine) in his process.

Mark de Clive-Lowe started his Patreon after everything got shut down due to the pandemic. He has been a touring artist for 20 years non stop up until this point. Mark needed to do something, he thought, “since i’m not able to go anywhere, I needed to find an outlet for my creativity.” Patreon seemed like the obvious choice, since it allows artists to produce what they enjoy creating and income to facilitate this process. It is as close as a win-win business model that I’ve ever seen on the Internet, the secret is that it’s self sustaining. Seth Godin talks about art being “a human act, a generous contribution, something that might not work, and it is intended to change the recipient for the better, often causing a connection to happen.” The issue with art only being a “generous act” not paired eventually with some sort of income is it will eventually lead to not enough money in the bank. What happens when there isn’t enough money? Well, you start focusing more on the bills and less on the art. So that’s why I think Patreon is so powerful as a platform. We can have that “generous act” of creating art, but also be supported by a community of fans.

Consider supporting unique artists like Mark de Clive-Lowe on Patreon today visit:

https://www.patreon.com/MdCL

Mark says the best thing about Patreon has been “the feeling of community on it – it’s been really special to get it going. even just our monthly community zoom sessions, everyone shares music they’re loving at the moment and we listen together and chat about it. That kind of thing has been building the community vibe there a lot. We just started community creative collaborations too – inviting members to collab with me and each other regardless of skill level or experience.”

Not only you’ll be able to listen to Mark’s newly created tracks you’ll also get a front row seat to his creative process. You’ll get access to a community on Patreon that likes and supports great music. The Patreon community will get new exclusive music every month as well as access to his extensive archive. The archive includes tracks, monthly livestream performances, community zoom chats and behind the scenes livestreams breaking down different projects, tracks and collaborations. For the music-makers, there’s in-studio zoom sessions, video lessons, multitrack stems, sample packs, and more. Mark’s Patreon page also just started community creative collaborations through his Discord server that’s open to everyone. There’s an exclusive Patreon-only vinyl, private access to works-in-progess and monthly mentoring/lessons available too.

What Benefits You’ll Get:

As a Patreon supporter at the $3 get access to the vault archive. Invitation to Community Collaborations. Invitation to Discover Server. Bonus content and first listens. $10 per month gets you the Vault+ exclusive new music monthly, livestream live set, and monthly community Zoom chat. $25 per month (Top Level) gets you the Vault+ Front Row+ which includes monthly studio sessions, behind the sceens livestream, access to WAV remix stems for selected releases, bonus video lessons, and access to sample pack downloads.

Preview Before Supporting

Everything is sounding good to me from a Patreon standpoint, but what about the actual music? Luckily for you Mark de Clive-Lowe has a YouTube page where he is a featured artist. Check out the YouTube “With Love From LA” page here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tTedQZJLPY “With Love From LA presents this month’s feature artist – jazz-meets-electronica artist Mark de Clive-Lowe. Today he joins us from his home studio with a special WLFLA set.” If there is one thing that stands out to me is the creativity is taken to the next level. “I’ve always been an advocate of integrating technology with music.” He has every piece of DJ equipment, keyboards, software, live drummer, lights, it has to be experienced in video form to appreciate the scale of the production Mark is putting on.  This is not a Mark de Clive-Lowe exclusive YouTube page so you will need to sign up for Patreon in order to continue watching content such as this. Mark started piano when he was 4 and his experience shows. He grew up aspiring to be a jazz musician and fell in love with hip hop and electronic music along the way.

Conclusion

Do you want to continue seeing and hearing great live music? Support artists like Mark de Clive-Lowe on Patreon so it’s still around after the pandemic is over. Become a fan and support Mark’s Patreon today.

Still Not Convinced?

Here are some quotes from the press about Mark de Clive-Lowe’s work…

– “as genuine as breathing… suffused with a rich, warm sound that embraces us from the first note to the last and focuses on the path more than the destination.” – All About Jazz

– “Way before jazz hybridity became a worldwide phenomenon, de Clive-Lowe was busy designing its blueprint.” – Jazziz

“a beautiful marriage of hip-hop, traditional Japanese music, and Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis, all with some electronic music flourishes. This is some insanely good stuff that has reverence for all the music that it references.” – Raw Select Music

– “an underground phenom…” – Okayplayer

During the pandemic the one thing that I’m missing the most is seeing live music in my city. This used to be one of my favorite things to do before Covid-19 hit and now it’s almost completely gone away. This has got me thinking will these venues and musicians still be around when everything goes back to normal? There is one thing you can do right now when contemplating this thought. Support singers, songwriters, and musicians online or in anyway you can. There is one musician that I’d like to bring to the attention of my readers named Jordan Ravenhill. Ravenhill set up a Patreon and if your like me and missing live music you’ll be glad to hear he regulary has Livestreams through his Patreon.

Lets not leave things to chance, get active now, Patreon is a good start. If you don’t support Jordan Ravenhill’s Patreon page find the artist you do like and support their music.

You can find Ravenhill at:

https://www.patreon.com/JordanRavenhill

I like to support people on Patreon myself. I bought a face mask from an unrealted site for music venues called SaveOurStages.com. “The mission of NIVA (National Independent Venue Association) is to preserve and nurture the ecosystem of independent live event venues and promoters.” This is an example of doing anything you can to support music in one’s city.

Jordan Ravenhill

Jordan Ravenhill is a 24 year old full time singer, songwriter, and musician. Support him on Patreon today and you’ll get access to live streams, behind the scenes content, video education, and early access to things like tickets. Check out Jordan perform Loop Pedal Cover of “I Don’t Care” by Ed Sheeran below:

This is what the world needs right now! More live music like this! Right now Ravenhill has about 20 videos on his YouTube page and almost 200 subscribers.

Support Levels

There are 3 support levels on the Pareon page. Become a Patron first at the $3 level, next $13, then $39. $3 gets you live streams and a custom sticker. $13 gets you live streams, behind-the-scenes content, video turtorials, lessons, and a custom sticker. $39 gets you live streams, behind-the-scenes content, early access to updates, tickets, releases, and a custom sticker. If you are already a member of Patreon it’s really easy to add Jordan to your monthly giving mix. Just search JordanRavenhill and click on the level of support.

Conclusion

Sometimes I think Patreon gets a bad wrap by some people that don’t understand its true purpose. They think it’s like the Internet version of panhandling. Since the creation of the Internet we were trained to think that everything should be free and that information is a commodity. What people produce (Human capital) should be valued at nearly $0.00 and really should be free if possible they said. Lets see… what happened? Well one example is the news. Have you visited a popular “news” site lately? It’s like an episode of Jerry Springer from the mid 1990s. Playing on emotion for readership, to cut through the noise, competing for attention. Patreon allows people to create… create art, whatever, even if what they produce doesn’t naturally cut through the noise. Even if what they produce doesn’t do well with the “engagement algorythm.” It allows people like Jordan Ravenhill to pursue his passion while making a steady monthly income from his true fans. During the Classical Era musicians worked under what is known as the patronage system. “Musicians and/or composers would as servants to powerful noblemen (https://westerncivguides.umwblogs.org/).” Not everything is a commodity, human capital does cost something, not everything should be free unless all you want to hear on the radio is Baby Shark Tooth songs. We have to support the things we love. For me, it’s live music, for you it might be something different. If we don’t support the things we care about they might not stick around. Clearly if there is one thing this pandemic has taught us is that society can not be taken for granted. What seems solid is not. We, us, create the society we want to live in.

Some of my favorite channels on YouTube are the most random ones. I find I start loosing interest once the channels become too formulaic. It’s almost like channels reach a certain level of popularity, production budgets rise, and the channels start to get boring. There’s a channel on YouTube that definitely meets this random criteria, it’s called Leftover Pizza.

Leftover Pizza provides a random, hilarious, mixed bag of content. Donating to Leftover Pizza’s YouTube Channel on Patreon will ensure more content gets produced and that’s a functioning business.

Check out their YouTube channel!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDFwU18BxxqCYqiOJT7GRbg/videos

Donate to Leftover Pizza on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/leftover_pizza/overview

Donations btw are not mandatory. Content will always be free, but if you are feeling generous support the channel.

The channel is comedy focused and full of funny random videos. Lots of the video include clips from popular shows or commercials with edited in content. One my favorite videos on the channel is the spoof on Billy Mays. The entire commercial is dubbed with funny commentary. I’m a huge fan of As Seen On TV products and Billy Mays so I enjoyed this one.

Are There Any Rewards?

Yes, there are several Patreon rewards for this campaign. Just $1, yes you heard right, just $1 gets you eligible to submit an up to 30 second channel/content commercial to our business email, name in credits, and Patron exclusive content. $5 gets you all previous plus advertising on Leftover Pizza social media or Podcast. The rewards go all the way up to $100 and that gets you all previous rewards as well as a chance to get a private session with one of our crew members via Hangouts on advice for channel growth, video ideas, and content advertisement.

Conclusion

If you like random, funny, comedic videos consider support Leftover Pizza on Patreon today.