Online Busking - Can you 'chip in' ??

TLDR; ? - Watch the video instead

Have you ever been to see a street performer? - Otherwise known as a busker, these performers travel around the world, taking their act with them. Some cities even specially host a 'buskers' festival in the 'downtown' part of the city 

At the end of a show, the entertainer performs the 'passing of the hat'. Often an actual hat, the idea is for people to put some money in it, not unlike the way a musician may leave his guitar case open and people will drop in change (also a form of busking by the way)

What you might not also realize - is that 'busking' has a format online as well!

But WAIT - Isn't that why I have to look at / watch ads's online? - Doesn't that help support their work?

The sad fact is, many online advertising sites, only share a small percentage of the ad revenue with the content creators.  Some are as low as 1cent for every 1 dollar the advertisement earns, other sites, won't even let you advertise unless you can show you have at least 250,000 views for 50,000 subscribers etc.  There was at least one advertising  site that split revenue 50/50 with content providers, but as far as I know, they are no longer in business!

But the most annoying thing is the advertising can get so messed up inside the content it can make it almost impossible to use.  One of my favorite sites snopes.com is like this. Snopes does excellent fact checking, helping to determine 'real' news from 'fake news', but the site is often terribly cluttered with ads.

In fact two amazing sites exist that are completely ad free and run by donation only.

Wikipedia -> The world wide encyclopedia is not only managed by its own users, the servers that host the system are run by a non-profit institute called the 'Wikimedia' Foundation. You may have seen this 'virtual passing of the had' during one of its fundraising campaigns

You can donate to Wikipedia at any time at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Donate

Archive.org -> The internet resource for collecting and storing the history of the Internet is also a non-profit cooperation run by donations from users and corporations  alike. From my experience the archive tends to run it's 'passing the hat' fundraising around the same time as Wikipedia. You can donate to arvhive.org at any time here: https://archive.org/donate/

How you can help!

Content produces would love nothing more then to spend their time doing the things they love - creating for your entertainment. But..they also need to put food on the table, pay the rent, and bills just like everyone else.  If you have a favorite YouTuber, Blog, Podcast, or free software that you particularly like and you want to support that person. Here are three things you can try

1) Patreon:  Many developers and content producers are signed up with a site called 'Patreon'.  This system allows users to subscribe and become a 'patron'. Typically by making monthly donations (as little a $1/mo), you can show our support for your fellow entertainer / maker. Often becoming a patron also gives you additional perks not available to the 'general audience'

You just have to keep your eyes open for the specific Patreon Page, often at the end of a video, in the comments, or a blog post. The Patron page offers you monthly donation options, some as little as $1/mo to help the creator stay in business

2) Online Merch: Many sites sell merchandise on their site, often T-Shirts, or Mugs, or other items with the site logo. You can often tell a merchandise shop due to the excessive prices. Some T-shirts could be as much as $35.00 this ensures a good percentage goes back to the creator, and also due to the smaller amount of sales, the prices is increased. The more people buy the smaller the merch price can potentially become.

3) Buy-A-Coffee: Some sites provide a 'donate' page or 'tip jar' or 'buy me a coffee' page. These types of sites allow you to provide a one time support to your favorite creator.

By supporting your favorite creator in one of these ways you can ensure he/she/they can make more interesting content, blogs, software, videos, and at the same time they can pay their bills and keep food on the table. Support the 'little' guy!

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