CandRsenal
patreon
Decisions and Extras
🕑 Added 2018-02-05 00:31:56 +0000 UTC I read every comment. Most of you said to hide the amount.Some thought it was nice to see.
But a half dozen or so are much smarter than me and realized I could do both.
So I'm hiding the live total on Patreon and simply leaving the amount visible on the video comments, down at the bottom, like always. This means those that truly care can find the information on the latest video, maximum 13 days out of date.
I hope that works best for the show and for all of you.
Some other questions did arise so I'm going to try to answer a few here.
1. Currently I am the only "full time" C&Rsenal employee. I take around half minimum wage per hour (on average), and work between 70-80 hours a week. This work is roughly half direct responsibilities like research, acquisition, filming, editing, light repair, 2D animation, etc... and half a mix of social media, collaborations, internal management of the many helpers we have, travel, and so forth.
2. My pay is basically "whatever is left over" balanced against "oh crap I really have to pay this bill." So the half minimum wage is a vague average. This month, for example, I committed to freeing a few sticking points and will take less than usual to clear a log jam.
3. Patreon is the budget for all overhead, plus most variable costs. The shirts and prints are used to mass enough at once to invest in new equipment and travel. Prints this year were down and travel was way up, so Patreon fills the gap. Also sometimes we flex credit on a difficult task and clean it up at the end of the year with fundraising. This makes me nervous but is necessary.
4. We would like to publish a budget but fear quantifying the sorts of things we have to purchase would leave us vulnerable down the road. The current outrage culture means our expense sheet might see certain internet platforms cut us off from our funding. Maybe not as their TOS is now, but someday.
5. Anvil's Patreon helps account for Mark's lost shop time and Bruno's work. Some projects and equipment for Anvil are paid out of the larger, Primer budget as this show is still new and niche.
6. Bruno is basically a part-time employee and the only real staff. He has a fixed license amount per animation and sometimes a bonus when we know the gun is particularly painful.
7. Jay has a fixed base ammo budget so he can invest in dies, supplies, etc. We often have to amend this depending on the task at hand. He works for free but is considering opening his own reloading business since he obviously has the chops.
8. David donates range space, we try to feed him in exchange.
9. Drake, Suzie, Rusty, and others simply donate with no compensation besides Othais hugs.
10. The average amount we make a month from YouTube is $290. Once it was $500 and I was amazed. I bought a shirt I liked with a small portion of it. Usually our videos are demonetized the moment I fall asleep. That way 3/4 of our audience sees them before we get monetization back. Hooray!
11. I believe that when we leave WWI material costs will fall significantly. Licensing costs and the risk of lawsuit will increase to, sadly, a bit above those material costs if I am not extremely careful with anything after 1923.
Someone asked what an ideal C&Rsenal budget would look like. While hard to quantify with all the variables, the final DREAM result, to me, would include a $30,000 salary for myself, at least $25,000 for Bruno, and, as a stretch, I'd like to see if Mae could go full time too. She's actually the only other person who can wear all of my hats aside from the research and writing.
Other members of the team have the ability to sell outside of the project. Mark will hopefully see more work and be able to demand a higher rate and like I said, we're hoping Jay will launch an ammo shop.
Of course, all of this cannot come out of Patreon alone and we'd love some sponsorship. We've actually approached quite a few people but old guns aren't really easy to pair with new products. If you interact with a business that you think SHOULD sponsor us, I have a request: Don't just tell us, tell THEM they should consider it.
Final extra:
4 separate additional shows have been considered and even trialed. One even has intro music and a logo already prepped.
"Clips" , "Safety" , and "Pattern" would all be under the C&Rsenal umbrella and may appear some day if I ever can reduce my work load.
"Wholesale Tacticool" is a potential project from Zman and David. So you know, a highly trained US veteran and police trainer teamed up with a professional youtube comment troll.
Comments
Bruce Brodnax
Chopin was Polish. Just sayin'...
C&Rsenal
I could but they would get repetitive fast. I kinda like the personality I find currently
Matthew Murphy
Here's probably the worst idea you've heard (if you haven't heard it yet) for the 1923 issue in the future about copyrights. Have you considered using something like instrumental versions of national anthems of the nation who's firearm is being examined? I'm not sure if copyright laws apply to national anthems. Another thought- what about using classical era music from the country of interest? For instance, an Austrian firearm could use Mozart, a german one, Bach, a French one some Chopin.
Bruce Brodnax
Been in bed w/ flu since last Friday night, so I missed all the excitement. Suggest looking into getting a channel on Full30, & posting your episodes there [in segments, if Full30 still hasn't fixed their long video issues satisfactorily.] Proactively demonetize your videos on YT so *they* lose the ad revenue, and put up a big banner for Patreon and a GoFundMe campaign in front, middle, & end of all your vids hosted on YT. Preferably, move your content elsewhere, & just leave teaser trailers on YT w/ links to your full vids on Full30 or what have you. Screw YT back just as hard as they're trying to !!@#$ you... Have you got a FB page? [I don't FB, so I don't know] Put up reminders there to everyone to like your stuff so you can leverage your viewership for new contacts. And DEFINITELY keep stretching your Patreon goal. Getting close? Time to bump it higher! I know it's all a couple months in the past now, but Patreon really stubbed all their content providers' toes for them when Patreon got greedy & tried escalating fees; it will take some time to recover from that. Plus this time of year sees a lot of subscription cancellations as everyone scrambles to pay Xmas bills; hold on, it gets better in another couple months when the tax returns start getting spent...
C&Rsenal
I wouldn't mind showing more behind the scenes but, interestingly, that would require another camera and another member of the team! The main Primer show is my favorite and I worry that anything further apart than every-other-week would grind our work to far too slow a pace for most people.
C&Rsenal
Thank you but never feel pressured to go over $1. Just make 7 friends and lure them in
C&Rsenal
C&Rsenal is the organization. Primer is the in-depth gun history show. Anvil is the gunsmithing show.
privetkillzs
also i have seen with some ppl on patreon that if they have a 500 or 250 slot even if it is one they will have someone at it, maybe consider one of them for someone who has the money. It aint me yet but if i get there you can bet your gonna get the money. if they see a pledge at a price you have a better chance of getting on of them
Not sure if it would help with defunding, but one gentleman I am a patreon for will post his videos here with links to YouTube that can only be seen by his patreons. His argument is that it helps him not to get defunded. Then everyone can see them after two weeks and he gets more money from YouTube.
Stephen Woods
What Pieter said, but don't set it to private, I believe that private vids are not considered for demonetization until made public.
Will Sullivan
So.... What the hell is Primer? It's in the title sequence, you mention it here, but I can't find any info about it. Fess.
Pieter Batenburg
Can't you upload and set the video to private and wait till it is made public. I have heard (not really sure if it is true) that in this way monetization will still take place.
I'm glad you found a solution for this particular problem. I also think you have made the right choice. Just my opinion of course, but hey it's an encouraging one. Have you ever considered trying to find a less resource consuming format to do some fillers on to get you some breathing room between episodes. Maybe some stuff just about the channel as a project in general. Maybe I'm the only one, but I find not only the videos, but the concept of what you are doing very interesting. Some stories about "how the sausage is made" could be less resource consuming and still hold appeal to your general viewership. This could also get you the time you need to avoid demonetization. I am here as a patron not only because I enjoy your videos but because I am rooting for you as a team. I obviously don't know the particulars and could be recommending something that isn't possible or worth your while but I felt I should mention it just in case. I have enjoyed every video on your channel and wish you and your whole team the best of luck moving forward.
Clearly this is a passion project for you. I know what it’s like to do and want to do passion projects. What you do is wonderful - I will increase my Patreon support to $8.
C&Rsenal
This is actually a failure on my part. We keep running the wire as I try to juggle current production and segments of larger projects. Also our animator hasn't had a chance to get ahead just yet. We're hoping the MGs, when ready, will let him leapfrog.
C&Rsenal
Never feel you need to add more. We're happy for the $1. With enough people it's all we would need.
C&Rsenal
The music, any historical images, and any historical video would all be subject to copyright depending. As we grow I'd actually like to have more elements rather than fewer. It's possible, just a bit complicated and potentially expensive
In re: de-monetization, if the issue is that videos are default-demonetized, then you appeal, then they are re-monetized (but you lose out b/c most of your views occur during the appeal process), there might be a workaround. One of the other channels I pateonize (goodbadflicks) follows a process which I believe can be summarized as: 1.) Upload video about 1 week early as "private"(?) and wait for it to be demonetized 2.) Appeal and win 3.) Make video public 4.) profit.
Ian Rupert
Yeah I was wondering too
Could you explain the issue regarding licensing and potential lawsuits for post 1923 firearms?
Ian Rupert
Thanks for what you do. I wish you could be comfortable with finances because the work you all do deserves a nice paycheck for all involved. I'm on short term disability for a while but I can spare a little more. My back is so bad i cant shoot or work on guns so channels like yours allow me to ease that sting. It's the least all of us can do to see you do such a great job giving these historical firearms the attention they deserve!
I think I had brought this up before on a Facebook post, but, why not change the music in the background during the shooting phase from actual era music to something similar yet not protected by copyright? I'm sure there is some artist on YouTube who creates original music from that era who could be collaborated with. Unfortunately, not my area of expertise, so I can't provide any suggestions on where to start looking. It just seems unreasonable to lose that much revenue from demonetization. Completely random, did you ever finish the motorcycle restoration?
C&Rsenal
I'd prefer more patrons than to fleece the ones I have!
Nicholas White
Thanks for the deep dive into the logistics. Fascinating that you have been able to make it work with such scant resources. I would bet this post spurs many to increase their contribution. I did.
I live on a small pension, but I think that the 5$ I'm contributing is money well spent. Keep up the good work.
C&Rsenal
Thankfully as of now we have a near entirely rebuilt Suburuban, so it's all gas, hotels, and food from here!
C&Rsenal
Lahti pistol or anti tank rifle? Because we have video of her on a certain British WWII big gun...
C&Rsenal
Internet wise we tried Full 30 but they had backend issues that choked on our long format that they would not fix, so we abandoned the attempt. CarbonTV made a deal with us, took up about 100 hours of our time to ready, and never paid a dime. We have had no real luck contacting the others, although a few conversations with people in related fields have us wanting to explore IF we can keep the depth in a friendlier format. This, however, takes more time and rest/creative juices than I can manage while still producing episodes as is. We have tried sharing wider but it often comes off as astroturfing, so ALWAYS link us if you see an opportunity.
Simon Tan
Consider getting in kind support for transport. A local or regional dealership or rental company. Covertly if necessary, overtly if they have cojones.
Bryan Sportel
So does this mean that there is a chance of mae shooting a lhati? Because the giggles from that would be epic. Keep up the amazing work!
Have you thoight about approaching a bideo streaming service? Like Netflix or amazon? Also, maybe posting to reddits history subreddits? Like ask a historian or history? Also, posting some of the mechanical animations ad a gif could garner interest.
