After 12 years, we finally have a Patreon page. I don't necessarily like that we do but maybe my insecurities are actually the problem.
I started this show in 2008 because I was reading a lot of Ben Hecht's essays, listening to Studs Terkel's radio shows and didn't hear something like those two things. I'm still doing the show because it allows me to keep in touch with old friends, make new ones and question what I consider 'big' issues on a regular basis. This sounds like a simplistic children's rhyme (make new friends, but keep the old...) mixed with the ideas of an overly sincere high schooler. Or maybe I’m trying to stay positive and it’s difficult. I’m getting off topic.
I do not want to stop You, Me, Them, Everybody. Regardless of your patronage, I will most likely continue. But I’m beginning to feel less bad asking for patronage.
Before You, Me, Them, Everybody I played in bands (heavily influenced by Nirvana, especially the ethos, specifically getting on the cover of a major music magazine while wearing a “CORPORATE MAGAZINES STILL SUCK” shirt) and made zines. Most every show was free and every zine was sold for cost. I figured I shouldn’t ask for money for things I made when I was trying to connect with potential peers. I figured that sooner or later, a company with funds would hire me to do something similar. And that actually worked.
For nearly a decade I’ve been able to pay my bills doing work I love. That changed this month. So now I’m thinking about what I want to do.
I want to do the same things. I already love what I do. I rarely enjoy the finished product, most times I actively dislike it, but I find immense satisfaction trying to create something that might connect with one person. Really, just one person. I’m realistic.
So other than connecting, how do I monetize?
In 2011 I intentionally screwed up my Facebook profile. I ‘liked’ hundreds of films, television shows, video games, bands, books, etc. I clicked ‘like’ for every single suggestion. Since then I’ve been shown profiles of people (or fake people) I’ve never met. Well before 2016, I knew what lying to the algorithm does. I loved it. Still do. But that algorithm determines advertisers. And I’ve opted out for me and You, Me, Them, Everybody.
We’ve become too dependent on advertisers. It should have been obvious but it was working well enough for certain demographics. This month has made it abundantly clear to me that this show will never fit well in the advertiser algorithm. That’s fine. It’s pointless to mourn something that never happened. Sure, there are now podcasts networks (unless you were listening to podcasts regularly in 2008, this reality still seems laughable), but they’re not for You, Me, Them, Everybody. It’s tough to sell ads for mattresses when each show is markedly different.
The show began because of the influence of Ben Hecht’s essays and Studs Terkel’s radio show. Hecht was paid by a daily newspaper and Terkel was paid by public radio. Patreon is somewhere in the middle. If you have the disposable income and don’t hate the show, please consider us. If you don’t have disposable income, I one hundred percent understand. I started this show while making poverty level wages with a college degree. I have never and hopefully will never shame anyone about funds or the lack thereof. Maybe that’s the real issue. I’m working on it. This is part of that work.
I love this show. I love making the show. If you make that making a little easier, that would be great. Hell, even reading this far is a gesture of kindness. So thanks for reading. Good luck and please consider giving what you can. If things ever get back to normal I’ll buy you a drink.
-Brandon Wetherbee, 3/24/20