Berlin-based membership platform Steady was set up to help creators connect with their audience and monetise their content, giving them the ability to turn a passion into a livelihood.
The service has quickly gained popularity, with 1,500 publishers and 179,000 members currently connecting through Steady, including Gal-dem, Sam Baker the Gay Times and Little White Lies.
Steady was founded in 2016 in Berlin by journalists from Krautreporter who needed a payment system to finance their independently run, online newspaper. They decided that the best way to find reliable funding was through their readers and founded Steady as a service to make the solutions available to other creators as well.
Tina Dingel, CEO of Steady says that big money contracts are bringing celebrities and public figures to the centre of the podcast industry, but podcasting can also give listeners access to a range of diverse voices.
She recognises that supporting independent creators requires an alternative to a reliance on an advertising income, which is often volatile and unreliable.
“This is where memberships play a role,” says Tina. “People have become more receptive to the idea of paying their favourite podcasters for content since the beginning of the pandemic, valuing quality content is understood to be necessary to the production of culture. This means that creators can turn their followers into members through Steady, enabling them to earn a stable income from their monthly contributions.”
Many large content sharing platforms make it difficult for creators to earn a living, but Steady focuses on enabling its publishers to access reliable funding while processing regular payments from their members.
Tina adds: “The move toward memberships can democratise the creator economy, making smaller projects financially sustainable for creators and broadening the variety of content available to listeners.
“We understand the value that independent voices bring to our society. Ensuring that a diverse range of creators have a platform to share their work is key to promoting open discussions and strengthening free societies.”
One of the main problems for creators is how to reach their audience, particularly as larger platforms tend to be mediated by algorithms, which can make it difficult for creators to communicate directly with their listeners.
Steady enables creators to share newsletters, audio content and online posts with supporters who can pay a monthly fee to support their favourite creators and to access sometimes paywalled content.
“Moving beyond these large platforms and making use of functions like email newsletters can remove the barrier between creators and their audiences, making it easier to establish a dialogue, as well as creating a sense of community,” says Tina.
In 2019, Steady was awarded the European Digital Media Award for Best Paid Content Strategy, alongside The Guardian. By the end of 2021, Steady had paid out over €20 million in membership fees to publishers.
Find out more about Steady here.
