Joe Budden recently launched on Patreon, and one of my favorite things about him is his DISDAIN for rules. Joe has no attachment to the status quo. He feels no pressure to follow the pack. I'm not quite as extreme, but I've found that my general inclination is similar. For example, if you ask most people in the music industry, they'll tell you that your manager gets 10 - 15%, your agent gets another cut, your label takes a certain cut, etc. Pomplamoose hasn't setup our "band" that way. We don't have a manager. We don't have a label. No corporate overlords get a "cut" of the thing we're building. Instead, we've hired amazing, talented teammates to help us with our specific work streams -- making weekly videos and music. We've structured it this way because we realized we're a different type of band: we don't do much touring, for example, and it works for us because we own all our own masters, which is where the majority of our income comes from. So we're constantly asking ourselves, "what's right for us?" rather than "how do other bands work?" I prefer the first line of questioning in general -- not just with bands, but with all avenues of life. So if you take one thing away from this video, I hope it's not how Pomplamoose runs our business. I hope it's not what WE do. I hope it's that YOU are.... YOU. You are different than other people. You have different strengths, different needs, different holes. What's right for YOU?
Hey Jack! I recently spoke to Darren from HSCC, and I'm really hoping you can help me with a copyright question (he's also interested in your take on this). What's the situation with Pomplamoose mashups and YT licensing/copyright? i.e. what does YT think it is when you upload it? Love the content, btw.
Instead, we've hired amazing, talented teammates to help us with our specific work streams -- making weekly videos and music...10:22 I would have here a small slice for programmers, you who are CEO would understand
@@mikischu it's intimately related to instruction, education and intelligence. So that's something we, adult, can change ;) I'm trying every day :) As the song said, the man in the mirror, I'm starting with him ;)
13 years from now: “Multi-billionaire Jack Conte just donated the biggest company in the world, Pomplamoogle, to charity and will continue to produce one video per hour with his newest invention, the Mind Recorder Plus.”
he is already worth 2b dollars in Patreon alone :P and a pretty hefty salary as well I'm sure. he can finance any of his projects into oblivion with no issue :P
I love how you two stuck together through the years as a couple, experiencing all the ups and downs together, while putting a smile on everyone's faces through your songs and creative ventures. Shared happiness and a life well lived.
I remember being blown away by the idea of "video songs" in 2009. I was 14 at the time and was very happy to see your growth throughout the years. Please never stop being awesome.
Hi guys! I am a 63 year old white male from a small town in South Carolina. I am a big fan of your music. I deal with depression on a daily basis and your music helps me tremendously. I have been in custom cabinets for 46 years and want desperately to retire. I have also done sound through the years and have a lot of respect for what you do. Please, keep it going because it is my therapy. I can put my headphones on and disappear into the land of Pomplamoose! THANKS GUYS!
I still remember some video that Nataly took of Jack sitting on the kitchen floor, notebook and his lap, and she said something about him not getting any sleep because the launch of his website (that I’m assuming it was Patreon first version). The way I see it, Patreon was founded by one of Pomplamoose’s members and the band itself is the biggest hit in UA-cam history. I was singing your version of Mrs. Robinson today while packing. What you both create are part of my life and I’m forever grateful. Congratulations and . Keep going
I literally "fell" over one of this band's videos and was moved into a world of truly beautiful music, where a team of dedicated musicians work collaboratively to produce something almost other-worldly. No shouting; no screaming; no stupid posturing - just finely crafted songs that bring joy to the heart. I will do my best to bring Pomplamoose to a wider audience on this side of the Atlantic. And thank you for making an old man very happy.
This is really inspirational. I remember Pomplamoose being almost nonexistent in the couple years before 2017, but you guys really brought it all the way back. It’s making me think differently about my own channel (HappyFamilyShow). We’ve been completely shut down since 2018 because of a lack of funding, but our 10 year anniversary is next month. Maybe we should be thinking of a way to pick it back up again... You guys are showing me that anything is possible.
Thanks for talking about the money aspect, Jack; we need so much more talk around the *business* aspect of it all, how it can help or kill the art. It's a process and a source and for some an inspiration, but at the end of the day, money makes the world go round; you, as an artist, need to figure out how it fits with your art. So, thanks!
8:17 - I've seen people troll Jack since his success with Patreon, and his comments here are a big part of why I defend him. He created a company that has enabled _millions_ of creators to monetize their creations. He worked really hard to not just make a successful company, but to make a successful company that helps millions of other people be successful. And he is well aware of the wealth and privilege it has provided him. There are some valid complaints about Patreon, but nothing is perfect, and perfect is the enemy of good.
I mean, I'm a patreon subscriber to a few podcasts, so I thank him for being able to patronize a variety of anarchist, Marxist and socialist creators. Unironically happy he helped make it, cause otherwise they'd be having to do advertising that restricts their opinions on news and society while having to still be able to make a living.
@@innawoods2131 I mean apply that logic to everyone you meet, at least the criteria. His stance on certain issues is pretty bad but his contributions are pretty damn big. Like vilifying Elon for not being left enough after the man provided internet to god knows how many people on earth who were never going to get it.
As a musician, former recording engineer, and photographer who found financial success in business I LOVE hearing how you both brought your creativity and business acumen together in a successful formula for for both the band and Patreon...well done and thank you!
Vous êtes extraordinaires! Merci! Merci! Merci! Je suis un auteur-compositeur-interprète et producteur indépendant de Montréal et vous êtes un modèle tellement inspirant. C'est vraiment gentil de prendre le temps de nous parler de comment ça se passe à l'interne! Votre musique est phénoménale, la vibe, les humains, tout : MERCI!!!
A message from an older musician: Thank you guys for inspiring me to get into home recording. I was inspired by your very early productions around 2010. I thought if these guys can create these amazing VideoSongs, surely I could at least make a damn start. I know that Jack started in the DAW production side of things, but I was so impressed with the obvi skill that Nataly has demonstrated in the present. It is all so awesome, and I really am impressed with each of your humility in knowing how hard it is in the trenches because that is exactly where you started. You kids are so impressive as innovators that are now a model in the Berklee School music syllabus, but also just decent humans. It is so clear to see and it is a beacon in this biz that has had such a shady sketch history (Clive Davis, Allen Klein, and all the rest, eh-hemm). Keep up the great work! Each of you are successful CEOs for each branch of your business. I know firsthand the ascend and crash-and-burn side of the business from my computer career (MacZone, Egghead, EDS, Microsoft). It is so inspiring to see you guys win on the creative side. All I have ever been able to accomplish was a very modest financial success in music as a side hustle. Parabens! Congratulations to you both on all your endeavors!
Have been a fan ever since the early Pomplamoose days - my all time favorite of the dynamic duo had to be your rendition of Nature Boy with just piano and bass. Still magical to this day and I'm so glad that the magic has reached so many more people !!
Been watching you folks since the beginning, and I honestly thought that Patreon would eventually end Pomplamousse. Instead, I'm watching more than ever, and buying LPs! Thanks for all the years of music, keep up the great work.
Thank you so much for this, Jack! We're a musical project from Brazil and we struggle every single day trying to make things happen here. Sometimes people don't really understand us creative people in Brazil. Our country is beautiful but messed up! We feel like we're being sabotaged all the time, even by the musicians and music community. My sister and I used to live in LA and we learned a lot being there for 4 years. We're really excited for what is yet to come! It's been hard but we will never give up! Once again, thank you so much for the insights and tips! I will show this for all the people that work with us and try to make them see how you guys work over there! I'm a huge fan of all of your works! Cheers from Brazil! Take Care
Thanks a lot Natalie and Jack for all the joy you bring into my life. In all your videos and projects I can see how much fun you have with all your musicians and that's adding fun to my life as well. I am grateful that you do what you do and how you do it.
I've been with you from Day One, and it's been a sheer joy & delight. When you launched Patreon, I was on board in a New York Second. Thanks for this lovely retrospective. Your songs got me through some truly rough patches of life, and now, in my old age, I have a fantastic recording studio, helping other rising stars achieve their dreams. Yay, Pomplamoose!
I arrived at Pomplamoose well into 2020 and it gave me a lot of joy in a time when things are fucking hard, man! Not just the music, which is rad, but you and Nataly are so sincere and transparent and really innovators (an overused word, but apt) who care for creatives and culture as a whole. You care that people live their dreams and be compensated. And you care that your original music (especially) is honest and beautiful. That level of care and passion truly comes through in every video. Thank you guys for being genuine and sharing all your gifts.
I'm really excited that you two were able to turn Pomplamoose into the success story it is today. I've been following since Single Ladies and your story could have easily gone the way of a lot of content creators - something you love but something you ultimately have to do on the side because it isn't making enough money for you to live on, or something you're doing but you have to give up a lot of other things (nice place to live, etc.) to achieve it. I'm happy that you two are far from "starving artists" and that you exemplify what the new revolution in content creation can and does look like. And thanks for being willing to pull back the curtain and show what it really takes in order to run a band or music project as a business. It's so inspiring. Cheers!
Jack, great video. You and Nataly are just a delight to watch and hear. Same with the band. I don't think I've ever seen a band that has more fun making music than yours. As a fan during most of your journey, I've grown more impressed every year with the creativity and innovation you've brought to all aspects of Pomplamoose and more recently, Patreon. Whatever the problem is, you find a creative way to solve it. I was in the room on Clubhouse last week and heard you discuss how you'd like to see this all play out over the next few years. Like many others, I think you're right. That said, it does blow one's mind to think that this all started with some toys, a bunch of old instruments, a couple of mics, foam board, and a camera! Still, I can't think of anyone who has done more to educate and lead the way for other musicians than the two of you and I wish you and Nataly continued accolades and success. Be well. - Howard
@@trippingjune I completely agree! I couldn't have done it without Pomplamoose or Marty Schwartz as inspiration and guides, plus the subscribers are all so supportive and creative! We've found a nice little corner of the internet over here! I'll never forget my first phone call with Jack when he helped me decide what lights to buy, which I still use to this day! Then I got to see them play live in Philly, my mind got BLOWN away by all of it. The show was amazing, th band was TIGHT, Lauren O'connell was there too, she sounded great and was soooooo nice! Everyone, was so nice and the interview I did with Jack is still my favorite I've ever done, because I learned so much from him in that little moment. It has been so much fun to watch what Jack and Nataly and team have built over the years. It's really amazing and inspirational to the everyone who sees it and is in the music business. Thank you!!!
@@GaragebandandBeyond Sounds like good times. I've been creating music and videos by myself since 1995, and never had the luxury of anyone reaching out to help me. I offer people money all the time to help but it seems that most of them are too important to respond. Maybe I'm just a really bad musician, or a really bad guy, or both. I gotta check out your channel.
History unfolding-Incredible video, musicians, musicianship, production et al. Baby boomer musician here (pianist, percussionist , singer, songwriter) back in school studying music therapy and music production and engineering. I am BEYOND thrilled to discover you. Thank you, merci!! Keep the inspiration and great work coming!
Pomplamoose remain a unique phenomena. I love the diversity as well as the ethos of the band. I love in particular the revamping of old songs and the promoting of old, hidden classics to new audiences. The exploration of French material in particular is wonderful!
I've been waiting for this for quite awhile. I was always curious about some of the frequent performers like Ben Rose and Nick Campbell. And now we got a piece showcasing the non-performers who I never really gave a thought about. This is great.
Best DIY success story ever! All this wonderment began with little Jack ‘n’ Nat making a “videosong” with a teenee glockenspiel, a toy piano, an accordion, a bunch of effect pedals and a room full of mattresses. “Hail Mary” is my personal favorite. Congratulations and ROCK ON!
Jack, would you please consider making a video regarding the process of legally putting cover songs on UA-cam? Do your videos demonetized? Do you get a mechanical and sync license? Is there a way for small UA-camrs to post covers legally and not have these problems?
I noted there was no mention of "royalties" in their expenses. I hope they do share part of the wealth with the other artists that created these incredible songs. I do like the band a lot, admire their work and would definitely expect them to do the right thing.
@@jfnahas They specially mentioned one of their expenses was ASCAP (American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers) A non-profit group that collects and distributes royalties.
I have to say: The genuine, positive energy just radiates from your band, music, videos and everybody involved and it just makes me happy. Pomplamoose is one of my favourite sources of energy when I need a pick-me-up, background when I am drawing and painting and thereby a driver for positivity and creativity in my life. Whatever success’s comes your way are beyond well-deserved. Thank you for touching our lives and spending your “short time on earth” being such an inspiration and joy.
"Something About Us" came to me on a yt suggestion last year and I've been a fan ever since. You guys seem to have a lot of fun doing what you love and the chemistry shows. Thank you.
Loved this! I remember, years ago, you posted a transparent video about how Pomplamoose essentially breaks even after all the content publishing and touring. I've been following you and Natalie since college (2010!) and it's been amazing to see what Patreon and all your projects have blossomed into. I'm also a filmmaker who loves to play music, and I've never felt more inspired to recruit my friends and take after your example. Could not be happier for you and Nat, nor could I be more thankful for all the wonderful music, entertainment, and insight.
So the bearded guy next to the pretty blond is the ceo of patron. My world just blew up. No seriously you guys do great work and I am very happy that you are financially rewarded for adding joy to the world. PS. I really appreciate patreon and the ability to fund things that I find valuable.
Been a long-time fan since I tripped over your Electro-Harmonic demo of the VoiceBox pedal (I was working as a designer for an online music retailer at the time). I am amazed at the reach, depth, passion, and potency of what you (and Pomplamoose and Scary Pockets, etc.) do. It's inspiring. And while my own passion projects remain in the "professional, but not sustaining salary" category... I often look towards all you've done as concrete proof that a leap of faith paired with hard work can produce amazing results. Keep on keeping on.
just found ur channel by accident - frankly spoken the first thing was falling in love with here voice, goosepumps...........and than I was curious about Pomplamoose, okay now I'm a follower and lover of what ur doing! Doing a great job, all of U!
I have always appreciated you guys and I've been fascinated to watch you because you always make the process so transparent. As an aspiring musician and creative person, this is huge for me. I can see that it's just people in a room making stuff, and I feel like I can do that too.
Jack I have been following y’all since the beginning and I’m constantly blown away by all the stuff you and Nat do! Between patreon, your video spaghetti and pomplamoose it’s all amazing. I love how you are so open about how everything is made!
This video should be absolutely required viewing for not only anyone "in the Music Industry" in any shape or form but as much, if not more so, for anyone who owns or runs any business of any kind. The life lessons learned by Jack & team along the way are essential to nearly any success story. Jack, your transparency and honesty are beyond commendable. An unseasoned eye would see that heavy, negative, red bar on your November numbers and wonder why you didn't pack it all up and quickly become a subsistence farmer living off the grid never to be seen or heard from again. {Ooh! What a tremendous loss that would have been. I'm going to stop thinking about that!} A few months ago I dug WAY BACK into your old old stuff and LOVED IT! I was a fan then and now. You and the team keep giving us more and more reasons to give-a-frik about what you're doing, what you've done lately, what you have shared both personal and musically, what is going on behind the scenes, etc. Sure some of this could be chalked up to strategy and certainly some amount of Data-Driven-Decisions. But at the nucleus of it all is a team of people who love what they do and, equally so, love who they're doing it for. We truly feel the love from each and every one of you and thank you immensely for making the web, a pandemic, and our lives in general brighter, happier, and more inspired! :-)
Instant Crush might be my favorite cover song ever. Absolutely perfect - with the bonus of one of the band members being authentically ecstatic at the end.
Been enthusiastically following since almost the beginning (you did have a name by the time I started following).. kids used to love watching the angry birds video also. Now so many high quality folks involved - it’s just on a whole other level in the past couple years. You all rock. Thanks for your creative work!
You guys are an inspiration story. Love how you went from struggling artists to helping artists struggle less. I'm not an obsessed fanboy, but my wife may think so as often as she has to hear me tell your story to friends.
I've been listening to your band on youtube for 2-3 years. Not knowing what's behind. I loved the music. And now I'm even more impressed. Next to People, Processes and Money, you can add a 4th one: Music. Good music. Damn good music. Recognisable tunes, reworked, mashed up. Without the good music, I'd have gone away after the first video. Good job, guys!
I love Pomplamoose for I don't know how many years now. I really like the kind of videos, and the music too. But this new video added a special point: You make creativity viable. And you show how this is possible. Thank you very much for sharing this. I work myself in a creative business (no music, just text), but a number of ideas from your workflow are inspiring for me, too. For example: Have different sources of income (of course!). Have fixed days where you work in the team and get everyone working separately afterwards. Set a challenging speed and motivate everyone to keep that pace. And very important: Believe in what you do, even if you are not profitable for some months. That is no blind faith or wishful thinking, I guess it assumes more than money as a parameter - based on the usage of your output you can trust that the second half of 2020 won't be the beginning of a downturn. And it looks as if you don't care how others run a band, but you develop your own model just as you see it evolving reasonably. I love that. Finally, I see you having fun. That is not for granted, I guess, as you did all that for more than a decade. Keep going, I keep following!
Man, I watched you guys starting with "Mister Sandman" 10 years ago, and I was blown away ever since! Proud to be part of patrons and to be along for the ride. Too bad we will probably never cross paths IRL, mostly because I live 22hours away from East coast (est Europe), but I appreciate you guys a lot! I was so disappointed recently when I found out that I missed out on you guys, "Mornings with Pomplamoose" days ! I don't know how but I just never found it until last year. I would love to see more of you. Like your workflow, or extras like you colaboration with Wheezywaiter!
While Pomplamoose has developed a HUGE amount since the one-shot projector videos (complete with styrofoam worlds!), you still pop out awesome tunes that sound Pomplamoosey! Congratulations on your Patreon success - I remember you launching it and thinking 'What a brilliant idea!' - now it feels as if it always has been there, it is so integrated into the creative industry.
Such a great little documentary ...thanks for sharing your talents with the world. Nataly said it all at the very end of the video Pomplamoose brings joy to millions of people and to her as well. It's all about JOY
I've been a follower of Pomplamoose since 2009 and before the Christmas commercial . You guys deserve it all, being pioneers in the UA-cam video streaming artform. Wonderful to see you persevere. You've come a long way since Grandma's house.
Thanks for sharing how you do what you do. Reality is delicious. When my musician friends say “we could be just like Scary Pockets” I just smile and play my three chords. Thanks for the wonderful music and thanks for helping me appreciate what I’ve got; good music, good people and a day job.
Thanks for the life affirming message to all artists. Thanks for showing us Chris. My wife is one them, Chris like people and it's nice to see that character shown in the story. Thanks for being honest and authentic and human. Best wishes in all you do. If you take one thing away from this video. I hope it's that YOU are.... YOU. You are different than other people. You have different strengths, different needs, different holes. What's right for YOU?
That's what happens when you live. Your life doing what you love instead of what everybody else wanted you to do. Ageing is all about stress. If we're doing what we love, we grow into our beauty. Truth.
So proud! Been a fan of the band for many years! Since just about the beginning. I love that you guys make the music you want and you can hear it! The music is fun and it looks fun. MORE! make MORE!
@@leehoward454Ok, but I’m talking about how “i” feel in this comment. Pomplamoose did a lot of things right, and yes, there was good timing, and luck, but there was also lots of hard work, talent and a constant flux of new ideas. I like how they keep pushing and changing, and trying new things. They’re not afraid to change things up when things aren’t working for them. They did that (successfully) well before Patreon ever existed. And yes, they have money now, good for them! But they worked hard for it, (Jack Conte didn’t even take a salary from Patreon for the first three years.) I choose to continue to be inspired by them as a band, and to feel supported by the community they created. 😊
The covers of "Instant Crush" and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" were the first things I saw from this band and they blew me the fuck away; goddamn amazing. Best of luck to your operation, how your success continues!
How cow! Haven't checked in with you guys in a few years. Was always blown away by your creativity & energy, And now... What the...!!!! So staggered by your success, your community, your process, your masterpieces. I was also impressed with how you helped start Patreon years ago. But I just didn't have the confidence, support or admin gifts to pursue my Dream, To dive into my tons of songs, illustrated books & music video ideas I'd amassed over 4 decades. Now I'm 75 and pretty much done. But hearts like yours keep me pursuing my bucket List. merci
I am so happy that Pomplamoose has grown and succeeded so much! I still kinda miss the early days tho - the more raw, messy, chopped up beautiful disaster
Jack, I took ppl who barely knew Pomplamoose to your last tour, and two of them said it was the best concert they ever attended. After following you since 2010, it was gratifying for me to hear people have so much fun at your show. Just wanted to share that. Peace.
So glad you are still around ! Still in my heart since the very beginning I didn't watch every video of course BUT you guyrs are still part of my background thoughts you are True and very appreciated ! - Thank You for giving some stability to the net :-)
I met you both on tour in STL back in 2014 and I was struck by your incredible talent and genuinely kind personalities. I'm proud to be a Pomplamoose patron!
It's just so beautiful...I've been with you since I realized you both were really performing for the Hyundai commercial. Went to the Trubadour show then saw you here in Boston. Thank you for being such loving and wonderful people. Michael
Really appreciate this. My wife and I have followed pamplemooses path for a long time. You were a big inspiration for our comedy duo. But seeing how its working for you now is so nice. Something to shoot for. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the video Jack! You are the inspiration for our channel even though I'm just an Elf, we try to have fun and do what we like! Still trying to find a model that works year-round and not just in November and December where people need us (Elf on the Shelf) BTW if you ever drop that Star Trek Christmas time, we would love to cover back up vocals. We tend to be a little pitchy though :) oh and remember make everyday Christmas!!!!
I really love Pomplamoose and as a musician for me is a real pleasure to see musicians working in a healthy and dignified enviroment. Wish you the best, congrats from Brazil!
In expenses I noticed that there were no licensing costs. As a lot of the songs are covers/mash-ups, don’t the original writers/artists want their pound of flesh? Or are you small enough to fly under the radar / have enough goodwill that they don’t care?
@@robertlucey825 Yeah I believe it's included in the streaming revenue, meaning that instead of getting all potential money, a part of it goes to the original artists. But I could be wrong
I really appreciate what you do - it's like a shot of dopamine to see all the positivity behind your song videos. And I appreciate the fact that you acknowledge your position of privilege which places you outside the 'Spotify-treadmill'. Keep it up!
i've watched one pomplamoose video on youtube (i think it was september by EWF) like 10 years ago and I absolutely LOVED IT! i also remember you guys doing a honda commercial around christmas one year and thinking "wow - those youtube ppl with that single hit have really blown up...they got a commercial" UN-COMPLETELY-FRIGGIN-BEKNOWNST TO ME THAT YOU GUYS ARE SUCCESSFUL AND PROLIFIC BEYOND WHAT I COULD EVER HAVE IMAGINED. WOW. This video was a joy to watch. Thanks for bringing us in on this aspect of things
I’m curious why if it’s the same process and the same team, there’s so much variability in monthly earnings? It seems as though it would be a much narrower trading range from month-to-month. Can you explain that? Also, since you mostly do covers, aren’t you hit with heavy royalty payments?
our net income by month isn't smooth for a few reasons: 1) COVID has introduced some variability into our creative production process. As we're trying new processes (like recording remotely) with different cost profiles, we're spending different amounts of money each month. 2) We have special projects that pop up -- like a French album, or our original album that just dropped last month. We'll front load some expenses into those projects, like to create a batch of music videos, for example, for those endeavors, and it creates spikes of new costs. Sometimes we'll spend considerably more on one particular music video concept because we're excited about a particular song. 3) We batch production so we don't have to take as many trips to LA. Sometimes, we'll do 2-3 days in a row, and then not go back to LA for a couple months -- especially during COVID. That will create spikes of cost that appear high in one particular month. 4) On the income side, sometimes we'll get a big chunk in at once from a piece of merchandise -- like a vinyl album -- that will bring in a lot of revenue all at once, making net income look great that month. Or sometimes, we'll get a licensing gig, and it will pay $10k - $20k, and it makes that month's net income look particularly good. Overall, though, our basic strategy is to 1) maintain a decent cash cushion so that we don't have to worry about cash flow issues -- that allows us to have lumpy net income over the year without stressing our pants off, and 2) invest almost all of our net income BACK into the band, because we love making music and want to keep making it better, keep investing in our team, keep growing, and keep investing in our creative work.
This is so special. Moved to tears of joy and appreciation and admiration ❤ This just appeared in my UA-cam feed after a year of following Pomplamoose!
Hello Jack and nataly, the pamplemoose heroes 😉I have a question, how are rights going, with the authors, compositors, singers, productors of the original songs? Are you asking always for the rights, and do they agree to let you make your own arrangements of their song easily?? And do you earn a little bit money with that? How does it works with Facebook, and other platforms like Spotify and so on? Because sometimes of these platforms prohibit and remove the videos, when you make covers, and rearrange it? I would like to know, excuse my English languages, because I m French 🤗!! I hope an answer from you, it will be a great pleasure, and it helps a lot of musicians, who have sometimes a lot of problems with these rights stories, who seems very difficult to have, to make a cover.. Thanks a lot for your answer.. Laurent from Paris, France 🇫🇷 😂 !!
Thanks for this insight! You are all so special and lovely! Plus so talented and passionate! You are a role model of working hard and enjoy the process. Thanks for letting us being a part of it! Happy and blessed Easter! Greetings from Berlin!
Hey Jack, just wanted to point out what I think might be a typo (just started watching the video) at 0:05 I think you meant "> 1 Million Subscribers", otherwise it reads as "less than a million", I'll keep on watching now :)
It was so fun to witness your guys journey from the beginning. I still proudly share with coworkers “You know Patreon right? But have you heard of Pomplamoose” Natalie and Jack I love you, such an inspiring tale over the years 💜
I've seen a few comments asking about how they deal with ASCAP/writers royalties/rights. I'm going to try to answer some of them (but I could be wrong) Their cover songs are distributed by Soundrop (according to the ends of their song cover videos). Soundrop's website says their pricing is $10/song to secure the license + 15% of revenue from digital music platforms. They put out roughly 40 song covers per year so they prob pay ~$400 per year. The 15% cut is prob already factored into their revenue As for rights on UA-cam, Studio 71 seems to be the company they're partnered with for their licensing and rights (as indicated at the bottom of the descriptions of their videos)
Anton! Amazing, thank you for jumping in and offering your expertise. You're right on! I have been seeing those questions as well, so I'm chime in, too, with a bit more info about how licensing works for cover songs. 1) Anyone can put a cover on UA-cam. However, in order to be DMCA compliant, UA-cam MUST remove the cover if they are instructed to do so by the rights holder. In other words, when Pomplamoose posts a cover of say, Single Ladies, then Sony Music technically has the ability to file a take down request with UA-cam, who then must comply with that takedown request if they want to remain a legal, compliant service. So the question is, why doesn't Sony take down the cover? Why has Sony allowed Pomplamoose to keep our version of Single Ladies online? The answer is that UA-cam has built a system for rights holders to "claim" videos as their intellectual property. The effect of "claiming" a video is that the rights holder can then run ads over that video and collect the associated ad revenue. This is a bit of a strange system, but it allows bands like Pomplamoose to post covers, and it incentivizes rights holders to NOT file take down requests, because they can make "free money" instead. The result is that rights holders often don't end up filing take down notices, because they're making ad revenue over videos that they don't have to make. 2) Streaming and song sales. Anton is CORRECT! We use Soundrop to post our songs to streaming services like Deezer, Spotify, and Apple Music. Soundrop connects us to hundreds of such services, so our music can be streamed globally. And even better, they take care of royalty payments for covers. So we essentially upload a cover to Soundrop, we tell them what song we're covering, Soundrop finds the rights holders, and then they automatically withhold a portion of our earnings to pay the appropriate rights holders their "statutory mechanical royalty rate" of about 9 cents per download. For streamed songs, there's a slightly different formula, since there are no downloads, but it works the same way. Essentially Soundrop takes care of licensing for us. We upload songs to their service, they upload them to all the streaming and download services, they pay rights holders the right amount, and they pay us. It's a great service.
I watched Pomplamoose on youtube very early on, and watched it A LOT. I even saved the songs as mp3's from youtube on my mp3-player to play them at the bar where I worked and often got questions about who the artist was. To see this "band" of two people in a bedroom grow to such a healthy company where people love to work and are so f*cking good at what they do warms me. Thanks for this!
GAH! I swear, I'm not flexing!! It's just that sometimes people call me out if i don't make that disclaimer -- especially if I'm talking about anything money related. A couple of years ago there was even a Gawker article (when they still existed), ragging on me for not including the fact that I was CEO of Patreon in a Medium article I wrote. anyway..... that's where it's coming from
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@@JackConteExtras You've been all around this shit for years, and you still talk, write and act like a guy who just started company or a band and is infinitely excited about it. Thanks for all the great things.
@@JackConteExtras I'm genuinely curious about how you find time for all the projects you do on top of being a CEO. Are you constantly busy? Do you have enough people helping that it's manageable? Does it just seem like a lot to people on the outside since we're seeing the fruit of your labor all at once when in reality it's all small bits here and there? A combination of all these things? I've just noticed that CEOs and highly successful people always seem like they're busy 24/7 but are they actually? And if you are busy all the time, where do you get that sort of energy? Sorry for the wall of text, it truly just baffles me that you could be involved in so many things seemingly all at once.
@@TotallyAHumanNotADog hey Robert! The short answer is all of the above. Yes, it is a ton of work, and it takes a lot of hours. I’m in meetings about 50 hours per week, and then I work on top that - probably another 10-20 hours if you count up all the time I put into everything (mostly Patreon!). The big lesson for me, which I learned at Patreon, is the power of teams. And in particular - I learned the power of great leaders. If you look at each of the things I’m involved in, each of them has a great leader running it. Pomplamoose has Nataly leading the entire operation. Scary Pockets has Ryan. This UA-cam channel has Joe Smith (my producer). Patreon has a full management team (VPs who run operations, finance, marketing, product, engineering, etc). With Patreon, I’ve tried to bring in people who are smarter, more experienced, and more operationally capable than I am every step of the way as we’ve grown. Not only is this important since I’m a first time CEO and founder, but it’s important because it’s meant that I can continue to spend more time on my strengths as the company scales, rather than trying to do everything by myself. Teams are like superheroes. Great teams, with great leaders (like Nataly, Ryan, Joe, and Patreon’s management team) are able to accomplish 1000x what one individual is capable of. Take this video as an example. I *did not edit this video.* It would have taken me a month to make this video by myself, and it wouldn’t have been nearly as good. But Joe, my producer, organized this whole thing - the interviews, the graphics, the scheduling, the thumbnail - and John Picklap edited it. What was my role? I wanted to show the world the inside of Pomplamoose, so I came up with the framework of “people, process, money,” and wrote out a one page-ish vision for the video and few slides to explain the money segment & financials. It took a couple hours. But with awesome, creative teammates like Joe and John, it becomes a full blown 12 minute mini doc. That’s the power of teams. Anyway - all that to say, I have come to deeply appreciate the leverage of teams. And yes, while it is definitely a ton of work for me, personally, it is only possible because of all the brilliant people who are leading each of the endeavors.
@@JackConteExtras Wow you really gave all this information for free...respect. Really insightful to be able to learn your way of thinking and execution
Pockets, Inc. is a profitable company, yes. from a financial perspective, we have a similar approach to Pomplamoose, in that we basically re-invest all of our net income back into our work so we can grow and make better music and videos. Pockets, Inc., though, is slightly different from Pomplamoose in that our strategy isn't just developing ONE channel -- it's developing MULTIPLE channels, or "bands." So far, Pockets, Inc. has developed three such "bands:" 1) Scary Pockets, 2) Stories, and 3) Scary Goldings. Once Scary Pockets started growing and getting to a good place where we had significant net income, we started spinning up new projects. Our strategy is to use the net income generated by Scary Pockets as "startup funds" for those other projects. Right now, those startup projects, in and of themselves, are not yet generating a lot of revenue, and they're mostly being funded by Scary Pockets, which is the project that is most successful so far. One thing I'll note is that I do not take a salary from Pomplamoose, or from Pockets, Inc, mostly because I'm making a salary from Patreon. Ryan takes a salary from Pockets, and Nataly takes a salary for Pomplamoose, because it's both of their full time jobs. But because I'm not making any money from those projects, it means that we have some extra cash to re-invest back into our music, which is really great. If I were to take a salary, we would have to reduce our spending in order to continue to run them profitably. ANYWAY.... sorry to ramble!! i just thought it was a good question.
Thank you Jack for the detailed information about your many projects. I have admired your work for several years and am glad that you have become so successful. Your kindness, generosity, and enthusiasm show up in all you do. I hope my son, who is 8 and has a few years of piano under his belt, follows in your footsteps. You, your wife, and your friend ryan are living the dream. To get to do something you love with people you love is as good as it gets.
I remember the early videos, what seems like a lifetime ago, and could feel the unfettered momentum and joy it brought. Y'all deserve the prosperity that you've all worked so hard to attain. A fine example for all of us to follow and to learn and share, forever creating what comes from our heart. Thank you, for sharing this documentary.
Genuinely happy for these people. We get so much enjoyment from your music, and it's a great relief to know it's a healthy business. Hearing that the musicians (and obviously all the staff) are well-paid is a refreshing thing in the art business. It feels great that everyone has the freedom to work on the projects without unnecessary pressure. The one thing that blows my mind is how little time is spent on the artistic process. 4 songs in a day, including arrangements!!?? Those musicians must be geniuses. I imagined someone spends all their time in arrangements so that the musicians can just hop and play with a sheet. The level of the music is incredible for how little time is spent on the songs. I absolutely love the chemistry of the band and the groove of the songs.
I remember my mother recommended Pomplamoose to me when I was a teenager. Way back in 2011. I think I've been a subscriber ever since then. I love your style. Hope you keep going for many more years to come.
You have been my favorite band since you stumbled into my life on a UA-cam video in 2009. I fell in love with Nataly's voice ...I am so grateful for your creativity for your music for your relationship. For your deep, deep love of things quirky unique, different deep, profound, fun, funny, intelligent music. I would rather listen to you than anyone else and so, I do X
![Pomplamoose Wedding Film [Nataly and Jack]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TEdeAm3Zu3o/mqdefault.jpg)
Joe Budden recently launched on Patreon, and one of my favorite things about him is his DISDAIN for rules. Joe has no attachment to the status quo. He feels no pressure to follow the pack. I'm not quite as extreme, but I've found that my general inclination is similar. For example, if you ask most people in the music industry, they'll tell you that your manager gets 10 - 15%, your agent gets another cut, your label takes a certain cut, etc. Pomplamoose hasn't setup our "band" that way. We don't have a manager. We don't have a label. No corporate overlords get a "cut" of the thing we're building. Instead, we've hired amazing, talented teammates to help us with our specific work streams -- making weekly videos and music. We've structured it this way because we realized we're a different type of band: we don't do much touring, for example, and it works for us because we own all our own masters, which is where the majority of our income comes from. So we're constantly asking ourselves, "what's right for us?" rather than "how do other bands work?" I prefer the first line of questioning in general -- not just with bands, but with all avenues of life. So if you take one thing away from this video, I hope it's not how Pomplamoose runs our business. I hope it's not what WE do. I hope it's that YOU are.... YOU. You are different than other people. You have different strengths, different needs, different holes. What's right for YOU?
nice work Jack and Nat. Good deep dive into all the things no one talks about!
Hey Jack! I recently spoke to Darren from HSCC, and I'm really hoping you can help me with a copyright question (he's also interested in your take on this). What's the situation with Pomplamoose mashups and YT licensing/copyright? i.e. what does YT think it is when you upload it? Love the content, btw.
Is Scary Pockets set up the same way?
Instead, we've hired amazing, talented teammates to help us with our specific work streams -- making weekly videos and music...10:22 I would have here a small slice for programmers, you who are CEO would understand
yes, you are weird. but in a good way.
“They can disagree quickly without being offended” - sign of a great team right there. Really interesting. Thanks for sharing this!
It’s a trait / skill that if we could all have, the world would be a much better place.
@@mikischu it's intimately related to instruction, education and intelligence. So that's something we, adult, can change ;) I'm trying every day :) As the song said, the man in the mirror, I'm starting with him ;)
@@tmbarral664 with education and LOVE ! if i may add ;)
100% This is a perfect example of what strong teams look like.
That kind of "disagreement" is a sign of mature adults.
13 years from now:
“Multi-billionaire Jack Conte just donated the biggest company in the world, Pomplamoogle, to charity and will continue to produce one video per hour with his newest invention, the Mind Recorder Plus.”
My son is autistic, and really wants to work on "mind recorder plus". Please consider this an early application for position of apprentice!
Agree - though more like 5 years hence 😉
Whataaaat?
he is already worth 2b dollars in Patreon alone :P and a pretty hefty salary as well I'm sure. he can finance any of his projects into oblivion with no issue :P
Only 10 years to go
I love how you two stuck together through the years as a couple, experiencing all the ups and downs together, while putting a smile on everyone's faces through your songs and creative ventures. Shared happiness and a life well lived.
I remember being blown away by the idea of "video songs" in 2009. I was 14 at the time and was very happy to see your growth throughout the years. Please never stop being awesome.
How'd it surprise you then? Video killed the radio star decades prior. :p
Hi guys! I am a 63 year old white male from a small town in South Carolina. I am a big fan of your music. I deal with depression on a daily basis and your music helps me tremendously. I have been in custom cabinets for 46 years and want desperately to retire. I have also done sound through the years and have a lot of respect for what you do. Please, keep it going because it is my therapy. I can put my headphones on and disappear into the land of Pomplamoose! THANKS GUYS!
62 DITTO, my thoughts completely. Love, love,love Pomplamoose..
keep it up Ketih! cheers from France
I agree:) their music is therapy creating good vibes and happy thoughts. Depression sucks and their music definately helps :)
Hope you're doing ok, Keith.
Music = Therapy… Yes1 Best Wishes!
I still remember some video that Nataly took of Jack sitting on the kitchen floor, notebook and his lap, and she said something about him not getting any sleep because the launch of his website (that I’m assuming it was Patreon first version).
The way I see it, Patreon was founded by one of Pomplamoose’s members and the band itself is the biggest hit in UA-cam history. I was singing your version of Mrs. Robinson today while packing. What you both create are part of my life and I’m forever grateful.
Congratulations and . Keep going
I literally "fell" over one of this band's videos and was moved into a world of truly beautiful music, where a team of dedicated musicians work collaboratively to produce something almost other-worldly. No shouting; no screaming; no stupid posturing - just finely crafted songs that bring joy to the heart. I will do my best to bring Pomplamoose to a wider audience on this side of the Atlantic. And thank you for making an old man very happy.
This is really inspirational. I remember Pomplamoose being almost nonexistent in the couple years before 2017, but you guys really brought it all the way back. It’s making me think differently about my own channel (HappyFamilyShow). We’ve been completely shut down since 2018 because of a lack of funding, but our 10 year anniversary is next month. Maybe we should be thinking of a way to pick it back up again... You guys are showing me that anything is possible.
Thanks for talking about the money aspect, Jack; we need so much more talk around the *business* aspect of it all, how it can help or kill the art. It's a process and a source and for some an inspiration, but at the end of the day, money makes the world go round; you, as an artist, need to figure out how it fits with your art. So, thanks!
8:17 - I've seen people troll Jack since his success with Patreon, and his comments here are a big part of why I defend him. He created a company that has enabled _millions_ of creators to monetize their creations. He worked really hard to not just make a successful company, but to make a successful company that helps millions of other people be successful. And he is well aware of the wealth and privilege it has provided him. There are some valid complaints about Patreon, but nothing is perfect, and perfect is the enemy of good.
I mean, I'm a patreon subscriber to a few podcasts, so I thank him for being able to patronize a variety of anarchist, Marxist and socialist creators. Unironically happy he helped make it, cause otherwise they'd be having to do advertising that restricts their opinions on news and society while having to still be able to make a living.
@@innawoods2131 I mean apply that logic to everyone you meet, at least the criteria. His stance on certain issues is pretty bad but his contributions are pretty damn big. Like vilifying Elon for not being left enough after the man provided internet to god knows how many people on earth who were never going to get it.
As a musician, former recording engineer, and photographer who found financial success in business I LOVE hearing how you both brought your creativity and business acumen together in a successful formula for for both the band and Patreon...well done and thank you!
Vous êtes extraordinaires! Merci! Merci! Merci!
Je suis un auteur-compositeur-interprète et producteur indépendant de Montréal et vous êtes un modèle tellement inspirant. C'est vraiment gentil de prendre le temps de nous parler de comment ça se passe à l'interne!
Votre musique est phénoménale, la vibe, les humains, tout : MERCI!!!
This is a hell of a gift, Jack. You didn't have to do this, and it speaks volumes about your character that you did it anyway. Thank you.
A message from an older musician: Thank you guys for inspiring me to get into home recording. I was inspired by your very early productions around 2010. I thought if these guys can create these amazing VideoSongs, surely I could at least make a damn start. I know that Jack started in the DAW production side of things, but I was so impressed with the obvi skill that Nataly has demonstrated in the present. It is all so awesome, and I really am impressed with each of your humility in knowing how hard it is in the trenches because that is exactly where you started. You kids are so impressive as innovators that are now a model in the Berklee School music syllabus, but also just decent humans. It is so clear to see and it is a beacon in this biz that has had such a shady sketch history (Clive Davis, Allen Klein, and all the rest, eh-hemm). Keep up the great work! Each of you are successful CEOs for each branch of your business. I know firsthand the ascend and crash-and-burn side of the business from my computer career (MacZone, Egghead, EDS, Microsoft). It is so inspiring to see you guys win on the creative side. All I have ever been able to accomplish was a very modest financial success in music as a side hustle. Parabens! Congratulations to you both on all your endeavors!
Have been a fan ever since the early Pomplamoose days - my all time favorite of the dynamic duo had to be your rendition of Nature Boy with just piano and bass. Still magical to this day and I'm so glad that the magic has reached so many more people !!
Been watching you folks since the beginning, and I honestly thought that Patreon would eventually end Pomplamousse. Instead, I'm watching more than ever, and buying LPs! Thanks for all the years of music, keep up the great work.
Thank you so much for this, Jack! We're a musical project from Brazil and we struggle every single day trying to make things happen here. Sometimes people don't really understand us creative people in Brazil. Our country is beautiful but messed up! We feel like we're being sabotaged all the time, even by the musicians and music community. My sister and I used to live in LA and we learned a lot being there for 4 years. We're really excited for what is yet to come! It's been hard but we will never give up! Once again, thank you so much for the insights and tips! I will show this for all the people that work with us and try to make them see how you guys work over there! I'm a huge fan of all of your works! Cheers from Brazil! Take Care
Thanks a lot Natalie and Jack for all the joy you bring into my life. In all your videos and projects I can see how much fun you have with all your musicians and that's adding fun to my life as well. I am grateful that you do what you do and how you do it.
I've been with you from Day One, and it's been a sheer joy & delight. When you launched Patreon, I was on board in a New York Second. Thanks for this lovely retrospective. Your songs got me through some truly rough patches of life, and now, in my old age, I have a fantastic recording studio, helping other rising stars achieve their dreams. Yay, Pomplamoose!
I arrived at Pomplamoose well into 2020 and it gave me a lot of joy in a time when things are fucking hard, man! Not just the music, which is rad, but you and Nataly are so sincere and transparent and really innovators (an overused word, but apt) who care for creatives and culture as a whole. You care that people live their dreams and be compensated. And you care that your original music (especially) is honest and beautiful. That level of care and passion truly comes through in every video. Thank you guys for being genuine and sharing all your gifts.
I'm really excited that you two were able to turn Pomplamoose into the success story it is today. I've been following since Single Ladies and your story could have easily gone the way of a lot of content creators - something you love but something you ultimately have to do on the side because it isn't making enough money for you to live on, or something you're doing but you have to give up a lot of other things (nice place to live, etc.) to achieve it. I'm happy that you two are far from "starving artists" and that you exemplify what the new revolution in content creation can and does look like. And thanks for being willing to pull back the curtain and show what it really takes in order to run a band or music project as a business. It's so inspiring. Cheers!
Jack, great video. You and Nataly are just a delight to watch and hear. Same with the band. I don't think I've ever seen a band that has more fun making music than yours. As a fan during most of your journey, I've grown more impressed every year with the creativity and innovation you've brought to all aspects of Pomplamoose and more recently, Patreon. Whatever the problem is, you find a creative way to solve it. I was in the room on Clubhouse last week and heard you discuss how you'd like to see this all play out over the next few years. Like many others, I think you're right. That said, it does blow one's mind to think that this all started with some toys, a bunch of old instruments, a couple of mics, foam board, and a camera! Still, I can't think of anyone who has done more to educate and lead the way for other musicians than the two of you and I wish you and Nataly continued accolades and success. Be well. - Howard
Make another one including the last four years, bring us up to date since 2020 to 2024! Love you guys so much!
Eleven years later I'm still at the "do it all yourself" level.....I'm so jealous!LOL
Love you guys, you're an inspiration! Thank you!
With 95k subs you should be proud, and the best parts are that you retain full creative control and you don't have to pay anyone.
@@trippingjune I completely agree! I couldn't have done it without Pomplamoose or Marty Schwartz as inspiration and guides, plus the subscribers are all so supportive and creative! We've found a nice little corner of the internet over here!
I'll never forget my first phone call with Jack when he helped me decide what lights to buy, which I still use to this day! Then I got to see them play live in Philly, my mind got BLOWN away by all of it. The show was amazing, th band was TIGHT, Lauren O'connell was there too, she sounded great and was soooooo nice! Everyone, was so nice and the interview I did with Jack is still my favorite I've ever done, because I learned so much from him in that little moment.
It has been so much fun to watch what Jack and Nataly and team have built over the years. It's really amazing and inspirational to the everyone who sees it and is in the music business. Thank you!!!
@@GaragebandandBeyond Sounds like good times. I've been creating music and videos by myself since 1995, and never had the luxury of anyone reaching out to help me. I offer people money all the time to help but it seems that most of them are too important to respond. Maybe I'm just a really bad musician, or a really bad guy, or both. I gotta check out your channel.
History unfolding-Incredible video, musicians, musicianship, production et al. Baby boomer musician here (pianist, percussionist , singer, songwriter) back in school studying music therapy and music production and engineering. I am BEYOND thrilled to discover you. Thank you, merci!! Keep the inspiration and great work coming!
Pomplamoose remain a unique phenomena. I love the diversity as well as the ethos of the band. I love in particular the revamping of old songs and the promoting of old, hidden classics to new audiences. The exploration of French material in particular is wonderful!
Thank you so much for Patreon, Jack!!! I am able to create art (making videos) as my side-hustle and it feels soooooooo gooooooood!!!!
I've been waiting for this for quite awhile. I was always curious about some of the frequent performers like Ben Rose and Nick Campbell. And now we got a piece showcasing the non-performers who I never really gave a thought about. This is great.
Best DIY success story ever! All this wonderment began with little Jack ‘n’ Nat making a “videosong” with a teenee glockenspiel, a toy piano, an accordion, a bunch of effect pedals and a room full of mattresses. “Hail Mary” is my personal favorite. Congratulations and ROCK ON!
Jack, would you please consider making a video regarding the process of legally putting cover songs on UA-cam? Do your videos demonetized? Do you get a mechanical and sync license? Is there a way for small UA-camrs to post covers legally and not have these problems?
I think they use Soundrop (soundrop.com)
This is an excellent question. It's kept me from putting my better covers up.
Not sure about now, BUT they use to purchase a mechanical license for each song cover they did.
I noted there was no mention of "royalties" in their expenses. I hope they do share part of the wealth with the other artists that created these incredible songs. I do like the band a lot, admire their work and would definitely expect them to do the right thing.
@@jfnahas They specially mentioned one of their expenses was ASCAP (American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers) A non-profit group that collects and distributes royalties.
I have to say: The genuine, positive energy just radiates from your band, music, videos and everybody involved and it just makes me happy. Pomplamoose is one of my favourite sources of energy when I need a pick-me-up, background when I am drawing and painting and thereby a driver for positivity and creativity in my life. Whatever success’s comes your way are beyond well-deserved. Thank you for touching our lives and spending your “short time on earth” being such an inspiration and joy.
"Something About Us" came to me on a yt suggestion last year and I've been a fan ever since. You guys seem to have a lot of fun doing what you love and the chemistry shows. Thank you.
Loved this! I remember, years ago, you posted a transparent video about how Pomplamoose essentially breaks even after all the content publishing and touring. I've been following you and Natalie since college (2010!) and it's been amazing to see what Patreon and all your projects have blossomed into. I'm also a filmmaker who loves to play music, and I've never felt more inspired to recruit my friends and take after your example. Could not be happier for you and Nat, nor could I be more thankful for all the wonderful music, entertainment, and insight.
So the bearded guy next to the pretty blond is the ceo of patron. My world just blew up.
No seriously you guys do great work and I am very happy that you are financially rewarded for adding joy to the world.
PS. I really appreciate patreon and the ability to fund things that I find valuable.
It’s worth noting that it’s Patreon he,s talking about, not the worth of Pamplamoose.
Been a long-time fan since I tripped over your Electro-Harmonic demo of the VoiceBox pedal (I was working as a designer for an online music retailer at the time). I am amazed at the reach, depth, passion, and potency of what you (and Pomplamoose and Scary Pockets, etc.) do. It's inspiring. And while my own passion projects remain in the "professional, but not sustaining salary" category... I often look towards all you've done as concrete proof that a leap of faith paired with hard work can produce amazing results.
Keep on keeping on.
I'm so happy there's a video about this! I've been wondering for a while!
just found ur channel by accident - frankly spoken the first thing was falling in love with here voice, goosepumps...........and than I was curious about Pomplamoose, okay now I'm a follower and lover of what ur doing! Doing a great job, all of U!
I have always appreciated you guys and I've been fascinated to watch you because you always make the process so transparent. As an aspiring musician and creative person, this is huge for me. I can see that it's just people in a room making stuff, and I feel like I can do that too.
Jack I have been following y’all since the beginning and I’m constantly blown away by all the stuff you and Nat do!
Between patreon, your video spaghetti and pomplamoose it’s all amazing. I love how you are so open about how everything is made!
Been there since the beginning! So happy that you guys are still growing strong and filling the world with awesome music! Keep on creating
This video should be absolutely required viewing for not only anyone "in the Music Industry" in any shape or form but as much, if not more so, for anyone who owns or runs any business of any kind.
The life lessons learned by Jack & team along the way are essential to nearly any success story.
Jack, your transparency and honesty are beyond commendable. An unseasoned eye would see that heavy, negative, red bar on your November numbers and wonder why you didn't pack it all up and quickly become a subsistence farmer living off the grid never to be seen or heard from again. {Ooh! What a tremendous loss that would have been. I'm going to stop thinking about that!}
A few months ago I dug WAY BACK into your old old stuff and LOVED IT! I was a fan then and now.
You and the team keep giving us more and more reasons to give-a-frik about what you're doing, what you've done lately, what you have shared both personal and musically, what is going on behind the scenes, etc.
Sure some of this could be chalked up to strategy and certainly some amount of Data-Driven-Decisions.
But at the nucleus of it all is a team of people who love what they do and, equally so, love who they're doing it for.
We truly feel the love from each and every one of you and thank you immensely for making the web, a pandemic, and our lives in general brighter, happier, and more inspired! :-)
Beyond appreciative for what you, Natalie, and the whole team does
Instant Crush might be my favorite cover song ever. Absolutely perfect - with the bonus of one of the band members being authentically ecstatic at the end.
Been enthusiastically following since almost the beginning (you did have a name by the time I started following).. kids used to love watching the angry birds video also. Now so many high quality folks involved - it’s just on a whole other level in the past couple years. You all rock. Thanks for your creative work!
You guys are an inspiration story. Love how you went from struggling artists to helping artists struggle less.
I'm not an obsessed fanboy, but my wife may think so as often as she has to hear me tell your story to friends.
And I am loving every fucking minute of this new era. I' in heaven. Been there from the quirky beginning and have always loved your chemistry and fun.
I've been listening to your band on youtube for 2-3 years. Not knowing what's behind. I loved the music. And now I'm even more impressed. Next to People, Processes and Money, you can add a 4th one: Music. Good music. Damn good music. Recognisable tunes, reworked, mashed up. Without the good music, I'd have gone away after the first video. Good job, guys!
I love Pomplamoose for I don't know how many years now. I really like the kind of videos, and the music too. But this new video added a special point: You make creativity viable. And you show how this is possible. Thank you very much for sharing this. I work myself in a creative business (no music, just text), but a number of ideas from your workflow are inspiring for me, too. For example: Have different sources of income (of course!). Have fixed days where you work in the team and get everyone working separately afterwards. Set a challenging speed and motivate everyone to keep that pace. And very important: Believe in what you do, even if you are not profitable for some months. That is no blind faith or wishful thinking, I guess it assumes more than money as a parameter - based on the usage of your output you can trust that the second half of 2020 won't be the beginning of a downturn. And it looks as if you don't care how others run a band, but you develop your own model just as you see it evolving reasonably. I love that.
Finally, I see you having fun. That is not for granted, I guess, as you did all that for more than a decade. Keep going, I keep following!
Man, I watched you guys starting with "Mister Sandman" 10 years ago, and I was blown away ever since! Proud to be part of patrons and to be along for the ride. Too bad we will probably never cross paths IRL, mostly because I live 22hours away from East coast (est Europe), but I appreciate you guys a lot! I was so disappointed recently when I found out that I missed out on you guys, "Mornings with Pomplamoose" days ! I don't know how but I just never found it until last year. I would love to see more of you. Like your workflow, or extras like you colaboration with Wheezywaiter!
While Pomplamoose has developed a HUGE amount since the one-shot projector videos (complete with styrofoam worlds!), you still pop out awesome tunes that sound Pomplamoosey!
Congratulations on your Patreon success - I remember you launching it and thinking 'What a brilliant idea!' - now it feels as if it always has been there, it is so integrated into the creative industry.
Such a great little documentary ...thanks for sharing your talents with the world. Nataly said it all at the very end of the video Pomplamoose brings joy to millions of people and to her as well. It's all about JOY
I've been a follower of Pomplamoose since 2009 and before the Christmas commercial . You guys deserve it all, being pioneers in the UA-cam video streaming artform. Wonderful to see you persevere. You've come a long way since Grandma's house.
Thanks for sharing how you do what you do. Reality is delicious. When my musician friends say “we could be just like Scary Pockets” I just smile and play my three chords. Thanks for the wonderful music and thanks for helping me appreciate what I’ve got; good music, good people and a day job.
Okay the Star Trek Christmas Time is actually great tho
Thanks for the life affirming message to all artists. Thanks for showing us Chris. My wife is one them, Chris like people and it's nice to see that character shown in the story. Thanks for being honest and authentic and human. Best wishes in all you do.
If you take one thing away from this video. I hope it's that YOU are.... YOU. You are different than other people. You have different strengths, different needs, different holes. What's right for YOU?
Kinda funny how you look younger 12 years later
A by product of living the dream id say. 👍🏻
It’s called wearing a hat
That's what happens when you live. Your life doing what you love instead of what everybody else wanted you to do. Ageing is all about stress. If we're doing what we love, we grow into our beauty. Truth.
What are you implying?
So proud! Been a fan of the band for many years! Since just about the beginning. I love that you guys make the music you want and you can hear it! The music is fun and it looks fun. MORE! make MORE!
Anytime I feel discouraged in music, I think about Pomplamoose, and suddenly everything is OK.
Except he is backed by his wealth with Patroen. Most Musians don't have.
@@leehoward454Ok, but I’m talking about how “i” feel in this comment. Pomplamoose did a lot of things right, and yes, there was good timing, and luck, but there was also lots of hard work, talent and a constant flux of new ideas. I like how they keep pushing and changing, and trying new things. They’re not afraid to change things up when things aren’t working for them. They did that (successfully) well before Patreon ever existed. And yes, they have money now, good for them! But they worked hard for it, (Jack Conte didn’t even take a salary from Patreon for the first three years.) I choose to continue to be inspired by them as a band, and to feel supported by the community they created. 😊
The covers of "Instant Crush" and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" were the first things I saw from this band and they blew me the fuck away; goddamn amazing. Best of luck to your operation, how your success continues!
Quality of your work is better and better. I hope that the garage spirit is maintained so that the content does not become too commercial.
How cow! Haven't checked in with you guys in a few years. Was always blown away by your creativity & energy, And now... What the...!!!! So staggered by your success, your community, your process, your masterpieces. I was also impressed with how you helped start Patreon years ago. But I just didn't have the confidence, support or admin gifts to pursue my Dream, To dive into my tons of songs, illustrated books & music video ideas I'd amassed over 4 decades. Now I'm 75 and pretty much done. But hearts like yours keep me pursuing my bucket List. merci
I am so happy that Pomplamoose has grown and succeeded so much!
I still kinda miss the early days tho - the more raw, messy, chopped up beautiful disaster
Jack, I took ppl who barely knew Pomplamoose to your last tour, and two of them said it was the best concert they ever attended. After following you since 2010, it was gratifying for me to hear people have so much fun at your show. Just wanted to share that. Peace.
Its like when Penn and Teller “reveal” a trick and just wow you with a trick inside the explanation
So glad you are still around ! Still in my heart since the very beginning I didn't watch every video of course BUT you guyrs are still part of my background thoughts you are True and very appreciated ! - Thank You for giving some stability to the net :-)
This is why we love you even from other countries like Guatemala! Best of luck guys!
I met you both on tour in STL back in 2014 and I was struck by your incredible talent and genuinely kind personalities. I'm proud to be a Pomplamoose patron!
It’s crazy that you can arrange 4 songs in a day. And be able to play so many instruments competently is so foreign to me.
yes, huge respect
It's just so beautiful...I've been with you since I realized you both were really performing for the Hyundai commercial. Went to the Trubadour show then saw you here in Boston. Thank you for being such loving and wonderful people. Michael
That's why your guys faces seemed familiar! You were the ones that did that vocoder Electro Harmonix video!
Really appreciate this. My wife and I have followed pamplemooses path for a long time. You were a big inspiration for our comedy duo. But seeing how its working for you now is so nice. Something to shoot for. Thanks for sharing.
"I want to help creative people build their dreams in a sustainable, viable way." - **Inspiring**
I just love you all and the music you make. I am an 80 year old writer, living in Ireland and you make me dance, sing and smile. Thank you! X
Thanks for the video Jack! You are the inspiration for our channel even though I'm just an Elf, we try to have fun and do what we like! Still trying to find a model that works year-round and not just in November and December where people need us (Elf on the Shelf) BTW if you ever drop that Star Trek Christmas time, we would love to cover back up vocals. We tend to be a little pitchy though :) oh and remember make everyday Christmas!!!!
I really love Pomplamoose and as a musician for me is a real pleasure to see musicians working in a healthy and dignified enviroment. Wish you the best, congrats from Brazil!
In expenses I noticed that there were no licensing costs. As a lot of the songs are covers/mash-ups, don’t the original writers/artists want their pound of flesh? Or are you small enough to fly under the radar / have enough goodwill that they don’t care?
No expert, but I think the platforms sort out that end of things along with the performing rights organizations (BMI, ASCAP).
@@robertlucey825 Yeah I believe it's included in the streaming revenue, meaning that instead of getting all potential money, a part of it goes to the original artists. But I could be wrong
You cannot fly under the radar on a public platform ! The platform is the radar...
@@TartempionLampion how macluen-ish
I really appreciate what you do - it's like a shot of dopamine to see all the positivity behind your song videos. And I appreciate the fact that you acknowledge your position of privilege which places you outside the 'Spotify-treadmill'. Keep it up!
Sorry to be the one to do this, but the “1 million subscribers”. Otherwise amazing insight y’all. Keep it up!
i've watched one pomplamoose video on youtube (i think it was september by EWF) like 10 years ago and I absolutely LOVED IT! i also remember you guys doing a honda commercial around christmas one year and thinking "wow - those youtube ppl with that single hit have really blown up...they got a commercial" UN-COMPLETELY-FRIGGIN-BEKNOWNST TO ME THAT YOU GUYS ARE SUCCESSFUL AND PROLIFIC BEYOND WHAT I COULD EVER HAVE IMAGINED. WOW. This video was a joy to watch. Thanks for bringing us in on this aspect of things
< is less than
> Is greater than
😂
You guys are great though, much love.
I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you guys and gals!!! Thanks for the joy you bring to me and countless others!!!
I’m curious why if it’s the same process and the same team, there’s so much variability in monthly earnings? It seems as though it would be a much narrower trading range from month-to-month. Can you explain that? Also, since you mostly do covers, aren’t you hit with heavy royalty payments?
our net income by month isn't smooth for a few reasons:
1) COVID has introduced some variability into our creative production process. As we're trying new processes (like recording remotely) with different cost profiles, we're spending different amounts of money each month.
2) We have special projects that pop up -- like a French album, or our original album that just dropped last month. We'll front load some expenses into those projects, like to create a batch of music videos, for example, for those endeavors, and it creates spikes of new costs. Sometimes we'll spend considerably more on one particular music video concept because we're excited about a particular song.
3) We batch production so we don't have to take as many trips to LA. Sometimes, we'll do 2-3 days in a row, and then not go back to LA for a couple months -- especially during COVID. That will create spikes of cost that appear high in one particular month.
4) On the income side, sometimes we'll get a big chunk in at once from a piece of merchandise -- like a vinyl album -- that will bring in a lot of revenue all at once, making net income look great that month. Or sometimes, we'll get a licensing gig, and it will pay $10k - $20k, and it makes that month's net income look particularly good.
Overall, though, our basic strategy is to 1) maintain a decent cash cushion so that we don't have to worry about cash flow issues -- that allows us to have lumpy net income over the year without stressing our pants off, and 2) invest almost all of our net income BACK into the band, because we love making music and want to keep making it better, keep investing in our team, keep growing, and keep investing in our creative work.
@@JackConteExtras - thank you for the detail and transparency...you ROCK !!!
This is so special. Moved to tears of joy and appreciation and admiration ❤
This just appeared in my UA-cam feed after a year of following Pomplamoose!
Hello Jack and nataly, the pamplemoose heroes 😉I have a question, how are rights going, with the authors, compositors, singers, productors of the original songs? Are you asking always for the rights, and do they agree to let you make your own arrangements of their song easily?? And do you earn a little bit money with that? How does it works with Facebook, and other platforms like Spotify and so on? Because sometimes of these platforms prohibit and remove the videos, when you make covers, and rearrange it? I would like to know, excuse my English languages, because I m French 🤗!! I hope an answer from you, it will be a great pleasure, and it helps a lot of musicians, who have sometimes a lot of problems with these rights stories, who seems very difficult to have, to make a cover.. Thanks a lot for your answer.. Laurent from Paris, France 🇫🇷 😂 !!
Thanks for this insight! You are all so special and lovely! Plus so talented and passionate! You are a role model of working hard and enjoy the process. Thanks for letting us being a part of it! Happy and blessed Easter! Greetings from Berlin!
Hey Jack, just wanted to point out what I think might be a typo (just started watching the video) at 0:05 I think you meant "> 1 Million Subscribers", otherwise it reads as "less than a million", I'll keep on watching now :)
I think they meant it as a... Like an arrow pointing to 1million
It was so fun to witness your guys journey from the beginning. I still proudly share with coworkers “You know Patreon right? But have you heard of Pomplamoose”
Natalie and Jack I love you, such an inspiring tale over the years 💜
I've seen a few comments asking about how they deal with ASCAP/writers royalties/rights.
I'm going to try to answer some of them (but I could be wrong)
Their cover songs are distributed by Soundrop (according to the ends of their song cover videos).
Soundrop's website says their pricing is $10/song to secure the license + 15% of revenue from digital music platforms.
They put out roughly 40 song covers per year so they prob pay ~$400 per year.
The 15% cut is prob already factored into their revenue
As for rights on UA-cam, Studio 71 seems to be the company they're partnered with for their licensing and rights (as indicated at the bottom of the descriptions of their videos)
Anton! Amazing, thank you for jumping in and offering your expertise. You're right on!
I have been seeing those questions as well, so I'm chime in, too, with a bit more info about how licensing works for cover songs.
1) Anyone can put a cover on UA-cam. However, in order to be DMCA compliant, UA-cam MUST remove the cover if they are instructed to do so by the rights holder. In other words, when Pomplamoose posts a cover of say, Single Ladies, then Sony Music technically has the ability to file a take down request with UA-cam, who then must comply with that takedown request if they want to remain a legal, compliant service. So the question is, why doesn't Sony take down the cover? Why has Sony allowed Pomplamoose to keep our version of Single Ladies online? The answer is that UA-cam has built a system for rights holders to "claim" videos as their intellectual property. The effect of "claiming" a video is that the rights holder can then run ads over that video and collect the associated ad revenue. This is a bit of a strange system, but it allows bands like Pomplamoose to post covers, and it incentivizes rights holders to NOT file take down requests, because they can make "free money" instead. The result is that rights holders often don't end up filing take down notices, because they're making ad revenue over videos that they don't have to make.
2) Streaming and song sales. Anton is CORRECT! We use Soundrop to post our songs to streaming services like Deezer, Spotify, and Apple Music. Soundrop connects us to hundreds of such services, so our music can be streamed globally. And even better, they take care of royalty payments for covers. So we essentially upload a cover to Soundrop, we tell them what song we're covering, Soundrop finds the rights holders, and then they automatically withhold a portion of our earnings to pay the appropriate rights holders their "statutory mechanical royalty rate" of about 9 cents per download. For streamed songs, there's a slightly different formula, since there are no downloads, but it works the same way. Essentially Soundrop takes care of licensing for us. We upload songs to their service, they upload them to all the streaming and download services, they pay rights holders the right amount, and they pay us. It's a great service.
I watched Pomplamoose on youtube very early on, and watched it A LOT. I even saved the songs as mp3's from youtube on my mp3-player to play them at the bar where I worked and often got questions about who the artist was. To see this "band" of two people in a bedroom grow to such a healthy company where people love to work and are so f*cking good at what they do warms me. Thanks for this!
That disclaimer("Im the CEO of Patreon") is the biggest flex ever XD
GAH! I swear, I'm not flexing!! It's just that sometimes people call me out if i don't make that disclaimer -- especially if I'm talking about anything money related. A couple of years ago there was even a Gawker article (when they still existed), ragging on me for not including the fact that I was CEO of Patreon in a Medium article I wrote. anyway..... that's where it's coming from
@@JackConteExtras You've been all around this shit for years, and you still talk, write and act like a guy who just started company or a band and is infinitely excited about it. Thanks for all the great things.
@@JackConteExtras I'm genuinely curious about how you find time for all the projects you do on top of being a CEO. Are you constantly busy? Do you have enough people helping that it's manageable? Does it just seem like a lot to people on the outside since we're seeing the fruit of your labor all at once when in reality it's all small bits here and there? A combination of all these things? I've just noticed that CEOs and highly successful people always seem like they're busy 24/7 but are they actually? And if you are busy all the time, where do you get that sort of energy? Sorry for the wall of text, it truly just baffles me that you could be involved in so many things seemingly all at once.
@@TotallyAHumanNotADog hey Robert! The short answer is all of the above. Yes, it is a ton of work, and it takes a lot of hours. I’m in meetings about 50 hours per week, and then I work on top that - probably another 10-20 hours if you count up all the time I put into everything (mostly Patreon!). The big lesson for me, which I learned at Patreon, is the power of teams. And in particular - I learned the power of great leaders. If you look at each of the things I’m involved in, each of them has a great leader running it. Pomplamoose has Nataly leading the entire operation. Scary Pockets has Ryan. This UA-cam channel has Joe Smith (my producer). Patreon has a full management team (VPs who run operations, finance, marketing, product, engineering, etc). With Patreon, I’ve tried to bring in people who are smarter, more experienced, and more operationally capable than I am every step of the way as we’ve grown. Not only is this important since I’m a first time CEO and founder, but it’s important because it’s meant that I can continue to spend more time on my strengths as the company scales, rather than trying to do everything by myself. Teams are like superheroes. Great teams, with great leaders (like Nataly, Ryan, Joe, and Patreon’s management team) are able to accomplish 1000x what one individual is capable of. Take this video as an example. I *did not edit this video.* It would have taken me a month to make this video by myself, and it wouldn’t have been nearly as good. But Joe, my producer, organized this whole thing - the interviews, the graphics, the scheduling, the thumbnail - and John Picklap edited it. What was my role? I wanted to show the world the inside of Pomplamoose, so I came up with the framework of “people, process, money,” and wrote out a one page-ish vision for the video and few slides to explain the money segment & financials. It took a couple hours. But with awesome, creative teammates like Joe and John, it becomes a full blown 12 minute mini doc. That’s the power of teams.
Anyway - all that to say, I have come to deeply appreciate the leverage of teams. And yes, while it is definitely a ton of work for me, personally, it is only possible because of all the brilliant people who are leading each of the endeavors.
@@JackConteExtras Wow you really gave all this information for free...respect. Really insightful to be able to learn your way of thinking and execution
I remember buying your first "album". It was a thumb drive. I still have it and I still love it. I'm so amazed and impressed by what you've created!
Is scary pockets profitable, as well as stories and Larry Pockets?
Pockets, Inc. is a profitable company, yes. from a financial perspective, we have a similar approach to Pomplamoose, in that we basically re-invest all of our net income back into our work so we can grow and make better music and videos. Pockets, Inc., though, is slightly different from Pomplamoose in that our strategy isn't just developing ONE channel -- it's developing MULTIPLE channels, or "bands." So far, Pockets, Inc. has developed three such "bands:" 1) Scary Pockets, 2) Stories, and 3) Scary Goldings. Once Scary Pockets started growing and getting to a good place where we had significant net income, we started spinning up new projects. Our strategy is to use the net income generated by Scary Pockets as "startup funds" for those other projects. Right now, those startup projects, in and of themselves, are not yet generating a lot of revenue, and they're mostly being funded by Scary Pockets, which is the project that is most successful so far. One thing I'll note is that I do not take a salary from Pomplamoose, or from Pockets, Inc, mostly because I'm making a salary from Patreon. Ryan takes a salary from Pockets, and Nataly takes a salary for Pomplamoose, because it's both of their full time jobs. But because I'm not making any money from those projects, it means that we have some extra cash to re-invest back into our music, which is really great. If I were to take a salary, we would have to reduce our spending in order to continue to run them profitably. ANYWAY.... sorry to ramble!! i just thought it was a good question.
Thank you Jack for the detailed information about your many projects. I have admired your work for several years and am glad that you have become so successful. Your kindness, generosity, and enthusiasm show up in all you do. I hope my son, who is 8 and has a few years of piano under his belt, follows in your footsteps. You, your wife, and your friend ryan are living the dream. To get to do something you love with people you love is as good as it gets.
@@JackConteExtras That is very cool, keep doing what you do, you are an incredibly inspiring guy!
I remember the early videos, what seems like a lifetime ago, and could feel the unfettered momentum and joy it brought. Y'all deserve the prosperity that you've all worked so hard to attain. A fine example for all of us to follow and to learn and share, forever creating what comes from our heart. Thank you, for sharing this documentary.
when they said "mini" doc, they really really meant mini
Genuinely happy for these people. We get so much enjoyment from your music, and it's a great relief to know it's a healthy business. Hearing that the musicians (and obviously all the staff) are well-paid is a refreshing thing in the art business. It feels great that everyone has the freedom to work on the projects without unnecessary pressure.
The one thing that blows my mind is how little time is spent on the artistic process. 4 songs in a day, including arrangements!!?? Those musicians must be geniuses. I imagined someone spends all their time in arrangements so that the musicians can just hop and play with a sheet. The level of the music is incredible for how little time is spent on the songs. I absolutely love the chemistry of the band and the groove of the songs.
"And that when I make something... someone gives a shit". God, yes, this is maybe all that I really want, deep down.
I remember my mother recommended Pomplamoose to me when I was a teenager. Way back in 2011. I think I've been a subscriber ever since then. I love your style. Hope you keep going for many more years to come.
"I choose to work with people who I just like as people." That is what is it all about Natalie.
You have been my favorite band since you stumbled into my life on a UA-cam video in 2009. I fell in love with Nataly's voice ...I am so grateful for your creativity for your music for your relationship. For your deep, deep love of things quirky unique, different deep, profound, fun, funny, intelligent music. I would rather listen to you than anyone else and so, I do
X