Three recent shows helped me understand how important Patreon is for musicians. They helped me realize that I need to grow the Gunn Runners Club on Patreon.

For most of my career, I relied on CD sales. I could go to any convention, even unpaid, and walk away with a few hundred dollars. It was amazing.

I remember one Starfest in Denver, Colorado in 2009. I brought a big case of CDs. Too many, I thought. But I brought it nonetheless. I sold EVERY SINGLE ONE. It was one of the absolute best sales at a convention ever. I was blown away.

Those days are gone.

I played a brewery and a farmer's market in Birmingham. Sales were poor. I was at Sherwood Forest Faire. Sales were dismal at best. Heck, I even brought copies of my new limited-edition Virtual Public House CD. It is NOT available on streaming. You can only hear these songs in my Bandcamp store or in the Pub Songs & Stories podcast since the songs were recorded for that show. And yet, I sold only 6 CDs.

Sure, there are always a few holdouts by people who love the physical medium. But overall, folks are streaming music. I'm fine with that. But it means I must change I promote myself and how I make money at events.

That's why Patreon is so important.

I'm putting together a new webpage to hone in on the new standard. Knowing that people would rather stream music or tip via Venmo, Paypal, or CashApp helps. So I'm making a webpage that will allow people to do that quickly and easily. Maybe they'll even sign up for my mailing list.

And of course, there'll be an easier way for fans to sign up on Patreon!

Because that's the future of the music business for independent musicians like me–patronage.

Have you joined the Gunn Runners Club yet?