Twitter debuts two new revenue streams for artists

Artists will soon have two new ways to earn revenue from Twitter, with platform’s introduction of both Super Follows and Ticketed Spaces, each of which provides a way for artists (and Twitter) to profit off their biggest fans.

Guest post by James Shotwell of Haulix

With the launch of Super Follows and Ticketed Spaces, social media giant Twitter is doing its part to help creators make more money online.

Twitter recently launched two new offerings that artists can earn from, though both are currently available to only a select amount of users. The first, Super Follows, enables creators to generate monthly revenue for themselves (and Twitter) by allowing users to subscribe to a feed for $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99 per month. Only users who are over the age of 18 and have at least 10,000 followers can enable the new super follows feature.

According to reports, Twitter will only take 3% of creators’ revenue after in-app purchase fees. But that’s on top of the 30% already charged by Apple and Google. Twitter also ups their cut as you begin making serious money. For example, after users exceed $50,000 lifetime earnings on Twitter, the app will take 20% of all future earnings after fees. That’s a jump from 33% to 50% of revenue taken before it enters the creator’s pocket. Compare that to something like Patreon, which only takes 5% to 12% of a creator’s earnings, with no concern about in-app purchases.

The other feature, Ticketed Spaces, hopes to leverage the recent popularity of audio-based social media for profit. Anyone eligible to create a Ticketed Space can set their ticket price between $1 and $999. Creators also control how many tickets can be sold, which might justify that near $1k price tag for a one-on-one meeting. Ticketed Spaces attendees are notified of the event through in-app notifications.

Anyone on Twitter over the age of 18 with at least 1,000 followers and three hosted Spaces can apply to use Ticketed Spaces. Access to Ticketed Spaces is limited for now, so everyone will need to apply. Twitter faces competition from Facebook, which has implemented something similar in its recently launched Facebook Live Audio Rooms.

Clubhouse, the platform that helped bring drop-in audio chats to the masses, allows users to tip anyone hosting an event. While that feature is useful, it redirects users to third-party services to complete the process. Those extra steps can be costly in more ways than one. Twitter Spaces, while tied to a fairly steep revenue share, streamlines the process.

One positive side effect of the ongoing pandemic is there more companies than ever are helping creative people make money online. From streaming platforms to social media, it seems everyone wants to be in business with people able to create digital spaces that draw users. These companies are also making a percentage of all the money everyone else makes, of course, but that’s the nature of business.

James Shotwell is the Director of Customer Engagement at Haulix and host of the company’s podcast, Inside Music. He is also a public speaker known for promoting careers in the entertainment industry, as well as an entertainment journalist with over a decade of experience. His bylines include Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Substream Magazine, Nu Sound, and Under The Gun Review, among other popular outlets.