Dan Lynch — a skeptic at first, won over by fan support
Musician, broadcaster and a self proclaimed geek Dan Lynch was skeptical at first about Flattr earning him enough to support his hobbies in any meaningful way. To his surprise it’s worked out better than he thought. I had a chat with Dan about how micro donations help him focus on his projects.
Now I can regularly get a bit of money from it to cover server bills and so on. It’s not big money but it all helps when you’re an independent musician. I get around €15–20 Euros per month.
Let’s allow him to introduce himself:
- My name is Dan Lynch, I’m a musician, broadcaster, writer and geek from Liverpool in the UK. I co-host the long running Linux Outlaws podcast, in addition to hosting FLOSS Weekly and producing a show called Free As In Freedom for some friends in New York. Those shows are all about Free and Open Source software, which is close to my heart.
- I’m also a web developer and programmer. I play guitar and sing in a band called 20lb Sounds and I regularly record and play live shows. I also do a music podcast called Rathole Radio which has involved live events and much more.
Simply put he does a lot of stuff, all for free. His podcast Rathole Radio. The show plays a wide selection of the best music on the net. Interviewing artists, tell silly stories, have live votes and even play songs himself. The music is very eclectic because he believes that all styles have good and bad within them. He wants people to open their minds and not pigeon-hole everything. He only plays one “style” of music, stuff he likes.
A lot of the music played is creative commons licensed and free to use, but he likes being a bit of an outlaw and sometimes he will play a song just because it’s a damn good song. Most of his shows are recorded live with the audience either listening to or viewing the show, and it’s possible to join in via IRC for a chat. Last Sunday the following show was streamed:
Usually the show is topped off with a live song, either an original song from himself or the 20lb Sounds or a cover of some lovely tune.
If you want to hear how the 20lb Sounds, the band where Dan is on guitar and vocals together with Gary Hughes on bass and Tron Bonham on drums, sound they’ve just released a new studio recording, Rip it Up:
You can also check out some of their other songs on their website.
Using Flattr for support seems to be working fairly well for him:
- To be honest I was skeptical that it using it would work for me. In the beginning I wasn’t at all satisfied with my results at the end of the month, but since then I’ve watched it grow and I can now cover basic costs.
I earn about €15–20 per month. It might not sound like much, but as an independent artist it makes a difference. And it lets me know that my fans supports me and my projects.
- The system works pretty easily for supporting something when you find it. There’s never any hassle logging in. I don’t have a strategy myself for choosing things to support, if I like it and it has a button it will get clicked.
If you want to keep an eye on what Dan is up to you can follow him via identi.ca, Twitter and Google Plus.
First photo CC-By-Sa Marie Axelsson
Second photo Copyrighted by Rosie Bunny
