Patreon CEO Jack Conte just delivered a scathing critique of today's "TikTokified" internet during a live interview with Wired. The musician-turned-tech exec revealed his plan to pull creators away from addiction-fueled algorithms and back toward building genuine fan relationships that actually pay the bills.
Patreon CEO Jack Conte isn't holding back anymore. The musician who built the creator economy's most successful subscription platform just crossed $10 billion in total creator payouts, and he's using that milestone to launch a full-scale attack on what he calls the internet's "TikTokification."
"The internet has been TikTokified," Conte told Wired during a live interview in San Francisco. "It moved from being a follow-based subscription system where you would choose who you want to interact with into an algorithmically curated format where you don't decide what you see - the platform decides what you'll see."
The numbers back up his frustration. While TikTok and Instagram optimize for engagement metrics that keep users scrolling, Patreon's creators are building sustainable businesses through direct fan support. The platform now pays out over $2 billion annually to artists, podcasters, and content creators who've ditched the ad-revenue hamster wheel for monthly subscriptions.
Conte's critique cuts deeper than platform mechanics. "You see 500 creators in one day, and instead of forming deep relationships with those creators, you just skim the surface," he explained. This surface-level engagement model, he argues, creates "perverse incentives" that push creators toward clickbait content rather than meaningful work.
The Patreon founder speaks from experience. Back in 2013, when he co-founded the company with college roommate Sam Yam, Conte was struggling to monetize his band Pomplamoose on YouTube. "You upload a video, get a million views on that video, there'd be 10,000 comments. Then I'd get my ad revenue check for $180 at the end of the month," he recalled. "This is fucking crazy."
That frustration sparked what's become the creator economy's most successful alternative to advertising-based monetization. But Conte isn't satisfied with just providing an escape route from broken ad models. He wants to fundamentally change how the internet works.