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Greetings

Nollaig shona duit! We are just four days until Christmas. I am very pleased to share this year's Celtic Christmas music special. I even decided to make it a wee bit longer so you can relax and enjoy the music of Eira, Jim Sharkey, Matt & Shannon Heaton, Jil Chambless, Ed Miller and Scooter Muse, Carolina Ceili, The Stapletons, Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy, The Gothard Sisters, Marc Gunn, Susan Toman, Caitríona O'Leary with Rhiannon Giddens, Cherish the Ladies, Jennifer Licko, Rose and Thistle Band, Mithril, Golden Bough, Highland Reign, Syr, Rathkeltair, Celkilt, The Irish Rovers.

Listen, find links and subscribe in the shownotes.

If you missed last week's news for Patrons of the Podcast. Please read on for details.

Due to the holidays, I'm skipping the New Celtic CDs for a couple weeks. It'll be back in 2018.

Merry Christmas and Slainte Mhaith!

Marc Gunn, The Celtfather
December 21, 2017

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CELTIC PODCAST NEWS

---> IMPORTANT PATREON NEWS <---

Patreon made a big change this week. It's causing a huge uproar. It also caused 10 people to leave our Patrons of the Podcast before the Dec 18 change takes effect. What happened?

In an effort to make Creator's income a little more steady, Patreon is passing all of the credit cards fees onto You, the patron. Now, I will earn a flat 95% of all of your donations. Patreon gets 5%. And you pay the your pledge PLUS 2.9% + $0.35 per transaction.

That doesn't sound too radical until you realize that these fees hit you with every pledge. Meaning, if you pledge $1 per episode, you will now be charged $1.38 per episode or $5.52 per month (since I release 4 episodes monthly). That's a $1.52 more per month.

If you pledge $5, you'll be charged $5.50 per episode, or $22 per month. That's $2 more per month

As you can see, it means patrons who pledge less, pay more in fees. It also means that my statement of "become a patron for as little as $1 per episode" no longer applies. I'll have to change that in 2018 since I just finished recording the rest of the shows for the year.

I'm now unsure what to do.

Patreon is a timesaver. You may remember Song Henge from the first 10 years of podcasts. That system was all handled manually, and man, it was it tough to manage. That's why I moved to Patreon in the first place.

Patreon is also a lifesaver for me. A HUGE part of my livelihood comes from your pledges. Your generosity pays my bills and feeds my family. You cover daycare, healthcare, groceries, and rent. You allow me to advertise and promote the podcast. You have helped grow our podcast audience a lot in 2017. Without your kindness, I would probably have to get a regular job and either cut back or stop producing this show.

I love the service Patreon offers. But as I said, I lost 10 patrons. I'm afraid that may be just the start too.

I say all of this because I need your support more than ever!

Here are three things that you can do right now to support the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast:

If you are already a patron and want to keep supporting me through Patreon, but you don't want to pay the extra transaction fees, then raise your per episode pledge and set a limit of one time per month.
If you don't like this change and have decided to drop your Patreon pledges, please consider making a monthly donation through Paypal. You can now setup a subscription on our sister site at BestCelticMusic.net.

You won't enjoy the early shows and all of the bonuses from Patreon, but you will be able to keep supporting the podcast.
If you are not yet a Patron of the Podcast, this new change means very little to you. So please become a Patron of the Podcast today and help me not only recoup some of these lost patrons, but also move forward with supporting independent Celtic music. Sign up at patreon.com/celticpodcast.

Oh! And as a bonus, I just sent all of our Patrons a free download of my album Scottish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion! You can downloat it for free when you sign up in December only!

Of course, if you're fine with the changes, I deeply appreciate your generosity. Again, I love what Patreon does even though I hate this change. I'm still hoping they will come to their senses. But I'm doubtful at present.

Thank you again for all your awesome support of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast!

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS

Do your friends love Celtic music? Invite them to join the Celtic Music Magazine today! They too will get 34 Celtic MP3s when they subscribe. And it's FREE! Send them to bestcelticmusic.net