Fanhouse, a popular creator monetization platform, made headlines on July 13 with the announcement of its acquisition by Passes, a similar startup that had recently launched in beta in December.
The news came as a surprise to many, raising questions and concerns about the future of Fanhouse and its community of creators.
Is Fanhouse shutting down?
Fanhouse officially confirmed the acquisition through a tweet, notifying its users that they are shutting down.
According to the announcement, in a few weeks, all creators will be offered a seamless transition to their personalized Passes page.
It was also mentioned that Fanhouse would continue running during the transition period and for a certain duration after.
Coinciding with the acquisition news, the resignation of the Fanhouse founder added fuel to speculation about the circumstances surrounding the takeover.
Users started pondering whether the founder’s departure was related to the acquisition.
I made the difficult decision to resign from Fanhouse earlier today. I started the company to help creators, like myself, who needed to provide for themselves & their families. I care deeply about creators and want to help creators in a way that will better align with my values.
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What this means for creators?
Fanhouse assured creators that they would continue to receive their payouts as usual during the transition process.
To facilitate a smooth transition, creators and subscribers will be able to use their existing Fanhouse login credentials to access Passes.
Creators will have the opportunity to claim their accounts on Passes and find all their Fanhouse content preloaded on the new platform.
Also, Passes operates on a 90/10 revenue split, with creators receiving 90% of their earnings, and the platform retaining 10% along with an additional 30 cents per transaction.
This raised concerns among creators that their earning will be hit after the merger. But don’t worry, Fanhouse clarified on the matter:
We agreed with Passes on a special 95-5+0.30c deal for Fanhouse creators, which we hope will ease the transition!
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Creators that migrate to Passes get a 95/5 revenue split, with creators retaining 95% of their earnings, while Passes retains 5%, along with the same 30 cents per transaction fee.
This will come as a relief to several creators.
Users reaction to this
Passes aims to create profiles for all Fanhouse users and creators within four weeks.
However, there has been considerable discontent among users regarding the requirement to fill out a form even if they choose to deactivate their Fanhouse account (1,2).
Some users argue that deactivating an account should automatically opt them out of the profile creation process, and they find the form-filling obligation unnecessary.
The announcement of the shutdown has resulted in a loss of trust in Passes among a portion of the Fanhouse creator community.
As a consequence, several creators have started exploring alternative platforms that align more closely with their expectations and requirements.
this is so weird??? i deactivated my account, that should be basis enough for you to understand i do not want my email address or old password associated with passes. i shouldn’t have to fill out a form to prevent you from using info you already shouldn’t be using.
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I am quite interested to know how this is going to interact with GDPR/UKDPR, seeing as FH has sensitive data on all of it’s creators, plus photos are biometric data, and automatically transferring it to a new service without explicit consent breaks privacy laws in the EU & UK
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The backlash from Fanhouse users highlights the importance of effective communication and transparency during such transitions.
User feedback should be taken into consideration, and platforms should strive to address concerns promptly.
It remains to be seen how Passes will respond to these criticisms and whether they will make any changes to regain the trust of disgruntled Fanhouse creators.
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