Kickstarter made a name for itself as one of the first and most successful crowdfunding platforms, but since it launched in 2009, Kickstarter has had one major limitation: It only works for onetime projects. That changed today with the launch of Drip, a new crowdfunding platform that uses a subscription model similar to the one used by Patreon.

Drip itself is actually not an entirely new service. It began in 2012 as an independent crowdfunding platform for musicians, who could be backed by fans through subscriptions. Kickstarter bought Drip in May 2016, and the platform continued operating relatively unchanged since then. Now, Kickstarter has relaunched Drip as a subscription crowdfunding platform for anyone.

“Just as artists, authors, game designers, musicians, and filmmakers use Kickstarter to fund and build community around their projects, Drip is a tool for people to fund and build community around their ongoing creative practice,” Kickstarter founder Perry Chen said in a blog post.

According to Chen, Drip is designed to meet the needs of content creators who can’t quite find the features they want in services like Patreon. One feature that sets Drip apart is its founding membership period, which allows creators to build early momentum with a sort of mini-Kickstarter campaign that gives special benefits to early subscribers.

Unlike a normal Kickstarter campaign, according to Chen, Drip’s founder period is not all-or-nothing, so users can back their favorite artists without having to worry about the campaign not reaching its goal. Drip lets content creators decide how exactly they want to reward their founding backers.

Like other crowdfunding platforms, Drip takes a cut from every subscription, but Drip also makes it easy for creators to export their data and content if they want to leave the platform. Chen said that Kickstarter will even help creators to set up a transfer from Drip to a rival subscription service. “We believe creator independence means not being locked into a platform by design,” said Chen.

While Kickstarter made the big relaunch announcement for Drip today, the platform is currently invite-only for new creators. So far the platform includes a number of artists, writers, game developers and others. Chen said Kickstarter will open up Drip to more creators at the beginning of 2018.

Photo: Kickstarter