M.I.A. has launched her very own Patreon account. Patreon is a membership-based platform that allows fans to support artists and entrepreneurs at different price points. In return, they gain access to exclusive content. Check out M.I.A’s page here. It currently features behind-the-scenes studio footage—including one video with Skrillex—and the promise of future livestreams, Q&As, and potential new music.
“I’m doing a Patreon, because I make so much stuff and record so many things that aren’t music and don’t fit on other platforms,” M.I.A. said in a press release. “I’ve tried all the other platforms and it’s like: this one is too mean and hateful, this one is too fake and self-obsessed, and this one just sells all your data to Cambridge Analytica…Hopefully, this one is going to be just right.”
Patreon’s Kerri Pollard added: “We’re proud to provide M.I.A. a platform to engage freely and independently with the community she’s been building for decades. When artists invite their fans to become active participants in their creative process, they’re able to create more meaningful connections and place creativity over everything. For an artist like M.I.A to be able to leverage technology to foster unique experiences with her community, that’s what Patreon is all about.”
Among the top-tier benefits, M.I.A. promises “random surprise content,” saying: “It might be a song, a recipe, a manifesto, maybe I could help you with your homework, you guys could be my manager for a day, tell me what to do with my career, therapy sessions, dating advice, we'll see what happens.”
M.I.A. initially teased the news in an Instagram post, which features a snippet of seemingly new music. According to the press release, her Patreon account will give members access to unreleased footage from her 2018 documentary MATANGI/MAYA/M.I.A, exclusive artwork, short films, clips, and video diaries, monthly livestreams and Q&A sessions, and more.
M.I.A.’s last studio album was 2016’s AIM. In 2018, she floated the idea of retirement. “It’s time for new people to come through, but that’s very difficult,” she said. “Because actually I think it’s harder now than it was for me 15 years ago, which is crazy. It’s really nuts.”
Earlier this year, M.I.A. was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). She received the honor from Prince William at Buckingham Palace.
Read “The Survivor: A Conversation With M.I.A.”