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Questions and answers

General

Aixeta (a-SHEH-ta, which means 'faucet' in Catalan) is a continuous crowdfunding platform which connects creators with their audience. The creators open a page in Aixeta to share the things that they create—stories, poems, songs, scripts, comic strips, drawings, columns, and more—and makes them available to the followers that have subscribed to their page. The subscriptions are very accessible—as low as one or two euros a month—but in their entirety from the whole set of subscribers can serve as a stable economic cushion that allows a creator to concentrate their energy on their artistic work—in the broadest sense of the word artistic—and thus increase it, to benefit themselves, their subscribers and society as a whole. In addition to donations, subscribers also can contribute comments, questions, and suggestions.

A creative person or group opens a page on Aixeta. They upload a photograph and a description of their work. They define three or four levels of subscriptions and specify a donation amount corresponding to each level. They periodically upload contents and specify the subscriber levels that will have access to them. They share information through social media. People who are interested in the creator and want to support their art can subscribe to their page by donating a small amount of money each month. The subscription gives them access to the contents of each corresponding level of subscription. The creator, thanks to the stable financing offered by all of their followers, can focus on creating things.

Aixeta was created with an initial private investment by its founder but the objective is for it to finance itself. To that end, the platform retains 5% of the subscriptions that each creator earns.

This income is used to keep the platform up to date, host the server and pay the people who work for the association. The rest of the income from subscriptions—minus bank commissions and taxes—goes directly to the creators.

As Aixeta gets underway, it needs resources to keep funding creative projects. For that reason, and to ensure its autofinancing, we encourage you to become a sponsor of Aixeta itself at any of the proposed levels of subscription. 

Aixeta is a non-profit association. That means that any earnings of the association will be used to promote new creators, finance research and specific projects, and award grants. Aixeta is a community-based project that returns its profits to the community.

For several reasons. First, because it's too hard to earn a living as an artist on this planet and in particular in this country. And secondly, there are many people who want to follow and support our favorite artists so that they can continue creating—we need their art to live. Before, in order to live as an artist, it was necessary to earn the favor of some intermediary gatekeeper—a publishing house, a recording label, a movie studio—but today, with Aixeta, you just need the support of your community. None of us has enough money on our own to support an artist, but if we collaborate together we do have the capacity to do so. And by supporting artists we make it possible for there to be more art, and that makes us stronger as a society. 

The founder of Aixeta is Liz Castro. As an author of books about computers, she used to explain how to use technological tools. As an activist, she has seen how the Catalan society has been able to come together to undertake huge projects in order to promote democracy. Aixeta, inspired by the American company, Patreon, is a natural progression of these earlier projects: taking advantage of technology in order to connect people so that they can create and support artistic creations and thus strengthen democracy. 

     Mireia Domènech, a specialist in international and cultural communication strategies, is the head of communications, and in charge of bringing Aixeta to all the different sectors of the creative community as well as introducing the platform to the public. Elena Fonts is a creative person, an activist, and a designer.

     Aixeta's head programmer is Carles Jove, an expert on Ruby on Rails and open source code, as well as a musician who not only can see the need for Aixeta but knows how to bring it to life.

     Joan Riba is the designer who has made Aixeta's interface not only attractive, but also intuitive and engaging. 

No. 

     It's true that Verkami or Kickstarter, like Aixeta, are crowdfunding platforms where lots of people make moderate donations to help someone finance a new project that they wouldn't otherwise be able to finance. But Verkami and Kickstarter are crowdfunding platforms for projects that last a certain number of days and have a specific objective. If the creator doesn't receive the necessary level of donations, they don't earn anything. And once the campaign is over, the relationship between the creator and their supporters is finished. 

     Aixeta, in contrast, has no deadline, because it aims to help support the creator's entire production, not a specific project. Neither does it have a specific financial objective: the creator might have many or few supporters, depending on their work and on the campaign that they carry out. And the relationship is constant and longterm: the creator is committed to producing their work, and their supporters will continue to enjoy them as long as they continue to donate. Supporters can also offer comments and suggestions and other kinds of feedback. 

     Traditional crowdfunding sites like Verkami and continuous crowdfunding Aixeta are complementary. A creative person can use Aixeta to help create a stable, longterm relationship with a group of supporters, and at the same time use Verkami for specific projects that have special financing needs.

     The other important difference is that Aixeta is a non-profit association whose only objective is to promote the creation of culture, in the broadest sense.
 
 

Aixeta lives on the internet but will start to work in Catalonia. We think there are many, many people in this country who don't create because they don't have the time or the resources to do so. Aixeta will allow them to create, and they won't have to go to Barcelona to do so. The website will be available in Catalan, Spanish and English, to start, and contents can be in any language—or none!

Are you a journalist and you have any question to ask about Aixeta, do want an interview or are you preparing a report? We will be happy to answer and to assist you: [email protected].


Creators

1. As a creator, keep in mind that the subscription levels include VAT. In addition, both Stripe (our payments manager) and Aixeta itself charges a commission, which we’ll explain throughout this document. That’s why we recommend you set the minimum subscription level to 2€, in order to be worth it to you. 

2. When a patron subscribes to your page, the amount of the subscription is immediately charged to their credit card. Two commissions are deducted—one for Stripe and one for Aixeta—and the remaining amount is saved in a private subaccount that we create for you on Stripe. At the end of the month, we take all of the monies that have accumulated in your subaccount, create a written report (a payout), a bill from Aixeta for the commissions, and a bank transfer to your account. Stripe collects an additional commission at this time.
 
3. Aixeta collects a single commission of 5% on all subscriptions and donations.

4. Stripe collects a commission for each individual subscription or donation. There are two possible formulas, in each one there is a fixed amount and a percentage of the total amount charged.
 
If the subscription is very small (equal or less than 5€), Stripe collects 5% of the subscription amount plus a fixed amount of 0,05€. For example if the subscription was 3€, Stripe would charge you a commission of 0,20€ (which corresponds to the fixed amount of 0,05€ plus 5% of 3€ or 0,05).  
 
For larger amounts (more than 5€), made with a European credit card, Stripe charges 1,4% plus a fixed amount of 0,25€. For example, on a subscription of 10€, the commission would be 0,14€ (which is 1,4% of 10€) plus 0,25€ for a total of 0,39€. (If the patron uses a non-European credit card, the commission is 2,9% + 0,25€ and thus on a subscription of 10€, the commission would be 0,29€ + 0,25€ for a total of 0,54€.)
 
In summary:
if the subscription is equal or less than 5€ -> 5% + 0,05€
if it’s more than 5€ -> 1,4% + 0,25€ (o 2,9% + 0,25€ if it’s a foreign credit card)
 
Aixeta negotiated this difference with Stripe to reduce the cost of your commissions: there is a very small fixed amount for small subscriptions, and there’s a small percentage for larger subscriptions.
 
Stripe also charges a commission when transferring you money as explained in point 6 below.
 
5. On the first of each month, we renew and charge all subscriptions automatically.
 
6. On the 10th of each month, if you have at least 25€ accumulated, Aixeta orders a transfer of your monies to your bank account. This payout includes all of the money that has been collected over the course of the month, that is the new subscriptions and individual donations as well as any renewals made on the previous 1st of the month. 
 
Stripe subtracts 2,10€ + 0,25% of the transfer amount as a commission for carrying out the transfer.
 
For example, if throughout the month you accumulated 1000€ in your Stripe subaccount, Stripe would charge 4,6€ (1000* 0,25% = 2,5€ + 2,1€) and then transfer the remaining 995,4€ to your bank account.
 
The transfer sometimes takes a few days to wend its way into your bank account. It should arrive between the 12th and 14th of the month.
 
7. Aixeta creates an invoice for the previous period for both our own commissions as well as Stripe’s along with 21% VAT. You can see and download your invoices on the Invoices page.
 
8. You can generate a spread sheet of the amounts charged to patrons in order to bill them or pay your VAT on the Charges page. 
 
9. The Next payout page displays all the subscriptions and donations since the previous payout so you can have an idea of how much the next payout will be. You have to add in the renewals of existing subscriptions.
 
10. You can view and download payouts and invoices in the corresponding sections of the Income page.
 



Your page won't be public until you activate it, by clicking the Activate your page button on the Configure your page page (which you get to by choosing Settings in the menu).

Once it's activated, it will be listed on the Explore page and will come up in search results. 

If you need to hide your page a while, without losing the publications you've posted, you can always deactivate it.
You must declare the monies that you receive via Aixeta on your personal or business income tax return as a result of economic activity for the goods and services you offer your subscribers.

The subscription amounts are VAT inclusive and therefore you must deposit the VAT that you have received to the proper authorities. You can deduct the VAT of the expenses related to having a page on Aixeta (see FAQ: How much does it cost to have a page on Aixeta?)

At the end of the year, Aixeta will send you a certificate of the gross amounts received that you must include on your tax returns. 
 
Aixeta can orient you about your fiscal obligations, but you should always consult your own lawyer or accountant.

No. They can also be political projects, volunteering ideas, or tangible things like artesanal cheese or historical visits. The only limit is your imagination.

Minors can have a page on Aixeta as long as they have permission from their parents or legal guardian. Aixeta will provide a document with which they can certify this requirement.

The income that you receive via Aixeta is considered income from your economic activity. If your annual income does not go over the minimum salary for that year (12.600€ in 2019), you can have a page without it affecting your pension.

Remember however that Aixeta offers neither legal nor accounting services and we recommend you consult your own experts.

No way. The creator always holds the copyright on their work. They only have to give permission to Aixeta to publish it and to subscribers to enjoy it. 

Subscribers/Patrons

In general, you subscribe to a specific creator (or more than one!). Go to their page and subscribe at the desired level in order to make a microdonation to their work.

You can also subscribe directly to Aixeta itself to help us fund this community platform. We need your support too!

It's up to you. Each creator defines their own subscription levels, which you can find on the Subscription levels panel on each creator's page. There are subscription levels as low as one euro, and there are others that are much higher. You can subscribe to as many creators as you like—or just to one. 
Your credit card will be charged on that day you subscribe and from then on, on the first of each month until you decide to unsubscribe. 

You can change the subscription level at any time. You can decide to make a larger donation this month and then go back to an earlier amount for next month. Or you can decide to support different creators. As a patron, you decide who you help and to what degree. 

When you subscribe to a new level, the old one is cancelled automatically.

If you want to cancel a subscription, you can go to the menu (clicking the round icon) and choose Supporting, and then choose the creator whose subscription you want to cancel and click "Cancel subscription". You won't be charged again.