Hey guys,
As you can tell from the title, I want to explain my recent departure from the Freedom Network. To give you a history of this channel’s networking history, I was a YouTube partner up until December 2014, when I then decided to make consistent content in hopes of garnering a bit more of a following. I heard about Freedom through some recommended videos, and their pitch was pretty good. They promised things like creative control, music libraries, a vibrant community, and a no-lock-in contract. Back then, being able to leave whenever you wanted was quite appealing since many hearing horror stories about channels being locked into terrible contracts with bigger networks. Freedom also had no requirements so anyone, literally ANYONE could join provided they had good community standing and no copyright strikes.
I spent the first few months with Freedom itself, and then transferred to BlackoutMedia, a subnetwork of theirs for the promise of faster and more personal support. I grew to know the owner of Blackout quite well, and I was pretty content to be partnered with them, even if the split was 60/40. My channel started to grow faster in the summer of 2015 when I decided to focus on Dota 2, and soon I requested a revenue share increase to 70/30, which I got no problem. A month later in September, I requested another increase, and was told by support that was no problem, and could even get 90/10 since my channel was getting more than 10,000 views a day putting me in the highest revenue share bracket. FYI, Subnetworks still have to go through Freedom support to get revenue increases approved.
But here is where things became fuzzy. BlackoutMedia, for whatever reason, was dissolved and absorbed by another subnetwork called Ziovo at the end of October. Being a little worried that my revenue increase request had been lost somewhere in support cyberspace, I immediately contact Ziovo support and asked them to check on the status of that request. They said they would, and I took them at their word. This was a BIG mistake on my part.
I didn’t check on my revenue share status until November, when to my dismay I discovered it was still at 70/30. I then initiated what became a series of e-mails back and forth between Ziovo support and myself, trying to get progress made on this issue. In short, their communication was very lackluster.
They eventually told me I would get 80% with no explanation otherwise, and when I asked if I’d get 90%, they just "yes it will be set to it".
One month later, it still was not increased to 90%.
And here I am, I’ve left freedom to join Curse Union for Gamers, who give all partners 90% as long as they are eligible to join. It’s nice to be part of a network that has minimum standards. They still have access to the same music library I’ve always used, Epidemic sound, and I’ve got high hopes for meeting some other like-minded partners who are growing as I am.
There were several other reasons I felt Freedom wasn’t for me anymore, but I don’t think going into details is necessary since you can just do a quick google search and find a myriad of other partners and former partners relating the same points. It’s funny too, Freedom support (not Ziovo) actually reached out in an e-mail the day before I was to be unlinked, asking if there was anything they could do to keep me on board, including increasing my revenue share to 90%. I e-mailed him back of course, just explaining my reasons for leaving. They took it pretty and came back with a 95/5 offer. As tempting as an extra 5% was, I declined. Trusting Freedom to keep their word in a timely manner was something I just couldn’t do anymore. They unlinked me with no issues after the 30 days were up.
I do appreciate Freedom for helping me start this journey, and the community was a big part of why I didn’t give up after the first few months. I made friends there I’ll stay in touch with, and I’ll likely check in on their Forums from time to time, as spammy as they sometimes may be.
It’s time to start a new chapter, and I’m eager to see where this goes.
Peace.
TLDR: I left Freedom because of un-kept promises and poor support.
As you can tell from the title, I want to explain my recent departure from the Freedom Network. To give you a history of this channel’s networking history, I was a YouTube partner up until December 2014, when I then decided to make consistent content in hopes of garnering a bit more of a following. I heard about Freedom through some recommended videos, and their pitch was pretty good. They promised things like creative control, music libraries, a vibrant community, and a no-lock-in contract. Back then, being able to leave whenever you wanted was quite appealing since many hearing horror stories about channels being locked into terrible contracts with bigger networks. Freedom also had no requirements so anyone, literally ANYONE could join provided they had good community standing and no copyright strikes.
I spent the first few months with Freedom itself, and then transferred to BlackoutMedia, a subnetwork of theirs for the promise of faster and more personal support. I grew to know the owner of Blackout quite well, and I was pretty content to be partnered with them, even if the split was 60/40. My channel started to grow faster in the summer of 2015 when I decided to focus on Dota 2, and soon I requested a revenue share increase to 70/30, which I got no problem. A month later in September, I requested another increase, and was told by support that was no problem, and could even get 90/10 since my channel was getting more than 10,000 views a day putting me in the highest revenue share bracket. FYI, Subnetworks still have to go through Freedom support to get revenue increases approved.
But here is where things became fuzzy. BlackoutMedia, for whatever reason, was dissolved and absorbed by another subnetwork called Ziovo at the end of October. Being a little worried that my revenue increase request had been lost somewhere in support cyberspace, I immediately contact Ziovo support and asked them to check on the status of that request. They said they would, and I took them at their word. This was a BIG mistake on my part.
I didn’t check on my revenue share status until November, when to my dismay I discovered it was still at 70/30. I then initiated what became a series of e-mails back and forth between Ziovo support and myself, trying to get progress made on this issue. In short, their communication was very lackluster.
They eventually told me I would get 80% with no explanation otherwise, and when I asked if I’d get 90%, they just "yes it will be set to it".
One month later, it still was not increased to 90%.
And here I am, I’ve left freedom to join Curse Union for Gamers, who give all partners 90% as long as they are eligible to join. It’s nice to be part of a network that has minimum standards. They still have access to the same music library I’ve always used, Epidemic sound, and I’ve got high hopes for meeting some other like-minded partners who are growing as I am.
There were several other reasons I felt Freedom wasn’t for me anymore, but I don’t think going into details is necessary since you can just do a quick google search and find a myriad of other partners and former partners relating the same points. It’s funny too, Freedom support (not Ziovo) actually reached out in an e-mail the day before I was to be unlinked, asking if there was anything they could do to keep me on board, including increasing my revenue share to 90%. I e-mailed him back of course, just explaining my reasons for leaving. They took it pretty and came back with a 95/5 offer. As tempting as an extra 5% was, I declined. Trusting Freedom to keep their word in a timely manner was something I just couldn’t do anymore. They unlinked me with no issues after the 30 days were up.
I do appreciate Freedom for helping me start this journey, and the community was a big part of why I didn’t give up after the first few months. I made friends there I’ll stay in touch with, and I’ll likely check in on their Forums from time to time, as spammy as they sometimes may be.
It’s time to start a new chapter, and I’m eager to see where this goes.
Peace.
TLDR: I left Freedom because of un-kept promises and poor support.
