Every member of Karmafan has one of these, artists and fans alike. You can check your Karmafan history from here, see your balance and which artists you have supported, or discover new artists.
When you choose to seek patronage - become a Karmafan artist so your fans can show their support - you will need to give us a few more details.
Fill in the URL of your homepage, MySpace page - or any website you use to promote or distribute your work. We also need either an email address at which you can receive PayPal payments, or a mailing address where we can send payments.
Artist accounts look slightly different. You can add websites from here - you'll need to add sites if you want to use the Karmafan widget. The top right shows your current rank and how much patronage you have received from your fans.
You can also add tags to help distinguish yourself from other artists - sort of like genres but more flexible - and list your works. When fans start supporting you, their names will show up here as well.
Each site you register with Karmafan must be verified before you can receive any patronage from fans. You will need to either place a short code in the HTML of your page or upload a picture if you use MySpace. WordPress plugin users don't need to verify their blog - the plugin does this automatically.
When you click "show codes" it will display the details you need, along with instructions on what to do. The code for the widget will also be shown.
List any works you would like listed on your Karmafan profile page, along with a short description. You should then add any tags which would help to describe your work. These tags are used to compare you with other artists and will affect your rank. They can be as general or specific as you like.
You can also change your payment options here.
The details you add will be shown to fans on your public profile page. Fans can support you from here, invite their friend to support you, or just get quick access to your sites and list of works.
Your rank and tags are shown here, too.
So you've signed up and an artist you like is not using Karmafan. All is not lost! You can email the artist to come and start gathering support from fans like you.
You can email your friends to let them know about an artist you think is worth checking out. If you click Preview you can send them a message or add more than one address.
Before you can start supporting artists you like, you need to top up your account. When you click on the PayPal button you can choose to top up by as much as $50 (we will soon be adding more currencies and payment options, but it's just PayPal for now).
When you return to your Karmafan account page the amount you transferred will be shown in your Current Balance. You can use as much or as little of this as you like to support an artist. Even as little as one cent for a blog post or on a whim!
The quickest way to support an artist who is already on Karmafan is to go to their profile page, enter and amount where it says "Support the artist" and click "Support". The amount will immediately be transferred into their account and your name will appear in their list of fans.
You can even send a short message to the artist.
Your name will be displayed in the list of recent fans, along with the amount you gave and any message you send. Don't worry - you can remain anonymous if you prefer!
Artists can also choose to embed a Karmafan widget on any site they use to promote or distibute their work. The widget allows fans to perform the same actions as they can on Karmafan.com, but without leaving the artist's site.
This means that you can read a blog post or listen to the artist's music and give them support at the same time.
