Addressing the Recent Changes to TSR's Artist Program
Hi everyone,
I’m writing today to address the recent changes to TSR's Artist Program and the concerns that have been raised by members of our community. We understand that these changes have caused a lot of frustration, confusion, and disappointment. We want to provide full transparency about why these decisions were made, how they affect our current and future artists, and what this means for the TSR community moving forward.
Firstly, I want to apologise for the way the restructuring of the Artist Program was handled. I acknowledge that the communication our artists initially received could have been better. It was always our intention to follow up with support, feedback, and advice, which we are doing now. The communications for a loss of badge at TSR is structured, and I understand how this has created confusion and hurt. Please know that we are committed to maintaining an open line of communication with these former artists, we have been following up with all artists affected, and we will continue to support them in any way we can.
Why These Changes Were Necessary
TSR’s Artist Program, which has been home to nearly 200 talented paid artists, had not undergone a thorough evaluation in years. This lack of oversight led to a situation where the program became financially unstable and exposed to significant risk. Without proper management and planning in previous years, the program was not sustainable. If we hadn’t addressed these risks, it would have jeopardised the long-term viability of the program, threatening our ability to fairly compensate artists and sustain the community that depends on their creativity.
It’s also important to highlight that these financial constraints had prevented us from inviting new artists, promoting Select Artists or increasing pay for current artists, leaving over 100 talented creators waiting for up to 3 years for an opportunity to advance. 120 Artists have now finally been promoted, rewarded and acknowledged for their outstanding contribution to TSR, but unfortunately their achievements have been overshadowed by information spreading online.
Why This Was Done
The changes we implemented were not easy, nor were they taken lightly. The difficult decision to let some artists go was made to ensure that the program could continue to operate sustainably and support the 120+ artists who remain with us. Many of these artists rely on TSR for their livelihood, with some coming from countries where the additional support they receive from TSR is vital.
As part of our thorough evaluation process, we assessed the performance of each artist by analysing the value they brought to the platform relative to the investment made in their work. This included reviewing metrics such as engagement with their content per dollar spent. We deeply appreciate the work of our artists, but the financial outcomes unfortunately did not align with the investments that were being made, and we had to make difficult decisions based on these findings to ensure the overall sustainability of the program. In doing so, we were able to fairly compensate all remaining Artists.
Addressing Misinformation
We want to address the misinformation that has been spreading online. Some are claiming that more artists were let go than actually were. In reality, a number of the artists included in these rumors were not let go—they left on their own terms a few months ago. Furthermore, several of the artists who were let go had been inactive for longer than the agreed period and were fully aware of the terms they had agreed to. Some of the named Artists are actually still with us, and have been caught up in this for no reason at all other than by assumptions or a lack of research. It’s important to clarify that this is not a traditional job where someone is “fired.” TSR is a user-generated content platform that compensates artists generously based on their performance on our site.
Spreading incorrect information hurts the 120+ artists who are still part of our community. These creators have continued to pour their time, talent, and passion into their work, and they deserve your support too.
The communications with the former artists ensured they would still be paid for all remaining works they have done with us. It also included that if circumstances ever change, they would always be welcome back as an artist. We do not forget the hard work that has been done, and we do care.
Looking to the Future
Our evaluation process was thorough and took into account numerous factors, including each artist's contribution, consistency, quality of work, and the community's engagement with their creations. We are committed to maintaining a program that is fair, transparent, and supportive of our artists.
Moving forward, we will continue to refine the program to ensure it remains financially viable while fostering the incredible creativity of our artists, to prevent situations like this from happening again. We are also dedicated to providing a community where artists can thrive, receive the recognition they deserve, and be part of a vibrant, supportive environment.
Conclusion
This has been a challenging period for everyone involved, but we believe these changes were necessary to secure the future of TSR’s Artist Program. We remain committed to our artists, our community, and the values that TSR stands for. We hope you will continue to support our artists as we work to build a sustainable and thriving platform for creators.
Thank you for your understanding, your support, and your dedication to the TSR community.
Sincerely, Queenie, Creative Ops Manager, The Sims Resource
Some things to note here:
Many of the cc creators TSR kicked out of their program have said this came abruptly without warning. Thus Simmers and creators are pissed off. This isn't misinformation, they're accusing TSR of being assholes to long-time creators.
At the start in their response they say TSR had 200 partnered creators, and later saying they have 120+ current partnered creators - meaning a large chunk of cc creators were cut off in this decision from TSR both abruptly and not giving time for these creators to make the adjustment or improvements.
TSR had a decline in traffic expectations, instead of innovating on how to make the site stand out among competitors and get that traffic back up, they made some 'budget cuts'.
I find the statement: creators "left on their own terms" dubious at best. TSR could easily have stopped paying the expected amount/change the terms to stay partnered/or other requirements - making the creators choose to "leave" by not complying or look to other platforms before TSR cut them off. I'd rather hear it from the creators that were let go, not the company. If they left on good terms, then they shouldn't have a problem substantiating this claim.
Instead of acknowledging the unhappy creators that were 'performance reviewed' and the angry sims community, TSR instead is stating there's misinformation and it'll hurt their current partnered creators and TSR as a site. Misinformation is a real issue. Though the real damage to TSR is losing all the talented creators that brings traffic to your site in the first place.
As an artist that was "evaluated" I would like to say a few things.
TSR used to care for artists and quality. Things changed after TSR fired out beloved manager. She was a shield between the corpo assholes and us. After that day we were told changes would come and we would basically have to follow and make what they tell us to make if we want to make extra money. We were already paid miserably already, considering how much profit we were making for them. The air shifted, the old artist server was purged and deleted so new people would not see how good we had it, how much fun we had creating and how enjoyable it was.
Next few months were a nightmare, one by one our "rights" were taken.
Wanna be on front page? - Make what we tell you to make.
Wanna earn more and have early access? - Make what we tell you to make.
The site went though so many errors, submission page is still slow as hell. We were promised so many features, promised to have power to choose our own early access, to have a sub button so people could sub to a creator only instead of a whole site. We were promised damned "reply" to comments so we wouldn't have to answer in someone's guestbook. Might be getting petty here now, but yeah, we were promised all the good things and what we got was the upper echelon change.
Queenie the MANAGER is a girl fresh out of college that has no clue what 3D even is. She has exactly 0 days of creating and her whole experience for this job is that she played Sims for a long long time. The bar has dropped really low with this one guys.
I believe that I was not only kicked for my involvement with ModCo, but for my questioning of this Queenie person that wouldn't even give us her name. "Are we just hiring people off the streets now that have no prior knowledge and never have opened a 3D program?" was my question. I was told Queenie was one of us and that she had been creator for many years. Not according to her linkedin.
I find the statement above funny as hell. I am one of those artists that rely heavily on TSR, considering i lived off of it. If they really cared for artists relying on TSR they would have had the decency to send a message before kicking us like dogs.
BTW these are my stats in 4 years of creating. I was still not worthy of TSR money!
