A long-term vision for multiple listening models

As founder, I’ve long fantasized in the idea that Resonate could offer multiple listening models. You’d land on the site or app for the first time, with a simple offer:

Would you like…

  • to own music and download files?
  • pay monthly for access?

Obviously, owning music and downloading is what we have now with #stream2own. But what if we also offered a monthly subscription model to cater to folks who don’t want to ever download a file?

#stream2own was born out of a desire to simply explain why subscription streaming wasn’t fair – skewed payments where independent artists make less per stream than superstars and such an overall low per stream rate that it couldn’t even remotely compare with the earnings from CD sales and downloads.

While we’ve successfully attracted a lot of people to the service based on this premise, it doesn’t really help avoid the elephant in the room… that consumer behavior has fundamentally changed and we may be fighting an uphill battle to get people back to the concept of ownership.

A simple solution to this challenge may be Subscriber Share – the notion that your money gets automatically divided up exclusively to who you’re listening to, NOT to artists you don’t like, simply because your monthly fee goes into a big pocket to be divided up by everyone.

This article explains the topic in depth:

Looking forward to engaging the community on this topic in 2019!

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Peter,

On the face of it the Subscriber Share seems to have a best of both world model.

From a users perspective the Stream2own model has a major drawback. I think that a subscription service psychologically only demands one payment point (direct debits cause less strain as you are not repeatedly actively paying for goods). Whereas the top up method, although economically preferable requires users to draw for their debit card over and over again - many who will begin to think they are spending more than they want to (even if that is not the case).

Are there any services that utilise the Subscriber Share model?

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No, we’d be the first. Have read that Deezer explored it and that Spotify has claimed that “it would be too costly to switch” but my hunch is that they’re sticking with the Big Pool method because its in their major label contracts.

Unsurprising from Spotify.

This article seems to clarify the model in accessible terms https://envato.com/blog/subscriber-share-model-disrupting-subscription-economy/

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This has been a popular article today and, judging by the responses, there’s a lot of support for people co-owning companies/platforms and working together. :slightly_smiling_face: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/14/richer-sounds-staff-julian-richer

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Tweeted a teaser to see if anyone picks up on it… Have always dreamed of having gift cards in worker-owned stores (food coops, etc) so this would make a match made in heaven!

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“Too costly” hahaha I’m afraid I agree on why they may stuck to the model. I find it to be a really good idea actually.

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Is it problematic to resurrect old posts? I’m hoping it’s not.

On Subscriber Share: if at some point we offer monthly payments, I concur that this seems a very good option, and on brand with our values. Users could fully support artists they listen to, employing a model that is very simple to understand.

On frequent top ups: I think that this could currently be one of our main problems and a menace to our success. Pre-aproved payments are so convenient (even dangerously so!) while feeling at some level like one is getting stuff for free, vs paying often and explicitly, which feels like paying so much more. Does the following alternative make sense to anyone?

Pre-aproved maximum monthly payments. I give my card data once and state that I don’t want to use more than, say 5, or 10, or 20 credits per month. And then I automatically get a top-up up to this amount in my account the 1st day of the month. The maximum expense is under control, and I will pay according to my actual use, but I’m saving the trouble of needing to draw for my card (and of being reminded of the expense) again and again.

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Definitely not too late! The topic of streaming rates, automated top-ups, etc is still very relevant. In fact, I’m pretty sure I saw it on the list of topics for the reboot in May. So keep an eye out for an official discussion on the topic, as this one definitely needs as much community participation as possible! :slight_smile:

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