I feel some level of anxiety while listening to music from an artist I don’t know and when the musical work I selected for listening in a music discovery section finishes, or is about to finish. The reason for that in my case is because I don’t want to spend credits in musical works that don’t satisfy me, and therefore I am always trying to be aware of the playback state in order to stop the player when the musical work I selected finishes or if I don’t like the musical work I decided to listen. Then, if I want to listen to something else I listen to the first seconds of suggested tracks in the different music discovery sections of the player until I listen to something that might be appealing to me and start the same listening process again.
In my opinion, this type of music consumption could be consequence of the Resonate pricing model and also of the limited music discovery features or tools at our disposal in the platform right now, but I believe it is also a consequence of the way in which music is consumed in the streaming era. Because I also experience some sort of anxiety when I’m listening to music in subscription based services, and even in freemium music services, but in these cases it is not for economical reasons. Sometimes, while I’m listening to a song I really like, I feel the temptation (or maybe it could be called anxiety) of start playing another song, I think just because I can do it, because there is so much music at my disposal, and because there are no economical consequences for making that decision.
Streaming technology and streaming platforms are still very new and there are many things that can and need to be improved in the media streaming industry. Having said that, I believe that the current streaming model of Resonate can improve music streaming greatly, although I think it is not perfect, and like @Hakanto said, this should be an ongoing discussion among community members to control if at some point Resonate’s streaming model needs to be improved. If streaming technology is still new, I think Resonate’s music consumption proposal could be considered groundbreaking, and therefore, from my point of view, needs time to test if it can help artists and labels to get paid fairly when their music gets played through streaming technology, and most importantly, if listeners accept and adopt this new way of music consumption, because it is with their support that artists and labels will get paid fairly.
I think @austin 's pricing model proposal is very interesting and easier to understand than the current one, although I think there are some things that could be discussed like,
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How would music plays be valued?
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If the value of the music listened by a user during the subscription period is less than the price of the subscription, how would the remaining amount of money be distributed?
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If the value of the music listened by a user is higher than the price of the subscription, how much would the artists and labels whose tracks where listened by the user receive?
I like the fact that under the current pricing model I don’t have to be concerned about time based subscription renewals, that every play has a fixed value and that if I like a track or artist, every repeated listen will increase exponentially the value of that listen for the artist.
And finally, I think that giving listeners the option to switch autoplay on or off while listening to music in music discovery sections like staff picks, artists, top favorites, etc, would be nice.
