Ethics-Based Streaming
A new music streaming platform called Vocana founded by Jim Knight and Dale Choba with the help of industry leader Neil Sheehan has entered the market, with plans to rival streaming giants like Spotify and Apple Music. Their proposal? Resolving what they dub the “streaming penny fraction.”
“In simplest terms, Vocana’s model means that when a subscriber pays $8 for Vocana and listens to just four artists, those artists each get $2, instead of sharing a fraction of a penny with Drake and Bieber and millions of others paid out from one big pot of money,” Vocana stated in a press release. The company also pledged that the money from a user’s $8 subscription fee would go only to the artists they listened to, not to any artists that they didn’t, in a move to prevent fraud.
Unique Discovery and Social Features
Besides a payout model with a focus on ethics and promotion of small indie artists, Vocana also introduces several features unique to the platform, including an algorithm centered on playlists pushed to users curated by DJs, influencers, and other users, chatrooms where users can interact with fans of specific artists or genres, and the ability to share their emails with their favorite artists.
Unearthing New Sounds
“Right now, only about four million tracks out of more than 200 million are served up algorithmically to listeners on services like Spotify,” said Sheehan. “We want to surface music that isn’t from that thin layer of top tracks.” With the indie music industry projected to reach a value of $71 billion in five years according to Sheehan, a platform dedicated to discovery of new talent is a logical next step for the industry.
Where to Learn More
More information about Vocana and the platform’s open beta are available at vocana.co.
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