7 ms·

Tip any song or musician with Bitcoin

69 points by jwomers 12y ago

LukeB_UK 12y ago
If you don't take any fee from the tip, how does your product intend to make money? Just curious.
- jwomers 12y ago
  Good question. For now we're just trying to make a product that both fans and artists are excited about and will use - a product we'd want to use. And since our initial product is tipping, we're committed to never taking a fee on these transactions. In the future, we may build-out a premium artist account, allowing them to get analytics around what is being Cheered, and built a platform for them to engage with and grow their fanbase. Additionally, while tipping will always be free, we could turn on product commerce where we may take a small fee.
  - LukeB_UK 12y ago
    Thanks for the insight! Always cool to see others product ideas and their approaches. Hope it works out for you!
jwomers 12y ago
Hi everyone, Cheers Cofounder here. We're trying to make the world a smaller place, connecting fans with those that make what they love, and enabling content creators. We'd love to hear feedback on our platform. Cheers!
- GrinningFool 12y ago
  Any plans/interest in supporting dogecoin tips (sent as dogecoin to the artists). There community around dogecoin is, generally speaking, more amenable to tipping.
  - jwomers 12y ago
    Yes! We're planning to integrate as many payment options as possible so this is definitely in the works.
    - GrinningFool 12y ago
      Excellent, thanks!
  - maximian 12y ago
    > There community around dogecoin is, generally speaking, more amenable to tipping I disagree with this - Bitcoiners have been quite generous with tipping in the past, and it's been picking up again thanks to the ability to tip millionths of a bitcoin (informally called "bits") using ChangeTip.
VaucGiaps 12y ago
Awesome idea. Hope this will work! I suggest you buy a ssl certificate. This will build trust.
- jwomers 12y ago
  Very good point, thanks. This was just the landing page, but you're 100% right. Adds to TODO list.
  - tormeh 12y ago
    Not that good. Will get trust from tech-savvy people, but I didn't notice, and 99% of all people certainly won't. Of course, the 1% are the ones likely to use BTC, but don't rest on your laurels once you are done with the SSL certs.
MisterWalter 12y ago
My main concern is that I don't see how they get any money out of it. Normally I'm fine with free services, for obvious reasons, but it strikes me as concerning that this requires quite a bit of work and money, both over the long term, but they have no visible payoff. The only way I see it being viable in the long term is if they take our money. I'd like to see this as a % fee of some sort but I worry that it is either doomed or a scam.
- jwomers 12y ago
  Hi, thanks for posting your concerns, and I understand where you're coming from. Our visible payoff is creating a social network around payments - and while we will never charge fees on tips, there are many other services we can introduce to generate revenue. One example is later on allowing creators to actually sell their content on our network (to their fans) or having premium artist accounts to help them manage, engage and grow their fanbase. Other than this, can you think of any other ways we can convince you (and others) that we are not a scam?
  - simondlr 12y ago
    Co-founder here. To add. We also have to look at a future where an artist like Justin Bieber could put up a BTC address on his Twitter profile. Taking a cut means the artist has a small reason to not want to sign up ("they take 1%-2%. I'm better off just sticking a BTC address on my Facebook").
    - lotsofmangos 12y ago
      We also have to look at a future where an artist like Justin Bieber could put up a BTC address on his Twitter profile. In this future of which you speak, are there any off-world colonies?
shmerl 12y ago
I like the idea! How do you reach the artists if they don't have their own bitcoin wallets?
- jwomers 12y ago
  We'll reach out to the artists and sign them up the Cheers - they will then be able to receive their tips in Bitcoin (recommended, and we'll help them set up a wallet) or fiat (slower, more complicated, minimum thresholds etc.). The exact process is still to be worked out.
  - shmerl 12y ago
    I think you should expand this to more creative works besides music. Books, video, gaming, visual art, whatever.
    - jwomers 12y ago
      Yes, this is on our roadmap, and forms the core of our mission. To allow people to tip and reward creators of any kind, anywhere in the world!
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
  - krapp 12y ago
    So in other words, for this to work, you need to be able to contact and successfully convince any particular artist, anywhere in the world, to sign up for your service, after someone makes a donation? Or will you only allow donations to artists who have already signed on? If it's the latter, your claim of being able to tip "any artist in the world" seems a bit disingenuous. If it's the former, do you just pocket the donations if the artist refuses to sign up?
sferoze 12y ago
This is really amazing. I hope your service receives a lot of success. One problem is that many people don't have bitcoin even if it is the best way to pay. Many people are uncomfortable buying bitcoins. Amazon micropayment service lets you pay with credit card transaction anywhere from $0.05 to $9.99 with a 5% + .05 cent transaction fee. Which isn't as good as bitcoin but it is still pretty good as far as credit card fees go. https://payments.amazon.com/help/Amazon-Flexible-Payments-Service/Creating-Managing-Your-Account/Amazon-Payments-Fees https://payments.amazon.com/help/Amazon-Flexible-Payments-Se... Many small micro-payments can really add up. This can be huge for content creators. I would really like to give tips to people who create educational science videos, open source software, open source hardware, write detailed tutorials for hardware and software projects, take the time to help me on forums, etc. Many content creators on the internet have helped me. I might not want to give a lot to each but I can give a small tip. Which can still make a difference to the creator if many people also do the same. I think if they charged a fee for the tip it would be a more standard business model and people would not find it as exciting. It seems more direct to customer this way without the man in the middle dilemma for content creators. Also charging a fee in addition to the transaction fee would make it increasingly difficult to tip the creator a small amount. I think the fact they don't charge a fee on top of the transaction fee is out of necessity.
- jwomers 12y ago
  Hi, thanks for the feedback! We agree that for now Bitcoins constrict us to a relatively small community - which is why we will be supporting credit cards in the near future! (And thanks for the link to Amazon micropayments +1!) We plan to launch with only Bitcoins, and shortly thereafter add on credit card payments to go more mainstream. Our mission is to enable anyone to tip any creator anywhere in the world - so educational content and others are definitely included in this! Music is just the starting point.
  - sferoze 12y ago
    and maybe even for aid relief to charities in emergency situations
stonogo 12y ago
Express your love for the artist with an underhanded political polemic!
jff 12y ago
"Like a busker's hat... BUT WITH BITCOIN!"
tinkerrr 12y ago
1. Consider providing a 'status' of the money tipped, so people know the artist actually got the money and they didn't send it into a blackhole. 2. Dogecoin is a must - shouldn't be too hard if you have Bitcoin already. The communities are very different. 3. Services like Tinkercoin allow you to buy a small amount of Bitcoin with credit card. Consider adding this info for the fans to get a small amount of Bitcoins. 4. There are some musicians in the space who are big into Bitcoin, like Tatiana Moroz. You can contact them to promote your site in the music and Bitcoin communities. Good luck!
- jwomers 12y ago
  Thanks for the feedback! 1 - We're definitely focusing on transparency around tip statuses. 2 - Yes, agreed! 3 - Good idea! 4 - Great, thanks!
drue 12y ago
How will you avoid being sued by artist's representation (i.e. record labels, RIAA, etc)? I would also be highly concerned about validating the recipient of the money, especially since they're unlikely to reach out directly. The best you could do is purchase music from the musician though the least-fee-laden service available, so they get the most money legally possible.
- drue 12y ago
  Incidentally, I've always wanted a service like this, but I couldn't get past those pesky issues. It would be just as useful for authors and movie studios.
  - willlma 12y ago
    Thought of a similar concept a few months back. When it comes to not getting sued, as long as they're not providing content, then the tip is simply a donation. If the users use the tip as moral justification to then steal the music ("hey, the artist got more than he would have if I bought it, and screw the labels!"), then the onus is on the user. As for getting the money to them, that's the question I want answered. I had conceived it as pledges rather than donations. I think people are more likely to pledge than they are to donate, which would get the service started a lot faster (and not problematic as long as you provide cc/banking/bitcoin details so that pledges are automatically deducted). Artists could then be contacted and told to claim their pledged donations.
    - jwomers 12y ago
      This is what we're aiming for - since there is no content being bought, it's really just a donation. In terms of getting the money to the artists, this is definitely an important and difficult part - but we're going to start slowly, do things that don't scale and work it out from there. Out of interest, how do you see pledges and donations as different from a user's perspective? Thanks for the feedback!
      - willlma 12y ago

69 points by jwomers 12y ago

LukeB_UK 12y ago

If you don't take any fee from the tip, how does your product intend to make money? Just curious.

jwomers 12y ago
Good question. For now we're just trying to make a product that both fans and artists are excited about and will use - a product we'd want to use. And since our initial product is tipping, we're committed to never taking a fee on these transactions. In the future, we may build-out a premium artist account, allowing them to get analytics around what is being Cheered, and built a platform for them to engage with and grow their fanbase. Additionally, while tipping will always be free, we could turn on product commerce where we may take a small fee.
- LukeB_UK 12y ago
  Thanks for the insight! Always cool to see others product ideas and their approaches. Hope it works out for you!

jwomers 12y ago

Hi everyone, Cheers Cofounder here. We're trying to make the world a smaller place, connecting fans with those that make what they love, and enabling content creators. We'd love to hear feedback on our platform. Cheers!

GrinningFool 12y ago
Any plans/interest in supporting dogecoin tips (sent as dogecoin to the artists). There community around dogecoin is, generally speaking, more amenable to tipping.
- jwomers 12y ago
  Yes! We're planning to integrate as many payment options as possible so this is definitely in the works.
  - GrinningFool 12y ago
    Excellent, thanks!
- maximian 12y ago
  > There community around dogecoin is, generally speaking, more amenable to tipping I disagree with this - Bitcoiners have been quite generous with tipping in the past, and it's been picking up again thanks to the ability to tip millionths of a bitcoin (informally called "bits") using ChangeTip.

VaucGiaps 12y ago

Awesome idea. Hope this will work! I suggest you buy a ssl certificate. This will build trust.

jwomers 12y ago
Very good point, thanks. This was just the landing page, but you're 100% right. Adds to TODO list.
- tormeh 12y ago
  Not that good. Will get trust from tech-savvy people, but I didn't notice, and 99% of all people certainly won't. Of course, the 1% are the ones likely to use BTC, but don't rest on your laurels once you are done with the SSL certs.

MisterWalter 12y ago

My main concern is that I don't see how they get any money out of it. Normally I'm fine with free services, for obvious reasons, but it strikes me as concerning that this requires quite a bit of work and money, both over the long term, but they have no visible payoff. The only way I see it being viable in the long term is if they take our money. I'd like to see this as a % fee of some sort but I worry that it is either doomed or a scam.

jwomers 12y ago
Hi, thanks for posting your concerns, and I understand where you're coming from. Our visible payoff is creating a social network around payments - and while we will never charge fees on tips, there are many other services we can introduce to generate revenue. One example is later on allowing creators to actually sell their content on our network (to their fans) or having premium artist accounts to help them manage, engage and grow their fanbase. Other than this, can you think of any other ways we can convince you (and others) that we are not a scam?
- simondlr 12y ago
  Co-founder here. To add. We also have to look at a future where an artist like Justin Bieber could put up a BTC address on his Twitter profile. Taking a cut means the artist has a small reason to not want to sign up ("they take 1%-2%. I'm better off just sticking a BTC address on my Facebook").
  - lotsofmangos 12y ago
    We also have to look at a future where an artist like Justin Bieber could put up a BTC address on his Twitter profile. In this future of which you speak, are there any off-world colonies?

shmerl 12y ago

I like the idea! How do you reach the artists if they don't have their own bitcoin wallets?

jwomers 12y ago
We'll reach out to the artists and sign them up the Cheers - they will then be able to receive their tips in Bitcoin (recommended, and we'll help them set up a wallet) or fiat (slower, more complicated, minimum thresholds etc.). The exact process is still to be worked out.
- shmerl 12y ago
  I think you should expand this to more creative works besides music. Books, video, gaming, visual art, whatever.
  - jwomers 12y ago
    Yes, this is on our roadmap, and forms the core of our mission. To allow people to tip and reward creators of any kind, anywhere in the world!
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- krapp 12y ago
  So in other words, for this to work, you need to be able to contact and successfully convince any particular artist, anywhere in the world, to sign up for your service, after someone makes a donation? Or will you only allow donations to artists who have already signed on? If it's the latter, your claim of being able to tip "any artist in the world" seems a bit disingenuous. If it's the former, do you just pocket the donations if the artist refuses to sign up?

sferoze 12y ago

This is really amazing. I hope your service receives a lot of success. One problem is that many people don't have bitcoin even if it is the best way to pay. Many people are uncomfortable buying bitcoins. Amazon micropayment service lets you pay with credit card transaction anywhere from $0.05 to $9.99 with a 5% + .05 cent transaction fee. Which isn't as good as bitcoin but it is still pretty good as far as credit card fees go. https://payments.amazon.com/help/Amazon-Flexible-Payments-Service/Creating-Managing-Your-Account/Amazon-Payments-Fees https://payments.amazon.com/help/Amazon-Flexible-Payments-Se... Many small micro-payments can really add up. This can be huge for content creators. I would really like to give tips to people who create educational science videos, open source software, open source hardware, write detailed tutorials for hardware and software projects, take the time to help me on forums, etc. Many content creators on the internet have helped me. I might not want to give a lot to each but I can give a small tip. Which can still make a difference to the creator if many people also do the same. I think if they charged a fee for the tip it would be a more standard business model and people would not find it as exciting. It seems more direct to customer this way without the man in the middle dilemma for content creators. Also charging a fee in addition to the transaction fee would make it increasingly difficult to tip the creator a small amount. I think the fact they don't charge a fee on top of the transaction fee is out of necessity.

jwomers 12y ago
Hi, thanks for the feedback! We agree that for now Bitcoins constrict us to a relatively small community - which is why we will be supporting credit cards in the near future! (And thanks for the link to Amazon micropayments +1!) We plan to launch with only Bitcoins, and shortly thereafter add on credit card payments to go more mainstream. Our mission is to enable anyone to tip any creator anywhere in the world - so educational content and others are definitely included in this! Music is just the starting point.
- sferoze 12y ago
  and maybe even for aid relief to charities in emergency situations

stonogo 12y ago

Express your love for the artist with an underhanded political polemic!

jff 12y ago

"Like a busker's hat... BUT WITH BITCOIN!"

tinkerrr 12y ago

1. Consider providing a 'status' of the money tipped, so people know the artist actually got the money and they didn't send it into a blackhole. 2. Dogecoin is a must - shouldn't be too hard if you have Bitcoin already. The communities are very different. 3. Services like Tinkercoin allow you to buy a small amount of Bitcoin with credit card. Consider adding this info for the fans to get a small amount of Bitcoins. 4. There are some musicians in the space who are big into Bitcoin, like Tatiana Moroz. You can contact them to promote your site in the music and Bitcoin communities. Good luck!

jwomers 12y ago
Thanks for the feedback! 1 - We're definitely focusing on transparency around tip statuses. 2 - Yes, agreed! 3 - Good idea! 4 - Great, thanks!

drue 12y ago

How will you avoid being sued by artist's representation (i.e. record labels, RIAA, etc)? I would also be highly concerned about validating the recipient of the money, especially since they're unlikely to reach out directly. The best you could do is purchase music from the musician though the least-fee-laden service available, so they get the most money legally possible.

drue 12y ago
Incidentally, I've always wanted a service like this, but I couldn't get past those pesky issues. It would be just as useful for authors and movie studios.
- willlma 12y ago
  Thought of a similar concept a few months back. When it comes to not getting sued, as long as they're not providing content, then the tip is simply a donation. If the users use the tip as moral justification to then steal the music ("hey, the artist got more than he would have if I bought it, and screw the labels!"), then the onus is on the user. As for getting the money to them, that's the question I want answered. I had conceived it as pledges rather than donations. I think people are more likely to pledge than they are to donate, which would get the service started a lot faster (and not problematic as long as you provide cc/banking/bitcoin details so that pledges are automatically deducted). Artists could then be contacted and told to claim their pledged donations.
  - jwomers 12y ago
    This is what we're aiming for - since there is no content being bought, it's really just a donation. In terms of getting the money to the artists, this is definitely an important and difficult part - but we're going to start slowly, do things that don't scale and work it out from there. Out of interest, how do you see pledges and donations as different from a user's perspective? Thanks for the feedback!
    - willlma 12y ago