So yes, we pay Music Fans.
We pay fans better than Streaming services pay Music Artists (big whoop)
Here are a few more FAQs.
Yes it is.
While there are no isongU mobile apps yet ...it is fast and responsive across all devices and screen sizes. Because isongU is interactive, there are quirks between different browsers and devices.
The biggest difference relates to playing music. On desktop devices, you can play songs with a single click of the ‘Play’ button. On mobiles devices, because they prevent Auto-Play of media, there is a 2 click process: You must first ’Select a Song’ to load the song and then press ‘Play’.
On Android Chrome, once in a great while a song will play but the page is still stuck in load mode – no rating slider comes up. In this rare occurrence, you have to abandon this song: Hit the back button and Select a new song.
Why yes, they do.
Every time a fan invites an artist to isongU, they get paid a percentage of the artist's revenues (a dividend) from every song sale, forever.
The dividends are based on the artist's sales, but the monies actually come out of isongU's revenue share (of these song sales). The artist does not get gipped. The artist gets the same share of each song sale (an average of 55 cents which can grow to 80 cents) regardless of dividends.
Songs sell for $1.29 at isongU, with about 25c going on transaction fees.
How do fans get paid?
The fan gets paid up to 10% dividends on song revenues by artists that they sign up ....but they must use their unique promo invite link so that dividend payments are channeled into the correct bank account. And yes, the reviewer must set up a PayPal account (in the My Account tab) to set up direct deposit of dividend payments. This is the only method through which dividends are paid out.
How much do fans get paid?
For every artist (that you signed up) that makes it to Mass Acclaim, we estimate you will earn up to $40,000.
No.
If a fan joins isongU directly (without being invited by another user and clicking on their hyperlink)… we pair them with the artist/song that they rate highest (we want them to rate the artist’s song 85/100 or higher before they get paired to this artist).
Later, fans can choose a new artist that they’d prefer to be affiliated with.
The reason we don't allow independent fans is because it severely hampers Artists from growing their fan base ... and besides, it democratically gives the most fans to artists with the highest rated songs (especially since anonymous songs are rated without bias).
Yes, music fans are supposed to support the music artists they love.
That is still true at isongU, but because fans and artists both have Promolinks, it is possible for both to signup fans using their Promolink.
And while it is more likely that fans will search out and engage with Artists and their music, a fan can push their Promolink, QR code and images with their embedded Promolink across social media and friend groups and gain a sizable following of both Music Artists and Fans.
There are 7 good reasons:
- Support Art, Support Artists: An artist friend asks you for help ... they want you to rate songs so that their music can climb towards Mass Exposure.
- Fans get paid: Fans are paid up to a 10c cut of all song sales by artists ... artists that they sign up to isongU. Sign a new artist up in seconds and you get a dividend for life.
- Fans increase dividends: A fan will increase their dividend percentage up to a maximum of 10% by signing up new artists and fans ... and by rating songs (which is fun).
- Artist Dividends: The artist (that the fan supports at isongU) gets paid 2% of songs sales by every new musician that their fan signs up. A lifetime dividend that the fan gifts to their favorite artist. But, again, they must rate more songs to secure those dividends for their artist.
- Increased Artist Exposure: The artist (that the fan supports at isongU) gets an additional month in mass exposure every time the fan signs up a new musician. But, again, they must rate songs to secure this exposure for their favorite artist.
- A fair music world ruled by artists: By rating songs, artists and fans are the new gatekeepers of music. Together they impartially and democratically decide the eclectic future of music, musicianship and songcraft. Every song you rate drives another nail into the formulaic mainstream.
- Fast and Fun: A song takes 2 or 3 clicks and about 30 seconds to rate. It's fun... and most of the time, you'll be rating higher rated songs. Also, as more and more artists join, better songs will enter the pipeline and quality will rise and rise.
The Chart below projects earnings over 4 years for a) A music artist with 1 song in Mass Acclaim and b) A music fan that has signed up 1 Music Artist that has achieved Mass Acclaim.
When a song is in the Accelerator and you hit the PLAY button, you get a random, mystery song clip from the queue.
At launch, because we have a limited number of songs, we will allow you, by happy co-incidence, to rate your artist’s song. However, a few weeks after launch, we will cut this out: We will not allow you, by random chance, to rate your own artists' song. That would not be fair.
So... how does a fan interact with their favorite artist?
Here's how...
When a song by one's favorite artist scores too low to clear a level, it's journey towards exposure ends. (Yes, I suppose some would call that rejection, but there is nothing stopping the artist from revamping the song and re-submitting).
With their song having exited the accelerator, their fans now see this song as a new release by their favorite artist in the Artists bio page. These fans have sole access to it. They can rate it, leave written reviews and, yes, purchase the song.
The artist is also kept honest by this interaction - if the artist chooses to enter the same song over and over, the artist's fans will not be happy and they will likely leave to support another music artist.
An artist (or their fans) that, time after time, gives songs by other musicians low scores (compared to the statistical average) under the mistaken impression that it increases their odds of reaching Mass Acclaim while be heavily penalized.
The same goes if, time after time, an artists & fans give outlier scores. This behavior is easy to identify and it likewise will be heavily penalized.
If an artist or fan somehow automates the scoring process (so that all scores are between say 40 and 60), this is also easily detected and again will result in severe penalties.
Penalties:
Also, if a fan persists with the aforementioned behavior, they will be given lower dividends, they may lose their dividends, they may be suspended from inviting new bands, their band may lose their associated dividends, their band may lose the time they earned in Mass Exposure (the time they gained along with dividends) and, ultimately, the reviewer may be suspended from isongU, perhaps at the request of their band.
In summary, the penalties are severe and long lasting. Honesty is the best policy. Trying to game the system has zero benefit and many downsides.
Zero Benefit:
The window to Mass Exposure is mathematically the same for all artists. If an artist (or the artist's fans) low balls other musicians, it does not open the window for them: Quite the opposite.
The Downside:
In fact, with repeated indiscretions, the window to Mass Exposure will be hard shut.
This should not be a source of worry - as long as you and your fans rate songs honestly, there is nothing to fear. You will not incur such penalties through bad luck or happenstance.
Because we're simply not your typical music website:
We are a mathematical means of climbing to mass acclaim & mass sales. Because artists are anonymous we cannot post artist images. Although the artist themselves can post images, videos etc. on the Artist Profile page, this is only accessible to their fans and not to the main website.
There is no criteria - just rate how much you like the song.
Does it grab you ...or does it not?
Unifying the artist and fan relates to the way artists and fans reward each other and by doing so, join forces.
For instance, let's say:
· Artist A signs up Fan 1
· Fan 1 then signs up New Artist B.
· Fan 1 gets up to 10% of Artist B song sales.
· Artist A gets 2% of Artist B's sales.
· Artist A gets rewarded with more time in the limelight.
As you can see, Fan 1 has done a slew of good favors for Artist A all while helping him/herself to a hefty dividend. This mutual relationship creates a growing bond between the Artist and the Fan.
Also, in the near future, we plan to post the highlights of these good news events to Social Media (with artist/fan permission) and since these tangible, authentic events mean a lot to both artist and fan, this furthers the bond between them.
Direct Dividends:
To understand Dividends, you must understand that there are 4 distinct types of interactions at isongU.
1. Artists sign up Artists
2. Fans sign up Artists
Now 1 and 2 above are basically the same thing - a user signs up an artist and can increase their Direct Dividends up to 10% by climbing all 20 Levels of the Accumulator. To climb levels, fans must sign up Artists & Fans and rate songs (see the chart below for details).
The dividends in 1 & 2 above are called Direct Dividends... because the user directly signed the Artist up.
NOTE:
You will use your same promo-invite link to invite both artists and fans.
How much can fans get paid from Direct Dividends?
The Accumulator displays the estimated earnings.
The chart below shows the estimated earnings for the Music Artist versus the Music Fan over 48 months (yes, a hardworking artist will typically earn 48 months of time in Mass Exposure ...and possibly much more).
We believe in artist longevity.
Yes, once a user signs up an Artist, their work is done... all Dividends are set in stone the very instant the Artist uses your Promo invite link to sign up.
Once a Dividend gets locked in place, it comes very close to 'money for nothing.'
Metadata is very important to music fans: Metadata such as when and where the song was written & recorded, the players, the message, the influences, the mood etc.
The responsibility for providing metadata falls on the artist. And, since we do not have an artist profile page yet, right now the only medium they have to provide this data is in the MP3 meta tags.
Artists will use an MP3 tag editor to provide this vital data.
If a music fan joins isongU.com using a music artist's promo invite link, then they are affiliated with that music artist.
This means that, when this music fan signs up a new band, not only will the fan get a percentage of the new band's song sales, their affiliated music artist will get paid 2% of the new band's song sales. The affiliated artist will also get 21 more days in Mass Acclaim by virtue of you (their fan) signing up this new band.
However, if you did not sign up using a music artist's invite link, you are not affiliated with any artist. You are an independent fan.
The only way (right now) for an independent fan to become affiliated with a music artist is ...if you love a song enough to buy it, we presume there's a good chance you will love the artist behind the song also. So, in your downloads page next to downloaded songs, there is a button that allows you to affiliate (and support) the artist.
In the near future, we will allow you to search for an artist and view their bio page, but neither the search function or artist bio pages are in place right now.
Because we temporarily ran out of your kind of music. We do our best to send you the type of music you like but sometimes we have too much of hardcore or too much easy listening music and we cannot meet your needs.
No, isongU.com plays zero part in choosing which music makes it through to Mass Exposure.
Musicians and fans govern all music on isongU.com.
All Genres are Equal:
We do not favor genres - if some genres appear to gain more clout, the crowd (as individuals) has favored those genres without bias.
All genres are welcome, we hope and we expect this will lead to all kinds of left field music explorations qualifying for Mass Exposure. After all, music is all about free expression and experimentation. It is not about constraining musicians within certain genres or within a corporate-driven formulaic sound.
How do we protect your data:
At isongU, we have a green bar (EV SSL) encrypted transactions which is the absolute highest level of encryption for merchant transactions. In addition, transactions typically take microseconds and the transaction link immediately disappears after the transaction, limiting exposure to possible hackers.
In addition, isongU takes further steps to protect your bank account (as well as emails & passwords) information with further layers of encryption to thwart hackers.
Our privacy policy and advanced security is covered in greater detail in our Privacy Policy Section.
At isongU, all songs, artists and fans are anonymous. We are based around anonymity, so therefore privacy is an integral part of our DNA. We abhor the selling of people's data.
A Singular Exception:
The only time we give artists and fans the ability to interact is when a fan buys an artist's song. Here, the artist can see the purchasing fan's email and the fan can see the artist's email.
We feel it is important to allow a pathway for artists and fans to engage - but only when it involves a song purchase. That's because a song purchase indicates a truly engaged fan. The purchase of a song acts like a right of passage.
However, that said, either party can keep their email private. They can choose this 'Opt-Out' option from their 'Your Account' screen.
If the fan opts out, the artist cannot see the fan's email. And if the artist opts out, the fans cannot see the artist's email. And both can opt out and neither party's email is visible.
This means that if a fans opts out, their email will be hidden for all song transactions. No artist will be able to engage with them via email.
And if an Artist opts out, the same hold true. No fan who purchases their songs will be able to engage with them via email.
No Data Exploitation:
With regard to privacy, isongU has absolutely no interest in exploiting metadata. This follows our zero tolerance for adverts -which we believe contaminate music.
Our interest is in the democratic promotion of ANONYMOUS crowd powered music and that is all.
Of course there are also sensitive banking details that are protected behind firewalls as well as encryption both within our website and on all data transfers. All pathways are encrypted.
Our privacy policy and advanced security is covered in greater detail in our Privacy Policy Section.
Heavens No!
It's the inverse of a Pyramid Scheme.
A pyramid scheme is permanently biased towards early adopters, with little or no benefit to later adopters. isongU’s proprietary ‘levels that lead to mass exposure’ technology is unbiased. The rules are the same for everyone.
Moreover, the odds of gaining mass exposure remain relatively constant, whether we have 10,000 songs or 10 million songs entering our levels, but the amount of exposure increases exponentially.
Therefore, the benefit to later adopters is far greater than the benefit to early adopters. This is precisely the opposite of a pyramid scheme.