Is this the future of online royalties?
A brand new Aussie start-up named ‘Loudar’ hopes to shake up the way musicians get paid for their work.
Here’s how it works: Artists sign up, upload music videos to the website and share it with their fanbase. From there, fans can vote for their favourite artists in the hopes the video wins the monthly prize. It costs a fan one dollar to vote and half of that goes directly into the artist’s pocket.
Punters can also earn their own cash by becoming ‘viral agents’ and sharing videos with the aim of getting others to vote. Whenever some votes on the video you shared, you get a cut of the money. You can also invite artists you know to join the website and receive five cents every time someone votes on their videos.
Loudar’s founders, Tom Chwieduk and Mac Mikosik, said they were frustrated with how little musicians were being paid in the age of digital streaming.
“Realising there are now very few ways for fans to ‘directly’ contribute to the artists they support, in an oversaturated audio streaming market we decided to develop a video-based platform,” said Chwieduk.
Loudar will be undergoing beta testing for the next three months before launching in full next year, but musicians can still sign up now. In February, Beat will be selecting one artist using Loudar to promote across its platforms.
“After the beta phase, we’ll … take a few months to fine-tune the platform, absorbing and considering all feedback, and then launch in full later in 2020,” Chwieduk said.
For more info, head to Loudar’s website.
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