Entries from June 2008 ↓

OhMyNews allows its users to use a tip jars allowing them to raise money from their readers.

Media analyst Kim Jae-young noted that OhmyTV relies on the long-tail aspect of micropayment for its financial independence. OhmyTV was able to raise a huge sum of money by tapping into lower 80% of on-line crowd, coupled with near-zero transaction cost on the Web, Kim said.

This is not the first time that the OhmyNews tip jar system was able to collect a huge amount of spontaneous financial contributions. In 2004, when Kim Yong-ok, a well-known Korean professor in Eastern Philosophy, published an article on OhmyNews critical of the opponents of a government decision to relocate the capital city, he saw his tip jar quickly brimming with $30,000 of hard cash paid for by nearly 8,000 contributors.

Here’s the complete story from OhMyNews.

We believe sites like YouTube, Last.FM, and all blogging sites should surely provide their content creators to use a tip-jar for raising support from their fans. At Karmafan of course we have tied the tip jar in to Facebook and will be adding support for MySpace very soon too. Way to go OhMyNews!

Insound, a online service that allows musicians to sell their albums and merchadise has started a new program called “Give more, Get more“. I quote from their site to explain what the program does -

Every time you buy an MP3 album from Insound (not EPs or singles), Insound will donate $.25 of our take to a touring band. We choose 6 lucky bands that we like, but you get to select the actual artist to earmark your quarter to. Furthermore, should you wish to “tip” additional funds to these great artists, you can add your own tip during checkout.

I found out about the program from a blog post at Idolator. As expected the comments there are raising questions about the central idea of tipping and also how Insound chose these random six bands? There are also nuances that Insound is now owned by Warner and how much can consumers trust them to support Indie musicians. I don’t particularly mind what they do with their quarter, after all it is their money.

On the other hand, what I find most interesting is that a service like Insound is using the idea of tipping to support musicians. Is this an implicit acknowledgement of the need for a patronage system for artists?

There we are - another effort to “sell” music goes under. CLIQ, a service that allows people to buy music that they are listening to on their digital radios. Thanks to The Register for pointing out the news.

The idea behind CLIQ is neat, you are listening to some piece of music on the digital radio, you like, you buy it. So why didn’t it work out? CLIQ blames it on the slow adoption of DAB or Digital radio as we call it. I think there is more to it.

It will be nice to see a Cliq like service for streaming radios on the web. Well, let’s see there already are a few, the oldest one being Magnatune, who keeps 50% cut off what you pay to buy a record.

We at Karmafan believe trying to sell music in such a way as it is profitable for the artists and all the other middlemen in between is a tad hard, if not outright passe.

Let music flow freely, there are numerous channels out there that don’t involve a middleman keeping a cut. Then let fans support the musicians - directly. That’s how the future will be.

David Sedaris talks in an interview how and why he used a tip jar at his book tour, raising $4000 from fans. Here is how David answers the question - You put a tip jar at your book-signing table?

Oh, yes. I would get there two to three hours early, and would sign books until 15 minutes before the reading. And I talk to everyone so I don’t sign that many books in two and a half hours. And then just before you start the reading part you go to the back of the room and you say I will sign your book right now for $5. And that’s how you really make your money because any one in their right mind, if they have a choice between paying $5 and waiting for four hours, would choose to pay $5.

Then once I started doing that, there was no stopping me. Because a lot of time at book stores there’s only one chair in the room and it’s behind the podium. I used to give it to a pregnant woman. I’d say if there’s anyone here who’s on crutches or pregnant, you can have this chair. But then I thought I’m giving away something I could be making money off of. So then I would say, for $20 dollars you can have this chair and be the first person to get your book signed after the reading.

…. It was like a Robin Hood thing. If I said to people, “Oh give me this money, and I’ll give it to charity,” they’re not going to give it to me. I tell people that I’ll spend it on crazy things on myself, and I do do that. But sometimes you go to a public-radio station and there’s an intern who is not getting paid, so you give them $100. Or you’re signing books and there’s someone who looks like they could use $50. So you say, you look like you could use $50, and you give them $50.

Read the full interview where David talks about the tip jar gimmick here on Newsweek (thanks to “Collection Developments” for pointing out the interview).

Now, if we translate this gimmick to the Internet and imagine an musician instead of an author. Where would you use the Karmafan tip jar? Next to where your music is available? Will you mention your Karmafan home page during a concert? On gig posters? On the back of CD covers? With the mp3s that you are making available on the Internet?

Time for a poll on our forum. The question is, “Where will you put your Karmafan home page address?“