Web Monetization For Independent Music — Grant Report #1

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Project Update

Project update & communications

Ampled's project, titled, Web Monetization for Independent Music is divided into a few parts.

(1) A test and exploration of Web Monetization working within Ampled's current platform & model
(2) A feasibility study based on those finding of how implementation of Web Monetization within Ampled has worked and could expand
(3) An expansion of our findings into a set of recommendations and imaginings of how tech like Web Monetization (and other parallel web3 tech) could be used to create a more equitable streaming/ music economy for artists.

Blog Post 1: https://www.ampled.com/blog/grant-for-the-web
Blog Post 2: https://www.ampled.com/blog/ampled-is-now-web-monetized
Blog Post 3: https://www.ampled.com/blog/web-monetization-exploration-update
Blog Post 4: Announcement of streaming research report (upcoming)

Press: https://www.thesmartset.com/ampleds-opportunity/

Feasibility Study: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14EZWqTggC9aMbfnV7HIMdu3wi84SJWqAkmR_AL7LSJQ/edit?usp=sharing

Upcoming: Research report on wider implications for the streaming economy

Progress on objectives

We've completed our experiment, artist conversations, and feasibility study, and are planning to soon release our more comprehensive and speculative report on the broader music industry soon.

We have faced some challenges. Some of that is just due to contributors leaving the project, and the other challenge (which is probably not unique to Ampled) has been bandwidth with the team. Part of the grander experiment of Ampled, as a web-based cooperative, is finding ways to work together when we mostly all have other full time jobs and limited/ varying time to commit to Ampled. In recent months, we've struggled with just getting core features out the door with reasonable velocity – which has meant that speculative and open ended research has sometimes been harder to prioritize.

Key activities

The key activities from our proposal have included

• active experiments with using Web Monetization within the current Ampled platform
• conversations with artists to gauge sentiment around using Web Monetization as a tool they can use
• writing about our process
• speaking with press about our progress and involvement with the GFTW initiative

What’s next?

Next, we will publicly release our comprehensive and speculative report on the broader music industry. We will include not only the potential for instant streaming micropayments like Coil to revolutionize streaming models, but other web3 ideas (like social tokens and NFTs), and other alternative ownership and governance models.

Credit to GFTW, this exploration has been partially responsbile for sending us down the crypto rabbit hole and has opened up many paths of exploration for us – including looking into an Ampled community token https://forefront.news/blog/how-community-tokens-can-power-cooperatives

What community support would benefit your project?

There are projects like Audiotarky and Compost that I'm looking forward to connecting with!

Additional comments

Thank you to the GFTW team again for your support!