Just as an FYI — my sheet music store now includes photos of the music found inside each download. Hopefully, prospective purchasers will be able to get a better glimpse at the music ahead of time now, to help make their decisions. 🙂
I just came across this super interesting article from The Verge about an upcoming stream-to-own, online, music-store service:
Voltra’s desktop and mobile players — currently in beta testing — are free to download. Any users with a Voltra account can choose to either buy songs immediately or try out a new song with Voltra’s “stream-to-own” feature….
…this model offers listeners a low-cost way to figure out if they enjoy a particular song while also ensuring that artists earn money off the songs that get played the most…
This emphasis on lasting storage contrasts with subscription-based streaming services, where canceling your account comes with the risk of losing personally curated playlists and listening history….
Voltra aims to strengthen two facets of this artist-listener relationship: If music ownership is Voltra’s priority for listeners, sufficient compensation is the company’s goal for artists…
…artists who sign up directly through Voltra would receive 100 percent of their earnings, since the company doesn’t deduct a commission from their song profits… It’s also free for artists to upload their music to Voltra’s store. Voltra — which is not ad-supported — earns additional revenue from its sale of Pro Features to artists, labels, and distributors for five to ten dollars a month, offering musicians additional perks like customizable sales reports or a public artist page on the Voltra site.
…a musician can earn 99 cents after only 10 streams on Voltra, compared to 226 streams on Spotify, 134 on Apple Music, and 146 on Google Play. Spotify’s average payout per stream reportedly ranges from $0.006 to $0.0084, which is split among the the music’s various “rights holders,” meaning that 226 streams would yield about $1.50, of which the artist would receive some portion.
“I feel like it’s weird that [Voltra’s business model] is novel,” Fragomeni says, “but I really believe that it’s possible to have a sustainable business with really cool premium services where the ultimate ethical objective is to try to have the artists be paid.”
I am SO getting my music on this service!! Check it out and support this amazing artist-listener-relationship tool!
I just wanted to send a quick shout out to GoStrings.com – I was thinking of them as it came time to reorder new strings for Flora… I love their Build Your Own Custom [Violin, Viola, Cello] Set option!! It’s so unique, and so smart!
I’ve used this option for both Flora (my violin) and Minerva (my viola). I once took the time to compare prices between all the online retailers I’ve used in the past, or have had friends use, and, for the strings I need, the Build Your Own set at GoStrings is the cheapest option by far! Having me build my own custom set, they’re able to offer each string at a huge discount, so it ends up being way cheaper than going and buying each string on its own – which is the only other option when you don’t use all 4 of the same string. Plus, for my Flora, her favorite G, D, & A stings are super hard to find anywhere else, I’ve discovered…
FYI, I also got my beautiful BAM case from them during an incredible sale they were offering!… 😉
I only have one request for GoStrings…that they set up a general returning guest option, for those of us who don’t have a Yahoo or aol account… ;-p
Go check them out! They’re great!
Check out my brand new-and-improved merch site, for not only a huge variety of tees, but also jewelry and gifts!
Good news! Available now are samples of all my scores that are ready for purchase! Be able to not only listen to performance clips of the work but also view samples from the scores themselves!
View my Sheet Music Store here! …and enjoy Making Music Modern yourself! 😉
