The Interledger Community 🌱: Austin Robey

Final Report Update 2 (Publishing)

Austin Robey — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 18:29:12 +0000

Ampled Final Report

We have finalized our research report here:
https://docs.ampled.com/gftw/

On 08/25, we will publish publicly, accompanied by a blog post, social media posts, and newsletter push.

Final Report Update: Ampled

Austin Robey — Mon, 31 May 2021 20:40:31 +0000

What we've been working on:
Our research supported by this grant has taken shape with an overarching theme/ structure:

Streaming Economy: Defaults & Alternatives.

In it, we highlight:
(1) Problem

and then propose alternatives for streaming
(2) Ownership
(3) Governance
(4) Revenue Models
(5) Payout Models
(6) Funding

and then recommend
(7)Conclusions

Throughout this thread, Web Monetization technology is suggested as ways to form alternatives-- particularly in revenue and payout models for streaming.

Timeline & press push:

We plan to publicly announce the final research on July 13th. Our calendar is June is packed with a community membership drive and our Season 2 artist launch.

For the press push, we will seek placement on media that we have existing relationships with like "Platform & Stream", Music Ally, Hype Bot.

We even plan to make a physical zine version of this research!

Web Monetization For Independent Music — Grant Report #1

Austin Robey — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 21:29:46 +0000

Image (optional)

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!

Web Monetization For Independent Music Update 2

Austin Robey — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 17:56:22 +0000

Update on Ampled's Web Monetization exploration here!

https://www.ampled.com/blog/web-monetization-exploration-update

Ampled & Web Monetization Press

Austin Robey — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 19:53:13 +0000

We had an interview where we talked about the opportunities of web monetization! Check it out here:
https://www.thesmartset.com/ampleds-opportunity/

Ampled Web Monetization For Independent Music Update 1

Austin Robey — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 13:04:54 +0000

Hey everyone! We recently wrote a blog about some initial explorations around Web Monetization and its potential applications here: https://www.ampled.com/blog/ampled-is-now-web-monetized

Also, here is a blog post of our announcement: https://www.ampled.com/blog/grant-for-the-web