The existing internet radio royalty process leaves a lot to be desired for smaller artists, and many struggle to ever see a dime when their music is played in such instances.
We think we have a new way of giving back to the artists, labels and even curators who are a part of our radio station, 9128.live and some of the many takeovers we have hosted.
We have partnered with Currents.fm, which is a ‘Patreon’-style subscriber platform, specific to the music community. By subscribing to our new Currents.fm page, you get to access previously aired sets from 9128.live. Until now, we had left the republishing of sets up to the artist after a takeover (like the recent anecumene festival), and that’s still an option - however, going forward artists will now have the option to include their set as an exclusive to the 9128.live subscribers, and get paid for it.
We will pay the artists a one-time fee to host a set; re-up, for subscribers only for a limited amount of time. By becoming a subscriber, you get access to these sets - either to stream again or in some instances (where the artist gives permission) the ability to download.
Each month, we will pick a set from the 9128.live takeover archives and publish to subscribers. We may also pay some of the partner labels as part of the platform, or we may invest it into a future takeover. We have a few ideas on how this can become creative and helpful to everyone.
We have just paid for our first re-up - $100 for James Bernard’s latest live set as part of anecumene festival. A beautiful six-string Bass and Acid set, featuring his wife Cynthia on vocals.
This is more $ than many artists will make in years with Spotify or radio royalties, and James still owns the rights to the music and can do with it as he pleases in the future.
We also hope to reach a point with subscriptions where we can reinvest back into the platform too — more bandwidth, or improvements to the service - but first, the music.
Lastly, as above, we aim to be transparent on what is being paid to artists so you can see where your $ subscription is going and who it is benefiting.
You can subscribe here on Currents.fm for as little as $2.50 per month. And there’s more info on our vision over on the 9128.live website.
Thank you, and a big thanks to James and the artists we already have lined up to help get this off the ground!
