Introducing OpenBundle

This is the third and final post in a series. Part 1 diagnoses the problem facing publishers as no longer being in the role of delivering their own content, and part 2 proposes a solution centered around using the attractiveness of a bundle to get people to pay, while avoiding a middleman.

OpenBundle is the “Spotify” for written content, so to speak.

To consumers, $15 per month will gain them access to premium content from 9 sources of their choosing. They use OpenBundle to manage their payment method and choose their publications — but not as a reading destination. The content is consumed out in the open web, on the publishers’ sites, and in their apps, feeds, and newsletters. We think this is important to the health of the open web, and believe that open need not mean free.

To publishers, OpenBundle is a tool to take advantage of the consumer attractiveness and economics of a bundle, without making the trade-off of trusting a middleman. They own the reader relationship for those who choose to subscribe to their publication(s) within OpenBundle.

OpenBundle is comprised of 4 things:

OpenBundle protocol

Built on Ethereum, the protocol establishes a set of bundling, splitting, and subscription billing rules that no one person or organization can change. The rules will be governed by OpenBundle’s stakeholders. The most important of these rules are how much it costs and what it gets you. Although not final, our working assumption is that the protocol will require $14/mo and give access to 9 publication “channels” of the subscriber’s choosing. Additional channels can then be purchased one at a time at the same rate, if more are desired.

INK token

Part of the protocol, INK serves to incentivize OpenBundle’s growth. 10% of subscription revenue is shared by holders of INK in proportion to their holding. That forms a valuable carrot, which is used to reward the 2 things that matter most: referring subscribers and recruiting publishers to the network. This is also how we, the creators of OpenBundle, make money — by owning a portion of INK, which will be generated at the start of the project.

OpenBundle Subscribe

A centralized web application to abstract away the complications of the underlying protocol by providing a user interface for subscribers to manage their subscription, including the ability to pay by credit card. We anticipate selling access to OpenBundle for $15/mo, with the extra dollar to pay for credit card fees and Ethereum gas costs. We don’t have exclusivity over access to the protocol, so anyone can build a competing tool. We’re just building the first thin client to get things started.

OpenBundle Publish

A centralized web application for publishers to list their content as part of OpenBundle and be notified when subscriptions start and stop. Like the subscriber app, competition is fully possible and welcomed.

FAQ

1. Why this way, instead of carriage fees, like TV? In TV, the number of networks is much smaller. Small enough where it makes sense that a bundler can decide which to gather up in a package, then negotiate with each network individually on carriage fees, then sell it to the consumer at a higher price. In other words, carriage fees make sense when the bundler is putting together the bundle, which is feasible in TV. With OpenBundle, due to the potentially tens of thousands of publishers that could eventually exist in the network, and the varied nature of topics and geographies covered, it makes much more sense to give 9 empty channels to the consumer and allow them to build the bundle of their choice. Their selections take care of keeping the splits fair; carriage fees not necessary (another reason a protocol can do this job).
2. Why this way, instead of license fees, like Spotify? Written content is different than music. With music, it’s access to the back catalog that’s most important. It makes sense to determine revenue splits by tracking which songs are plucked out of the jukebox most often. But with writing, it’s the promise of future content that’s most important. Keeping the money flow hitched to subscription decisions at the publisher level incentivizes them to continue to be a quality, trusted source. Paying out based on page views would incentivize quantity over quality. Yet another reason a protocol can do this job, but it couldn’t yet do Spotify’s.
3. Is the blockchain necessary for this? Yes, because a company playing the middleman role here would eventually seek to extract most of the profits, and, would likely be able to pull it off. I wrote about this in more detail in When Protocols Replace Companies.
4. How much INK does the founding team plan on taking? We’re not settled on it yet, but, we think around or exactly 10%. We’re also creating a pool from which to grant INK signing bonuses as a one time incentive to launch partner publishers.
5. Does the math work out for publishers? Yes, thanks to bundle economics and potentially tiered pricing. Check out part 2 for many words and several graphs on this question.

Want to help?

If you’re into what we’re doing, there are 2 things you can do to help:

1. The “keeping me up at night” thing right now is getting enough publishers to participate at launch so that an attractive bundle is formed. If you run (or know someone who runs) a publication which has a paywall or is considering one, please contact me directly at tim@openbundle.io or reach at openbundle.io/publishers.
2. If you’re a potential future subscriber, we’d love to hear from you too. Join the waitlist here openbundle.io/join and drop us a note.