A few words about Give

On January 12th, we hosted a small event at 33 Acres Brewing. While the focus was mainly on a fantastic meal and an intimate performance by Andy Shauf, we managed to say a few words. Here is the speech for future reference:

We’re honoured that such a fantastic group of people are with us in this beautiful room to talk about something that we’ve been talking about for quite some time. The conversation is about a Gift: an expression of gratitude with future potential.

While the internet continues to provide greater access to digital music than has ever been experienced, the traditional economies are eroding. This has been obvious since about 1999 with the first popularization of peer to peer sharing (Napster). Ever since, people have been desiring that effortless listening experience, but old models of commerce continually attempt to constrain the growth of these environments.

We are offering a supplement to the past and future methods of artist support, a Gift.

The internet is driven by actions and connections, and while liking something or listening to something has potential for revenue it flattens the value of everything to be the same.

“I like this or I don’t.”
“This band has 500,000 listens, and this band has 5.”

While value can be interpreted by these actions, they are not expressions of value. They aren’t much more than a simple connection between a fan and an artist or a record of an action. A Gift is an action in which valuation is bound to the connection. It assumes that the giver has some familiarity with the receivers work, and it suggests some future potential for more.

I keep saying “Gift,” so what am I talking about.

Give enables anyone to give any amount of money to any musical artist directly. We have an artist database of around 3.2 million profiles and we continue to evolve it. On your table there is a card with an address on the back. Go to that address and you can reach out to any musical artist that you wish in the way that I just described. The artifact that you create is called a Gift.

It’s a record of your connection with the artist you chose. A single Gift can be anywhere between 1 and 1 thousand dollars, and you can leave a message to qualify your support. If the artist profile is verified, they will be notified of that Gift and be paid at the next payout. If the profile is not verified, your money will be bound to that account as a beacon for the artist to claim it. If you share your Gift with the artist on Twitter, there is a greater likelihood of them seeing it, and if you rally your friends around support for that artist on other social networks, you may make for a more enticing reason for the artist to claim and verify the account.

So why would you Give?

Because everyone loves music. It’s a universal language that is one of the strongest human expressions and it hasn’t yet found its way in the 21st century. With all of the ways in which an artist can make money, many with large followings have a hard time considering their artistic creation their sole profession.

If you, as a listener, consider the value that their music has on your life and you access their music in ways that don’t compensate appropriately, then you may want to consider other ways to support this artist.

Let’s talk about some of these ways:

Buy their album
Well you already have it, or have access to it, so your purchase will be redundant. Not to mention the distribution chain will likely consume majority of your intention.

Contribute to their Crowdfunding campaign
While this is a fantastic option for direct support, the artist that you are interested in most likely doesn’t have a campaign at the time you want to support.

Go to the show
Touring is expensive and not all artists tour everywhere. On top of that unless they write music best on the road, this limits their potential of making new music.

Buy Merchandise
While I love bands, I haven’t worn a band T-Shirt since 2005.

Send a gift in the mail
If you are clever enough to obtain a copy of their address, and have cash or a cheque to send, and the time to do this, great.

Our mission is to operate a sustainable service that maximizes that amount of money distributed to artists. Of all of these ways, we would hope you would chose Give.

So why are you here?

The premise of this event is a conversation because it’s the dialogue of this idea that propels its growth. We’re committed to ensuring that this service exists in the world and now need people to know and understand it. We are no longer restricting the access to Give having opened the doors of our “invite only” status last week and are now focusing our efforts on expanding our reach.

Johnny and I see Give as a necessary piece in music’s future, but it takes a community to make something like this work. If there is a part of you that agrees with us, well we should probably have a conversation.