Our unique user-centric model pays artists fairly for each play while listeners explore music at a price similar to other platforms. On corporate platforms a track needs hundreds, even thousands of plays for an artist to make one euro/dollar.
At Resonate Co-op, we can do it in nine.
Once a song is listened to nine times, it's paid for and added to the listener's collection to be streamed for free - forever. Artists get paid directly for plays, free of click farms and payola schemes.
As a co-operative owned by artists, listeners, and workers, we decide what we value, what we build, and where our money goes. We control our future here, together. Join up.
Fair for listeners.
No monthly subscriptions. No ads. No corporation selling your data. No bots telling you what to like.
To listen to music, buy credits for your account: 5, 10, 15 etc. Each time you listen to a song, you spend a small fraction of your credit. With our model, the money you spend goes directly to the artists you listen to, and you only pay when you're actually listening.
We set a fair price on what a track can earn per listener. Next to each song you can see how many times you've listened (up to nine plays). Create a listener or artist account and you'll start with about an hour of credits, just so you can begin to get a feel for things.
Curious about what you'll spend on Resonate? It depends on what kind of listener you are:
the explorer
"I want something new every day."
10€ ($11.20) at Resonate provides around 4 hours of listening a day – 30 days a month – to wander our catalog. That's equivalent to a basic monthly subscription on corporate services, but as Resonate doesn't have a monthly subscription fee, you won't pay when you don't listen.
the collector
"I know what I like and I tend to stick with it."
After you've purchased or played a track nine times, you've paid in full. Resonate then houses the track as a music library full of your music, now free to stream. As a result, the cost of using Resonate decreases over time, as music is added to your collection.
the seasonal
"I like a mixture of new and old favourites."
For all types of listeners, exploring the Resonate catalog is nearly free. The price only rises as you listen to songs on repeat. What does that mean exactly?
For the first few listens of a track, the price remains less than a 1 cent in total for the listener. Yet on Resonate, listening to a song only a few times multiplies the artist's earnings by three to four times compared to the biggest corporate services.
By your sixth listen of a track, its price to play is still less than 10 cents a stream, but the artist is being paid twenty times what they’d be paid on a corporate streaming platform.
For more info on pricing and credits, check the listener guides in our Handbook.
Fair for artists.
Resonate uses a unique user-centric payment system, where listeners start as explorers, and then become backers. As an artist, every play of your music supports you directly.
Our co-op guarantees at least 1 cent per play to artists: around 10€ ($11.20) per 1,000 discovery streams. Plus, with our model, if a single listener streams the same track 9 times, the track earns around 1.25€ ($1.40).
Artists get paid for every play unless they choose to offer free tracks, ensuring peace of mind for musicians and the communities who want to see them thrive.
From track earnings, artists and rights-holders receive 70%. 30% stays in our co-op for paying workers, building new features, escrow, and writer royalties. Resonate pays out artists and rights-holders once they earn 10€ ($11.20) on the platform.
As a co-op, Resonate's profits go back to our members, artists included. Once you've uploaded a track to Resonate, you're eligible for membership at the co-op. Sign up, upload your music, and take control.
For more info on earnings and payouts, check the artist guides in our Handbook.
What's next?
This payment model – called stream2own – has been a big experiment toward creating a fairer model for all. With it, Resonate pays artists many times over the standard rate per play, on average, while guaranteeing 1 cent per play.
We've learned a lot during this time and have set our sights even further. These are just a few of the questions we are asking ourselves:
- How can we ensure long-form music is fairly compensated?
- How can listeners enjoy their collection offline in lossless quality?
- How can we give artists more control over pricing?
- How can we provide a place for podcasts and other creative works?
- How can listeners and artists connect in new ways?
- How can we support and collaborate with each other, not just between artists and listeners, but across like-minded platforms?
- How can we amplify the social power of music?
Aside from the Resonate Player itself, the heart of our global community is our forum, where members chat, share stories, and dream away on how we change and grow. Join us here, get in on the conversation, help to fund our projects, and lend a hand so that we can build a better streaming platform.