Incentivizing fans with offers to spread the word about their favorite artist is good way to drive and track engagements, but what about those looking to spread the word about just good content? Should they be incentivized as well? The founders of reKiosk seem to think so, and have created a way for independent artists to distribute their work while crediting (and awarding) those who have helped them raise the awareness.
reKiosk is an interesting concept of selling music directly to fans, but more focus is placed on having them sell for you. The Brooklyn-based company has essentially created a curator-driven marketplace that delivers the majority of any sale to the content's creator and the curator. The idea is that bloggers, influencers and tastemakers can direct people to his or her reKisok store rather than iTunes, where they can receive 25% of any sale. reKiosk takes 5%, while the content creator gets the remaining 70%.
“reKiosk is a website, built from the ground-up, for people who love independent media," reKiosk's CEO Aziz Isham told Hypebot. “We provide a sleek and easy system for digital sales, and allow other people to act as your distributor - receiving a share of your sales in exchange for selling and promoting your media. Bloggers, publishers, major labels and independent musicians all exist on the same platform, governed by the same set of rules. reKiosk is like a thousand small, indie record shops under one giant digital tent."
reKiosk uses Dwolla to process payments (rather than PayPal) and administers them once a month to avoid fees related to per-song micropayments. The company works with independent publishers in both music and literature has plans of offering a freemium model for power users to list more items. The company, still in beta, will take down its registration wall later this month.
“We believe in curated search — and in trying to recapture the feel of the corner record stores that have, unfortunately, been victim to e-commerce and big box stores," Isham added. “To that end, music on reKiosk is discovered by checking out lots of small, independent, digital kiosks — each one curated by a person, not an algorithm."
Early feedback for reKiosk has been said to be positive, having been called “an amazingly powerful tool for the 21st century music industry" by Pledge Music CEO Benji Rogers and “the biggest thing in retail since Jeff Bezos left Wall Street for Seattle" by OR Books publisher Colin Robertson.
It's tough to gauge how receptive musicians would be to a service like this though, and it really depends on what their primary goals are - driving awareness, or earning money from recorded music sales. Obviously both can be achieved with reKiosk, but this product is seemingly a bigger win for tastemakers and influencers rather than musicians. 70% is a fair cut considering the layers at work here, but the experience could be nothing more than disposable transaction for the artist.
We will follow up with reKiosk again later down the road once they are out of beta and get a sense of just how influential they've been to the bottom line and awareness levels of musicians.
reKiosk is an interesting concept of selling music directly to fans, but more focus is placed on having them sell for you. The Brooklyn-based company has essentially created a curator-driven marketplace that delivers the majority of any sale to the content's creator and the curator. The idea is that bloggers, influencers and tastemakers can direct people to his or her reKisok store rather than iTunes, where they can receive 25% of any sale. reKiosk takes 5%, while the content creator gets the remaining 70%.
“reKiosk is a website, built from the ground-up, for people who love independent media," reKiosk's CEO Aziz Isham told Hypebot. “We provide a sleek and easy system for digital sales, and allow other people to act as your distributor - receiving a share of your sales in exchange for selling and promoting your media. Bloggers, publishers, major labels and independent musicians all exist on the same platform, governed by the same set of rules. reKiosk is like a thousand small, indie record shops under one giant digital tent."
reKiosk uses Dwolla to process payments (rather than PayPal) and administers them once a month to avoid fees related to per-song micropayments. The company works with independent publishers in both music and literature has plans of offering a freemium model for power users to list more items. The company, still in beta, will take down its registration wall later this month.
“We believe in curated search — and in trying to recapture the feel of the corner record stores that have, unfortunately, been victim to e-commerce and big box stores," Isham added. “To that end, music on reKiosk is discovered by checking out lots of small, independent, digital kiosks — each one curated by a person, not an algorithm."
Early feedback for reKiosk has been said to be positive, having been called “an amazingly powerful tool for the 21st century music industry" by Pledge Music CEO Benji Rogers and “the biggest thing in retail since Jeff Bezos left Wall Street for Seattle" by OR Books publisher Colin Robertson.
It's tough to gauge how receptive musicians would be to a service like this though, and it really depends on what their primary goals are - driving awareness, or earning money from recorded music sales. Obviously both can be achieved with reKiosk, but this product is seemingly a bigger win for tastemakers and influencers rather than musicians. 70% is a fair cut considering the layers at work here, but the experience could be nothing more than disposable transaction for the artist.
We will follow up with reKiosk again later down the road once they are out of beta and get a sense of just how influential they've been to the bottom line and awareness levels of musicians.
