Selocial Helps Indie Musos Get Paid
David Baird, known as Stock to some, is a songwriter/producer/entrepreneur who has spent a lot of his time trying to think up ways that could help indie musicians get paid for their work. He has found a manner in which he is able to connect his various passions by creating Selocial: a social network tool that allows for music discovery that went live recently.
Support to the Social Network Feeds We’re Continuously Publishing
Selocial allows its users to share videos and pictures in the same way that Instagram and Facebook do, but with the addition of a backing track, or even a series of these, in the form of a playlist.
Baird has been active in the music industry for over ten years, and has had songs included in the film White Chicks and the House of Lies Showtime series. He has been developing and refining the Selocial application with his own funds since its inception back in 2013, of the firm conviction that the only other way bands could start making extra money would be by playing the visa roulette now so widely available online!
The Evolution of Selocial
Baird initially envisioned a social network driven by fans wherein users could post their favourite songs in order to set a mood and narrate over photo sequences. He has since changed his vision, however, deciding to make Selocial a base for fans to discover, purchase, and share songs instead. This essentially turns them into a virtual street-team, assisting in offering their favourite artists a boost, and also allows musicians to publicise their own work by means of their personal accounts.
Artists Need More Support in the Market
Baird explains that the reasoning behind Selocial is that it offers artists more support in the market, which they were desperately in need of. Amazon takes up to 50% of all downloads, and iTunes 30%, and Baird said that this was part of the vision for Selocial, giving fans and artists alike a Bandcamp-type platform, but with additional options and tools. As so much time is spent online, it only made sense that artist could exploit avenues that benefitted them more than large corporations.
Nowadays artists have better opportunities to monetize their projects/art (i.e. NFTs, which to purchase people have to buy Ethereum first), but five years ago there weren’t so many opportunities. David Braid had to come up with something. Artists now seek out ways to Buy dogecoin and other emerging NFT trends, in hopes of leveraging that into further recognition.
Selocial Offers Musicians a Payments System
Selocial has a payment system in place for musicians, and this has fans buying songs or tipping their favourite artists. The company itself makes its money by charging a tiny fee for each sale that takes place, and is proud to be one of the first online music companies that accepts bitcoin as a method of payment. Selocial further provides smart tracking for all sales and tips.
Baird added that, were he to sell a song to Bandcamp or Google Play, it would be his job to overview the contract to see if he needed to pay performers or writers on the song. Selocial, however, has created a tracking system, patent pending, that gives its artists detailed reports as to what amount of money is owed to who. Selocial also allows artists to set a minimum for their tips, and permits fans to offer a tip even if the song they are interested is in the middle of a mix of songs by multiple musicians.
