from Hacker News

Tip any song or musician with Bitcoin

by jwomers on 5/13/14, 6:34 PM with 44 comments

• by sferoze on 5/13/14, 8:15 PM

  This is really amazing. I hope your service receives a lot of success.

  One problem is that many people don't have bitcoin even if it is the best way to pay. Many people are uncomfortable buying bitcoins.

  Amazon micropayment service lets you pay with credit card transaction anywhere from $0.05 to $9.99 with a 5% + .05 cent transaction fee. Which isn't as good as bitcoin but it is still pretty good as far as credit card fees go.

  https://payments.amazon.com/help/Amazon-Flexible-Payments-Se...

  Many small micro-payments can really add up. This can be huge for content creators. I would really like to give tips to people who create educational science videos, open source software, open source hardware, write detailed tutorials for hardware and software projects, take the time to help me on forums, etc. Many content creators on the internet have helped me. I might not want to give a lot to each but I can give a small tip. Which can still make a difference to the creator if many people also do the same.

  I think if they charged a fee for the tip it would be a more standard business model and people would not find it as exciting. It seems more direct to customer this way without the man in the middle dilemma for content creators. Also charging a fee in addition to the transaction fee would make it increasingly difficult to tip the creator a small amount. I think the fact they don't charge a fee on top of the transaction fee is out of necessity.

• by MisterWalter on 5/13/14, 7:33 PM

  My main concern is that I don't see how they get any money out of it. Normally I'm fine with free services, for obvious reasons, but it strikes me as concerning that this requires quite a bit of work and money, both over the long term, but they have no visible payoff. The only way I see it being viable in the long term is if they take our money. I'd like to see this as a % fee of some sort but I worry that it is either doomed or a scam.

• by jwomers on 5/13/14, 6:53 PM

  Hi everyone, Cheers Cofounder here. We're trying to make the world a smaller place, connecting fans with those that make what they love, and enabling content creators. We'd love to hear feedback on our platform. Cheers!

• by drue on 5/13/14, 10:03 PM

  How will you avoid being sued by artist's representation (i.e. record labels, RIAA, etc)? I would also be highly concerned about validating the recipient of the money, especially since they're unlikely to reach out directly.

  The best you could do is purchase music from the musician though the least-fee-laden service available, so they get the most money legally possible.

• by tinkerrr on 5/13/14, 9:34 PM

  1. Consider providing a 'status' of the money tipped, so people know the artist actually got the money and they didn't send it into a blackhole.

  2. Dogecoin is a must - shouldn't be too hard if you have Bitcoin already. The communities are very different.

  3. Services like Tinkercoin allow you to buy a small amount of Bitcoin with credit card. Consider adding this info for the fans to get a small amount of Bitcoins.

  4. There are some musicians in the space who are big into Bitcoin, like Tatiana Moroz. You can contact them to promote your site in the music and Bitcoin communities.

  Good luck!

• by LukeB_UK on 5/13/14, 7:25 PM

  If you don't take any fee from the tip, how does your product intend to make money? Just curious.

• by shmerl on 5/13/14, 7:52 PM

  I like the idea! How do you reach the artists if they don't have their own bitcoin wallets?

• by VaucGiaps on 5/13/14, 7:19 PM

  Awesome idea. Hope this will work! I suggest you buy a ssl certificate. This will build trust.

• by stonogo on 5/13/14, 9:06 PM

  Express your love for the artist with an underhanded political polemic!

• by jff on 5/13/14, 9:08 PM

  "Like a busker's hat... BUT WITH BITCOIN!"