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Should LTB charge for its podcasts

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dsmalone

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Location: Austin, TX

At the fear of retribution from the LTB community I simply want to float an idea for consideration. Items that have more value (quality, usefulness, branding) tend to command a higher price. Why should podcast be any different?

The quality and value that Adam's podcast create are so much higher than any other podcast available, imho.

Proposal: Offer 80% of the LTB podcast for free to all listeners then to "unlock" the last 20% of the podcast you either have to pay in LTBcoin or BTC. For example, the next episode of LTB features the main guest and then a "special" bonus feature of the podcast is an exclusive interview with Andreas about updates on his new book. Listeners who value content about Andreas could pay to hear that portion of the podcast or elect not to.

I think the days of traditional advertising on media platforms as the main revenue stream are numbered. Cryptocurrencies are going to finally usher in the era of micropayments for content. Maybe the Vennd.io could be used to easily dispense these "special" portions of the podcast.

Episode 87 "The Captive and the Mountain" where you interviewed Charlie Schrem after his arrest. If you had played 1/2 the episode then required payment for the second 1/2, I think a majority of your listeners would have gladly paid.

Maybe this idea has already been floated but I thought I would add to the Lounge for discussion.

Best,

Dale.

Posted on July 19, 2014 at 3:25 PM

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• adam

  

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  Location: California, USA

  I'm going to withhold my opinion and encourage ya'll to talk this out.

  Posted on July 19, 2014 at 3:37 PM
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• Spengler

  

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  I'm not sure on this one, it all depends on how the numbers would balance out. I'm sure some listeners would pay for anything they can get their hands on. The podcasts are often intriguing, and somewhat addictive.

  On the other hand, having to pay for selected material would act as a barrier to entry for people who aren't yet into this Bitcoin stuff. As it stands currently, anyone who would consider listening to podcasts and who may find themselves wondering about ctyptocurrencies may well end up listening to LTB. If parts of podcasts were no longer free, new listeners could get frustrated. The podcast would have to be enthralling for newbies to bother paying for the extra material. If mass adoption of crypto or the LTB network is the goal, this could be a hindrance.

  I'm basing my opinions on my view that a lot of people dislike having to pay for stuff which they're used to getting for free, (even if it is only micropayments we're talking about). I'm not really in a position to know what I'm talking about here, but this is one obvious perspective, which I've chosen to state just to start off the discussion.

  Posted on July 19, 2014 at 4:19 PM
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• IvanB

  

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  Location: New York

  I would say no, at least for the time being. Adam is trying to build an entire ecosystem with content, value tokens (currency), proof of participation, etc. I imagine that there will be constant tweaks to the formulas used to reward listeners, participants and content producers which eventually could include subscription or individual content fees.

  However, for now and possibly indefinitely it doesn't make sense to do anything which puts up a roadblock for more participation. The content generated on/for LTB certainly has value - there wouldn't be 10-20K of listeners otherwise. Adam's now putting that value to work by using it as a bootstrapping method for creating LTB transferable and redeemable store credit aka LTBCoin. This is the experiment and we'll all get a front row seat to see how quickly it can grow from here on out.

  Personally, I'm curious to see how much of an investment in the LTB forum it'll take to eventually draw significant mindshare away from the original bitcointalk forum.

  Posted on July 19, 2014 at 4:26 PM
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• popinjay

  

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  I could see in the future having a paid portion the ltb network, but for now I don't think it's a good idea. The whole network needs to be built out and supported and it's hard to get paying customers for abstract concepts like this. Even bitcoin is not well known to the general public. You know... the first sample has to be free!

  Posted on July 19, 2014 at 4:32 PM
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• Scipio

  

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  @spengler I'm not sure on this one, it all depends on how the numbers would balance out. I'm sure some listeners would pay for anything they can get their hands on. The podcasts are often intriguing, and somewhat addictive.

  On the other hand, having to pay for selected material would act as a barrier to entry for people who aren't yet into this Bitcoin stuff. As it stands currently, anyone who would consider listening to podcasts and who may find themselves wondering about ctyptocurrencies may well end up listening to LTB. If parts of podcasts were no longer free, new listeners could get frustrated. The podcast would have to be enthralling for newbies to bother paying for the extra material. If mass adoption of crypto or the LTB network is the goal, this could be a hindrance.

  I'm basing my opinions on my view that a lot of people dislike having to pay for stuff which they're used to getting for free, (even if it is only micropayments we're talking about). I'm not really in a position to know what I'm talking about here, but this is one obvious perspective, which I've chosen to state just to start off the discussion.

  Completely agree.

  I was actually writing up something to this end but you beat me to it. I would also add the Podcast community is very open source and free content oriented. Additionally, many of the RSS providers, such as Apple itunes, do not allow fee based podcasts. By charging for podcasts Adam will potentially loose out on much needed user visibility (subscribers), which is a big deal if your looking to grow a community. Perhaps in the future when name recognition is bigger but even then . . .

  Posted on July 19, 2014 at 4:40 PM
  Last Edited: July 19, 2014 at 4:41 PM
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• irnhnve

  

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  I think this could be a viable option in the future, but would ultimately deter more new listeners/bitcoin users than it would attract. In a new users mind, this would most likely see this as a grab for listeners money which doesn't now help the preconceived idea they may have that bitcoin is a scam. If this is not their first thought, then its just another hurdle they have to overcome and deal with as they attempt to learn the basics of crypto.

  Maybe in the future, but certainly not now or anytime soon.

  Posted on July 19, 2014 at 5:42 PM
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• TorstenEndOfMoney

  

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  Location: Oztralia

  I'd vote for NO. If LTB charged 0.99$ per epsiode, the audience would drop by 95% and migrate to other free Bitcoin podcasts. However, I reckon that premium podcasts/audiobooks could make sense for the network to generate extra cash. Recently I heard of an audio book version of Satoshi's original paper, that's a neat idea, or maybe a compilation of a 'beginners guide', or behind the scenes uncut interviews from a large conference, ... I am sure, though, that Adam's plans for LTB Network's future has many many more other clever ideas. growing the audience is probably more important now than monetizing content (other than via ads). just my 2 cents

  Posted on July 19, 2014 at 10:56 PM
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• CrimsonRoze

  

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  Location: Göteborg, Sweden

  I was under the impression that we did pay for our podcasts already - by listening to the advertisment.

  Adding a paywall would most likely diminish the advertisment value and in extention also the advertisment revenue.

  To be honest though, I have no idea how LTB is planning to make a profit of the advertisment as it is today though, since they give the LTBc away for free, only accept the LTBc for the airtime and made a public statement forbidding them from selling LTBc tokens.

  Maybe it's some long-term thing. Or maybe they just want to help distribute value and don't care for money. All I know is that my LTBc is piling up and I very much plan to use it to promote crypto related projects.

  Posted on July 19, 2014 at 11:04 PM
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• Mutatu

  

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  Location: Dorset UK

  How about everyone who owns some cryptocurrency has to pay an annual fee to LTB under the threat of a prison sentence?

  Posted on July 19, 2014 at 11:43 PM
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• adam

  

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  Location: California, USA

  Also, it should be noted that I voluntarily committed to not sell any of the LTBc I earned last year (since I am the largest holder) until the market develops some depth and stability, which it seems to be doing at around 400 satoshis.

  I'm not planning to sell any, but just keep in mind that was not much of a commitment and was for when we are starting out. We will be doing lots of things with our LTBc, but already it has allowed us to staff up and increase our development speed (although this will take some time to show)

  Posted on July 20, 2014 at 12:19 AM
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