Dear community,

I am thinking about introducing a revenue share model in the future. That means that contributors would get rewarded financially for uploading- for example with a 'per sound' rate.

I would like to give something back to the community and this could potentially boost uploads and help us grow the library in a much faster rate.

Its a model called 'crowdsourcing' where people collaborate through the web to create something (iStockphoto does something similar).

However, I fear that:

1) This could lead to lower quality of samples and copyright infringement

2) It could drain us financially, if we are obliged to accept most sounds and have to pay every contributor

3) We might have to start selling the sounds (for a low price), apply a membership model or limit free downloads to a certain number and sell advanced memberships for unlimited use.

Of course, the two first issues can be sorted to a certain extent by controlling which sounds are uploaded through admin filtering.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this important issue

- Do you think that there would be many more pros uploading if there was a financial reward?

- Is this something you would like to see happen with the community?

- How do you think we can grow into the top sound resource of the world?

i agree to Simon and here are my suggestions:

1) the top 1000 loops/files (most downloads, highest rates) will become at the owner's expense

2) 5 user from different styles are able to select the loops/files

3)every user can choose itself which loops are liable for costs.

Thanks for this great site
kind regards to all users

fri

"We might have to start selling the sounds (for a low price), apply a membership model or limit free downloads to a certain number and sell advanced memberships for unlimited use."

In my eyes, definitely the way to go if the site does decide to start selling and/or require membership. I think this site being free makes it what it is, so charging per sound simply wouldn't work. However, having a few free downloads per day with optional membership would get more people signing up, perhaps subsidised membership costs for those who contribute (Thus getting more people contributing to get cheaper membership).

First of all, I want to remind you all that this is just brainstorming and raw ideas. I wouldn't want to make any promises that I won't keep. However, these are my thoughts at the moment:

- I agree with Tifstorey that a membership model would work best, meanwhile allowing a certain amount of free downloads. In fact, I think that a paid or partially paid model wouldn't work that well.

- There would have to be a transitional period where the library is cleaned up from all the sounds that are not very high quality. This of course would dissatisfy many users that will see their sounds deleted, but would raise our overall quality.

- Users whose sounds still remain on the site and have not been deleted, will be paid with the same method that new users will be paid, probably with a certain rate per sound.

- There will probably have to be a minimum amount of sounds that a user needs to have before they can request a payment. That will help us avoid having to send out a million checks for various small amounts.

- There might have to be a process for users to become contributors so that they have to submit a short bio and links to their work. This will confirm the originality of the sounds and that they have credits in the film or music industry. That would add confidence in the legality and quality of the library.

brainstorming is good...

i'm thinking a debit/credit system could work....the user builds up "credit" for uploaded sounds...then can use the "money" to purchase sounds to download... "debit"...that way soundsnap wouldn't have to post as many checks around the world...granted you will still have users that upload more than they download...and a transfer is still in order...

i am concerned a bought soundsnap becoming just another comercial sound library....
the "uniqueness" of soundsnap lost forever!

and... what abought the soundsnap licence...
YOU CANNOT:
make "commercial distribution of these sounds" 'as they are'. for example,you cannot download and "sell" them as part of a library...

soundsnap would need to redefine the terms.....

also... the "sounds request" part of the site could take a hit...what payment "amount" would uploaded "requested" files receive compaired to standard files...and at what cost to download?

also... will a 2min. file be worth the same as a 2sec. file...
some users are verry good at composing music...2min file...and others are better at capturing sound... 2sec. file...

what happends to a user that has no links to their work? or is not a pro...

the users that get bounced from the site might become pro's one day...and will remember how they where treated when they got bounced from the site...

if a user chose to opt out...(this is not me)...how will you insure their sounds will not be used after they leave soundsnap?... a simple delete may not be enough for some users...we all know the sounds are still on the hard drives...

maybe a parallel pro. site would be easy'r...

just some thoughts i have...
squid...

Yeah I agree the rating systems is not working - sometimes for no ovious reason good sounds and textures are rated very poorly whereas really not professional and cheezy sounds have a much better rating. So what is the rating system good for after all? The number of downloads should at least be involved in the rating system imo.