NEWS: Newcastle musician kickstarts Fairstream, a new fair pay streaming platform

Enterprising Newcastle-based musician Idene Roozbayani is keen to redress the balance when it comes to how artists make money from streaming services. His brand new streaming platform, Fairstream, aims to build meaningful connections between artists and fans, and offer musicians fair pay into the bargain.

“The current version of music streaming has stopped individuals from being able to give their money to their favourite artists. That’s how it used to be – you’d pay for the record. Now, you give your money to Spotify or iTunes or whatever else. They keep most of it and give tiny bits back to the artists. Artists who now have to work second jobs because an app takes all their money. The link between the fan and the artist was severed – and Fairstream is going to restore that.”

Fairstream is a subscription-free service, with listeners only paying for what they stream. High quality versions of tracks are ‘unlocked’ for low fixed prices and artists receive 80% for every ‘unlock’. Fans can also directly subscribe to the artists they love, meaning greater interaction and meaningful connections.

“There’s plenty of money in music. Artists just can’t grow properly under the current subscription model. Fairstream uses a pay-as-you-go system. You pay for what you want to hear, at its best. You pay for the music you love – and most importantly, you support the artist directly.”

Idene explains how the platform would work: “On our platform, artists make money directly and pay us a small fee. In return, they get access to a £1 p/m subscription system for their wall content – and they keep 100% of that revenue.”

The platform is launching with a Kickstarter campaign to enable it to flourish.