If you are a regular to my postings, you know I have been beating the drum steadily about the idea of a tip jar.
Once I get a critical mass going, I believe Spotify will need to make a move to deploy a tip jar. They already have direct financial contact with their premium subscribers.
In much the same way that Apple and your mobile carrier makes it brain dead simple to make a purchase (they have your financial payment details and your confidence), the simplest path to deploy a tip jar is to leverage that existing relationship.
Clearly, the mindset of a tip jar is becoming widespread online, with Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and Patreon being the most notable examples.
YouTube has a tool called Fan Funding that lets you donate. Like the three examples in the prior paragraph, there are various steps to go through before you can set up your tip jar. When the busker on the street corner hangs out his tip jar (usually a guitar case), you make your gut decision on his legitimacy in a couple seconds. Online, it is logical that there are a few more hurdles to sift out the most egregious abusers.
In the case of YouTube’s Fan Funding application, some folks complain that it ties you to Google Wallet as yet another way that Google becomes all knowing and ubiquitous. The application is also a pathway for selling merch, which is admittedly clever but drifts us away from the philanthropic nature of a tip jar. There are also some requirements that you are enrolled in the Google AdSense program, and if you are part of a network of channels it gets sticky.
In closing, I was pointed to a labor of love out of Brooklyn. It is a simple site where creators post their work and folks can add a tip. Creators can also place a button on their own site. The downside? There are a few challenges, but none of them surprising: a 20% commission, donors need to enter their credit card info and feel comfortable doing so, creators need to divulge their Social security number and it a US-only application.
As Spotify makes its plans to be the global streaming platform for music, why not a tip jar for musicians?
