“When a subscriber pays $8 for Vocana and listens to just four artists, those artists each get $2”: This indie platform reckons it’s onto the future of streamingVocana, a new music service with a “truly user-centric payout model”, is now in its public beta testing phase.
As well as boasting fair compensation for artists, the platform also offers fan contact information for artists and a full range of MySpace-inspired social features. According to Vocana, it’s built around the goals and habits of musicians and fans, rather than labels or algorithms.

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Vocana has inked deals with CD Baby and DistroKid already, and reportedly has more on the way. It was co-founded by entrepreneurs Jim Knight and Dale Chorba, who want to resolve the “streaming penny fraction”, and enlisted the help of industry expert Neil Sheehan.
According to a press release from the company, emerging and niche artists will earn from their very first stream within Vocana: “In simplest terms, Vocana’s model means that when a subscriber pays $8 for Vocana and listens to just four artists, those artists each get $2, instead of sharing a fraction of a penny with Drake and Bieber and millions of others paid out from one big pot of money,” it explains.
Along with giving emerging and indie artists a fairer share of the royalties, its payout model also precludes fraud, as “there’s no way to divert subscriber fees to artists these subscribers didn’t listen to”.
Vocana also presents artists with data about who is listening to their music, and fans can opt-in to share their emails with artists they like. They can also chat with other fans within the platform, notably through the use of hubs that act as digital hang out spaces, and are dedicated to specific genres or artists.
Its playlists are human-curated, and artists will eventually be able to pitch these curators directly from within Vocana by filling out a form. These curators are non-commercial radio DJs, “tastemakers”, and music influencers.

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“Independent music is on the precipice of blowing up, and not just in streaming. The indie sector is growing faster than the overall music market, and by some estimates should reach more than $71B by 2030,” states Vocana President, Neil Sheehan. “It’s the real heartbeat of music in an era with fewer global superstars.”
Sheehan continues, “Right now, only about four million tracks out of more than 200 million are served up algorithmically to listeners on services like Spotify. We want to surface music that isn’t from that thin layer of top tracks.”
To find out more or join the public beta, head over to Vocana.
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