{"id":1771,"date":"2015-10-30T18:17:55","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T22:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/"},"modified":"2015-10-30T18:18:17","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T22:18:17","slug":"taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/","title":{"rendered":"TapTape \u2013 When artists make money, fans make money"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/taptape.com\/#\/\" target=\"_blank\">TapTape.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Funding creative projects is expensive.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>What artist wouldn\u2019t want to crowdfund a release by getting fans to pay for studio time, production &amp; mastering, and merchandise?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Plenty of platforms have offered artists the opportunity to raise this funding: Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Bandcamp, Bandpage, etc. all allow artists to sell directly to fans or raise money for a project.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Until now, however, the only thing backers received in return was some sort of \u201cperk\u201d based on the amount contributed.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>To be fair, for big fans these perks hold serious value.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Signed picture?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Why not.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>VIP meet &amp; greet?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Absolutely.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Private concert at your birthday party?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Where\u2019s my checkbook.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">However, artists continued to struggle with separating themselves from the noise of the industry.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Most of the backing for brand new artists came from friends and family, while existing artists were only able to leverage their existing fan base, not really tap into a new fanbase.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>For backers that aren\u2019t big enough fans of a particular artist to make the perks valuable, where is the incentive to donate?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Especially if they would have to end up buying the album or paying for concert tickets anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Enter TapTape.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The company seeks to turn \u201cbackers\u201d into \u201cinvestors\u201d, where you can actually <i>share in the upside <\/i>of the artist(s) that you support.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Completely different ballgame.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Several startups have tried to turn the \u201csocial value\u201d of being an influencer into a business model, but they all struggled to gain adoption.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>With TapTape (still in beta), that could potentially change.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It opens up the crowdfunding well beyond an artists fans and into the general population, where people will invest in order to actually earn returns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/Screen-Shot-2015-10-30-at-4.32.58-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1769\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/Screen-Shot-2015-10-30-at-4.32.58-PM-300x254.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2015-10-30 at 4.32.58 PM\" width=\"300\" height=\"254\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/Screen-Shot-2015-10-30-at-4.32.58-PM-300x254.png 300w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/Screen-Shot-2015-10-30-at-4.32.58-PM-1024x866.png 1024w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/Screen-Shot-2015-10-30-at-4.32.58-PM-600x507.png 600w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/Screen-Shot-2015-10-30-at-4.32.58-PM.png 1230w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There is still a legal challenge with this equal-access equity crowdfunding model, as the US government restricts this type of investment to accredited investors (which is relatively difficult to achieve).<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>So instead of turning a cash investment into cash returns, TapTape rewards successful investments with their own digital currency, Tapcoins.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Based on the amount initially invested, users earn a standard Tapcoin return for every $10,000 that the artist makes over an 18 month period.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Artist revenue streams include many sources of cash: record sales\/streams, touring, merchandise, publishing, synch, and sponsorship.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>At the end of the investment period, Tapcoins are distributed to backers, and can be redeemed for items of value (that aren\u2019t cash).<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Examples are concert tickets, Amazon gift cards, or reinvesting in TapTape.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This is the company\u2019s clever hack to get around the accredited investor restrictions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Imagine investing in an artist on TapTape before they blow up.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Forbes notes that the top artists in the industry earn up to $100 million a year (Beyonce).<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s a lot of Tapcoins.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Now, access to investing in this level of artist is out of the question, but one could imagine investing in an artist that goes viral on YouTube, pens a hit song, or gets signed to a global tour within an 18 month period.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This exciting potential will certainly drive backers, but will it entice artists?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Are they willing to give up a piece of the upside that they\u2019ve worked so hard to obtain?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>That remains to be seen.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>So far, TapTape has only one artist project to invest in.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>San Francisco-based duo K Theory has opened up to investment, with meager results so far.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>41 supporters have gotten the project 12% to completion (the total amount to raise is an opaque amount), with 21 days remaining in the campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">TapTape has many obstacles to overcome, and is probably praying that the accredited investor laws change.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>But for now, they are pushing the boundaries of how creative projects get funded, and I\u2019m all for that.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I expect this trend to extend into other crowdfunding platforms as well.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Users will start to demand upside when exits like Oculus happen, because these backers took the financial risk early on, and should be fairly compensated.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Who will invest in the next Justin Bieber?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/5IfD2HTjS6c\">Tap Tape K Theory Promo Video<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TapTape aims to help fund projects for musicians, while also giving fans\/investors upside in the artists\u2019 success. These fans now have an incentive to help promote and grow the fanbase of the artists they are invested in. For artists, the funding source pie just got a lot bigger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":1772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[44,229],"class_list":["post-1771","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crowdfunding","category-music"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/leveraging-the-collective-intelligence-and-effort-of-digital-crowds\/","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>TapTape \u2013 When artists make money, fans make money - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TapTape \u2013 When artists make money, fans make money - Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"TapTape aims to help fund projects for musicians, while also giving fans\/investors upside in the artists\u2019 success. These fans now have an incentive to help promote and grow the fanbase of the artists they are invested in. For artists, the funding source pie just got a lot bigger.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-30T22:18:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/taptape1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"422\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\\\/\",\"name\":\"TapTape \u2013 When artists make money, fans make money - Digital Innovation and Transformation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/taptape1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-30T22:17:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-30T22:18:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/taptape1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/taptape1.jpg\",\"width\":920,\"height\":422},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"TapTape \u2013 When artists make money, fans make money\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/\",\"name\":\"Digital Innovation and Transformation\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TapTape \u2013 When artists make money, fans make money - Digital Innovation and Transformation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TapTape \u2013 When artists make money, fans make money - Digital Innovation and Transformation","og_description":"TapTape aims to help fund projects for musicians, while also giving fans\/investors upside in the artists\u2019 success. These fans now have an incentive to help promote and grow the fanbase of the artists they are invested in. For artists, the funding source pie just got a lot bigger.","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/","og_site_name":"Digital Innovation and Transformation","article_modified_time":"2015-10-30T22:18:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":920,"height":422,"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/taptape1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/","name":"TapTape \u2013 When artists make money, fans make money - Digital Innovation and Transformation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/taptape1.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-30T22:17:55+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-30T22:18:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/taptape1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/taptape1.jpg","width":920,"height":422},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/taptape-when-artists-make-money-fans-make-money\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"TapTape \u2013 When artists make money, fans make money"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/","name":"Digital Innovation and Transformation","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/1771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/1771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}