subscription – The Concordian

James Blake has launched Vault, a subscription service for unreleased music, to the public since March.

British singer, songwriter, producer, and DJ James Blake released a new platform named Vault inspired by social media discourse about how streaming platforms and social media are not sustainable ways for artists to make a living solely out of music.

On the website, Vault explains that “artists can share their unreleased tracks directly from their vault to their fans and tap into a new recurring revenue stream.” The app saw the light on March 21, a few days after Blake communicated his opinions publicly on how social media can be an issue for music artists and their careers. “Music is my life’s purpose and I will not have mine destroyed by a bunch of labels and tech companies who don’t even pay us and exploit us relentlessly,” says Blake in an Instagram post in early March

Blake shared on his Instagram story that the concept of a subscription-based platform like this one offers an artist some certainty, financially speaking. “I want artists to have less anxiety about what they put out, less fear that it leads to uncertainty,” he said.

Indeed, this platform revolves around unloading music files from hard drives and displaying any idea that will probably never make it on Spotify, Apple Music, or other streaming platforms. “We’ll never be able to eliminate uncertainty from music, but platforms need to encourage artists to make their favourite, most integral music—not just the big 15-second TikTok moment,” Blake said.

Vault also contains a discussion forum space, allowing fans to discuss the music on the artist’s page and directly message Blake for instance. There is also a mobile app currently in the works, making the private access to the artists’ vault for their fans more accessible.

Blake said the infant stage of this platform is exciting as he shares it with people and how he can get artists to grow their following, heighten their connection with their fans, and make it fun to put out music they love, not just music that works as singles on TikTok.

He highlighted that this platform is one of the only ones that will focus on getting artists actually paid directly. “The industry has always been an ecosystem of free versus paid.”

A lot of the reason why music stays unreleased is because of demand-side platforms’ (DSP) limitations which is a type of software that allows solutions for advertisers. “DSP’s favour in certain structures/styles/genres to accept songs onto playlists, to the point where it stifles creativity,” Blake noted in another post.

Moreover, as of March 28, the platform has announced its first new artist alongside Blake to be American singer Monica Martin. Blake stated in the comment section that “it’s going to be an amazingly diverse, musically exciting place pretty soon.”

A monthly subscription fee is needed to unlock an artist’s page and all of its content. Blake’s page demands $5 USD per month and Monica Martin’s Vault content requires $2 USD per month. The subscription amount then differs via the artist’s popularity, making up-and-coming artists’ pages more affordable to encourage more people to discover them. Subscribers are also notified of any new drops by a text message to their phone number. Any collaborators who worked on the songs released also benefit from the revenue.

“Artists are already being robbed worse and legally,” Blake wrote about potential piracy on his platform. He adds that copyright claims are still in effect and the usual copyright laws will protect all music found on Vault.

Blake said that he’s working to grow his Vault following and show people it’s worth the $5 USD a month. The artist also revealed he’s felt more creatively free this past week than he has since he started in music.

“Looking forward to more artists joining and seeing what I’m talking about, and for their fans to see what the real world effect of offering an easy-to-use alternative to the DSPs will be,” he shared.

With new artists joining the platform, Vault will continue to flourish with brand new users every day and evermore cut the middleman between eager fans of music and passionate music artists.

The platform increased its monthly rate amidst the absence of a student discount in Quebec

Remember watching Disney Channel as a kid? Can you recall the feeling of excitement that came with the idea of winning sweepstakes and getting to meet your favourite TV star, only for the offer to be “not valid in Quebec.” For Spotify users in the province, the disappointment is the exact same.

For many years now, Spotify’s student discount has not been offered in Quebec. The province’s Consumer Protection Act prohibits companies from automatically charging for services at regular price once a free trial or discounted period has ended—for which Spotify faced a class-action lawsuit in 2017 before the Superior Court of Quebec.

Quebec is notably the only province in Canada that does not accommodate the discount. On SheerID, Spotify’s student verification system, no Quebec institutions can be selected from their directory. However, these same schools can be found on UNiDAYS, the site used by Apple Music. Students can thus access the same discount for the same price, just on a different streaming platform.

Minh Tu Chau, currently studying in the computer engineering co-op at Concordia, believes that the student discount should be available solely based on its widespread demand: “More people use Spotify than Bixi, but we [students] have a Bixi discount.” He also sees Spotify as a cornerstone of student life: “So many people use it for studying.”

Some students have since found a workaround: selecting universities outside the province that are also named Concordia, such as the one in Edmonton. “Just send an acceptance letter or any other official Concordia document,” an anonymous student shared with The Concordian. Transcripts, schedules, offers of admission, and attestation letters—”anything with the word Concordia on it,” they added—all grant access to the student discount when uploaded through SheerID under another “Concordia University.”

Furthermore, throughout the month of August 2023, Spotify users have been greeted with a bright blue screen with news that is equally blue: starting in September, their subscription price will be increasing from $9.99 to $10.99 per month.

Many subscribers have expressed their dismay towards the change, but Tredy Delcar Méroné—a first year economics student—sees it as inevitable: “It’s their first time ever increasing their prices in 11 years.”

“It’s annoying that we have to do all this just to have discounted Spotify,” Delcar Méroné said, which is just about the general consensus around the Spotify-student situation in Quebec.