What's Upstart?
Glad you asked!
Upstart is an online hosting service that connects digital content creators with content consumers using a unique financial mechanism called Fixed Revenue Pricing (FRP). In this system, creators do not set a unit price. Instead, they simply indicate what revenue they wish to earn for their work. Users bid on the item, indicating how much they are willing to pay. Upstart gathers this information and determines the optimal price which meets the desired revenue while also maximizing the audience, then it makes a collective, simultaneous purchase on behalf of users. As more users buy, the price falls dynamically and new revenue is redistributed so that everyone pays less.
To read in more detail about how fixed revenue pricing works, click here.
How does Upstart benefit creators?
You are guaranteed your revenue before your work is released.
Upstart removes the hassle of choosing a unit price for your work.
Upstart maximizes the audience your work will reach (for the revenue you ask).
Upstart provides powerful information about the demand for your work.
Upstart incentivizes users to buy from the original source, since it will become cheaper as more users buy it.
Upstart hosts and publishes your content for you.
The convenience of the Upstart ecosystem mitigates the incentive to pirate. Content is defragmented.
Social functionality like followers, ratings, comments, sharing, and posts, allows for discovery by new users. Make faster sales and more revenue once your reputation is established.
The flexibility of the FRP system allows creators’ revenue to grow as they do without changing platforms. Whether you just want to share it with the world, make a little cash as a hobby, work as a full-time creator, or run a commercial production studio, Upst-art can accommodate your needs.
Viewers have an incentive to share your content so that they lower their own price.
Refunds from prior purchases encourage users to spend their money on more items within the ecosystem.
Status points awarded to consumers encourages bidding more earlier, facilitating discovery and sale.
How does Upstart benefit consumers?
Users see lower prices by collectively funding creators at the optimal price.
You own the content you buy. Copy it. Keep it forever.
No Ads!
You get the satisfaction of knowing that creators are being supported and paid what they asked for.
A rich searching functionality helps you find the content you are looking for. Ratings, history, and machine learning can help you identify new creators you might like.
Support for many content types makes the money in your account more useful.
Status points allow you to show off your ability to find hidden gems of content.
How does Upstart benefit everyone?
Since revenue is not tied directly to view count, niche creators can make higher quality content if there is an audience that supports it.
Support for many media formats allows for a defragmented ecosystem. For instance, you can publish the soundtrack and extra artwork alongside your movie or game.
Publicly visible revenue targets adds transparency to the creator-customer relationship and helps both creators and customers get a better sense of how much work is worth.
Support for Nano cryptocurrency allows for fast and feeless transfer of value regardless of nationality.
The fixed revenue pricing scheme is very flexible. It can support a variety of interesting use-cases, such as open-source software or local journalism.
A focus on preservation and context makes it easier to find sources and instills a sense of community. Do you know where that gif came from? With files hosted on Upstart, you can find out.