[Approved] Verse Platform Marketing Campaign for Beta Launch

Marketing DAO Marketing DAO
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Verse Music

Funding Scheme: Monthly

Our Initiative:

Verse offers the first social music streaming platform addressing the inadequate pay musicians have off their streaming royalties. Verse’s goal is to provide a platform where listeners can stream millions of songs, independent musicians can sell their music directly to listeners using NFTs removing middlemen, and fans operate Nodes hosting artists’ content in turn for rewards.

Verse is a on demand music streaming service targeting independent musicians first. Musicians get paid about $3000 for every 1 million streams on Spotify, Pandora, etc which is roughly 12% of the actual revenue the platforms take in. Verse will change that with a new model, where we split ads 50/50 based on your fans’ streaming time, not the current “Pool model” all the major streaming services use. Think Twitch ads split model.

Since Verse is built on NEAR, Musicians have the additional ability to monetize by turning multiple songs into a music NFT album, called Collectable Albums, that can be sold directly to their following on Verse, making 95% of the revenue. Verse will provide a simple process to upload music & artwork, Verse generates the music NFT, payment portals, etc so makes it extremely easy for a musician to come into web3 with zero knowledge.

Every user whether a listener or musician, will automatically have a NEAR wallet generated and connected to their account, thus furthering our goal of bringing the mass of Web2 to Web3 in an organic fashion.


Funding Request:

For the month of April 2023, we will be running multiple campaigns listed below to gain users:

  1. Twitter spaces from page @verse_audio weekly

  2. Twitter spaces from selected musicians page weekly

  3. 4 TikTok videos per week from our 36k page @verse

  4. 10 pieces of Content creation for all our social channels

  5. 2 Video creation for youtube per week

  6. 4 articles per week on our Medium page

  7. 120+ total Custom graphics created for each musician to post to their social channels to spread awareness of Verse launch

These ad campaigns lead up to the launch of our music streaming service. We currently have 120+ musicians signed up with additional 50+ people wanting to be in beta with ZERO marketing!

Funding request is focused on expanding Verse in such:

  • Follower acquisition on twitter
  • Marketing potential Flagship product coming to NEAR
  • Brand exposure as best Web3 music service
  • Musician acquisition for Verse platform
  • Listener acquisition on Verse platform

Total Funding Request: $4800


KPIs for success:

  • Increase Twitter following-

    1. Current: 1100 Followers
    2. Target: 2500 Followers

  • Increase Musicians signed up

    1. Current: 122
    2. Target: 250

  • Increase TikTok following

    1. Current: 35.9k
    2. Target: 40k

  • Increase whitelist Node operators

    1. Current: 81
    2. Target: 150

  • Increase Discord following

    1. Current: 43
    2. Target: 100

Expected impact and value you foresee for the NEAR ecosystem

5000-10,000 new users from Web2 with new NEAR wallets coming into Web3 in 6 months

Our goals to onboard 75k users by end of 2024


**Aside from you, how many people do you foresee being involved?**

Verse team: 12


**Links to similar, previously funded forum proposals**

Approved for $5000

Approved for $3500


Timeline:

1 month
$4800
If KPIs are hit would like to continue this for 3 months total

Funding Details:

NEAR Wallet ID: versemusic.near
Wallet Owner’s Name: Zein Zaioud

Notes: Verse won a grant from NEAR in fall 2022 to develop and need marketing funds to execute a successful launch finally!

2 Likes
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Hello! Thank you for your proposal! I believe we need to be more specific here and create a list of artists for the Twitter spaces together.

The same for TikTok (scripts), 10 pieces of Content (scripts), 4 articles.

1 Like
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For musicians spaces -
the plan was to get 8 musicians who are interested in releasing Music NFTs and combine 2 onto the same space. This was to be focused more on their music, inspirations, benefits of holders for their music NFTs, why they chose Verse, etc

For Tiktok -
open to discuss but we wanted to show focus on Music NFTs, benefits for musicians in web3, our node network benefits, about decentralization through our nodes for music, etc

For Articles -
open to discuss, we have mainly focused on music NFT benefits, musics direction in web3, etc

For Content - these are graphics & videos highlighting various aspects of Verse for musicians and how our node network allows fans to vote and influence the Verse platform

ALSO FYI - now over 130 musicians signed up w/ ZERO in marketing spent

With marketing backing from NEAR we can scale this to easily 500+ musicians

5

Thanks for your proposal,

I a support this proposal. Reasoning and notes:

  • Supporting builders. Platform is built on NEAR and showing meaningful traction. Let’s ensure that we are able to capture and support momentum.
  • It is clear that if Verse were to succeed, there would be a meaningful increase in the amount of users, micro transactions, and value created.

Word of caution to the team - Verse is fundamentally a two-sided marketplace and demand from artists (users wanting to make money from platform) is always A LOT easier to find. Going forward I would strongly suggest the team to focus the end-user side of the equation - where are the listeners? Most listeners don’t care whether musicians get paid or how much. They want great user experience and convenience. For metrics to matter, specially if seeking funding from Marketing DAO in the future, it is going to be vital to see progress on both sides of the equation.

I would also note that most of the marketing activity now seems to be focused on the existing community. I would encourage the team to venture out and get in touch with the wider NEAR Community who could become champions and net promoters of the platform. M DAO funds several great twitter spaces such as NEAR @ Night, and Wax Chill and Shill, as well as solid podcasts such as Ready Layer One.

Good luck,

1 Like
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Thanks for the input,

Our goal is to focus 90% musicians/10% fans for the first month. The focus is to increase musicians first to build our music library on the platform, while tapping into those musicians fan base from their socials to come to Verse.

Users will not use a music streaming platform without music, thus once we build up a strong enough library of songs then will will shift our focus to a more equal distribution of acquiring musicians and listeners.

We have now passed 140 musicians signed up thus our goal to hit 250 musicians does look to be on track! With 250 musicians with an average of 5-7 tracks uploaded we will have 1200-1500 songs on our platform which was one of our internal KPIs before we start to bring on more listeners.

On the grant:

April has now started, is it possible to get a decision on this?

7

Hi @Zein

Thanks for your proposal.

Can you please provide more detail on your marketing initiatives and cost of each iniative?

The Social media channels you mentioned are Twitter, TikTok, Youtube, and Discord.

  • Can you please provide URLS for all of these?

Twitter Spaces:

  • How many twitter spaces per month?
  • How will you promote?

10 pieces of Content creation for all our social channels

  • Publication frequency (is this 10 posts per channel?)
  • Type of posts (Informative, Promotional, Educational?)
  • Media Format (Video, Images, Text?)

Video Content Creation

  • What format are these videos (Interviews / promotional?)

120+ total Custom graphics created for each musician to post to their social channels to spread awareness of Verse launch

  • Do you have examples of the types of images you’ve created before?
  • What Type of posts (Informative, Promotional, Educational?)

You mentioned you have 120+ musicians signed up:

  • Where did they sign up?

Without more detail, it’s hard for the council members to move forward to approval.

8

@Zein thanks for the proposal and for your patience. I really want to be able to support this because I see the utility here, and I think, if successful, this project could bring a lot of positive outcomes to the NEAR ecosystem while also meeting the KPIs outlined in our guidelines.

I’d like to see the responses to the questions from @klint, and I also would like to know what your specific strategy is for onboarding more musicians and fans? What you’ve posted here is mainly about how much content you’re going to produce, but I’d like to understand how it is you see this content leading to user adoption. To echo the comments from @satojandro about the challenges of building two-sided marketplaces, I think it’s important we understand the strategy behind the content play. Are you currently seeing that brand awareness automatically leads to conversions, i.e. more musicians joining, or does that typically require 1:1 conversations, help with onboarding, education around how to use the platforms, etc.?

Thanks!

9

Questions answered below

The Social media channels you mentioned are Twitter, TikTok, Youtube, and Discord.
Can you please provide URLS for all of these?
• Medium: Verse - Music Streaming (Coming Soon) – Medium
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/verse_audio
• TikTok: Verse (@verse) | TikTok
• Discord: Verse Music
• Youtube: Verse - YouTube


Twitter Spaces:
• How many twitter spaces per month?
o 4 twitter spaces
o Will have 2 musicians each week combined

• How will you promote?
o All our social channels (business & personal from team)
o Musician’s social channels
o Strategically planned with multiple contributors


10 pieces of Content creation for all our social channels
• Publication frequency
o 10 for the month
o Same media will be posted to all non video socials (both business & teams personal)

• Type of posts (Informative, Promotional, Educational?)
o Informative
o Educational

• Media Format (Video, Images, Text?)
o Images


Video Content Creation
• What format are these videos (Interviews / promotional?)
o These videos will be informative/educational about topics specific to Verse as a platform, uses, and the opportunities to musicians such as:
What Verse offers musicians
New ability to monetize & connect with super fans
What do our nodes do?


120+ total Custom graphics created for each musician to post to their social channels to spread awareness of Verse launch
• Do you have examples of the types of images you’ve created before?
o No, we do have a rough idea of designs wanted as we have sent ideas to the graphic designer but nothing has been made as we haven’t paid him yet

• What Type of posts (Informative, Promotional, Educational?)
o Promotional
o These will be for each musician to post to all their social accounts that they are launching on Verse to create hype in the music community
o We expect 10m+ total reach with posts on insta & twitter from musicians combined, we have 140+ musicians now


You mentioned you have 120+ musicians signed up:
• Where did they sign up?
o Our musician signup link here Verse Artist Registration Form


I also would like to know what your specific strategy is for onboarding more musicians and fans?

As mentioned, goal is to focus 90% musicians/10% fans first. The focus is to increase musicians to build our music library on the platform. We have been using our personal music networks of artists we have booked or helped with studios from the prior years, music agents we’ve worked with, referrals, and cold outreach with mass messaging on soundcloud and linkedin automation program we have internally.


Are you currently seeing that brand awareness automatically leads to conversions, i.e. more musicians joining, or does that typically require 1:1 conversations, help with onboarding, education around how to use the platforms, etc.?

The past 2-3 weeks brand awareness has drastically helped get more musicians signed up as were seeing our registration form get used with prior musicians being put as referrals or no referral names entered at all. It has been majority of personal outreach, explaining our value prop in 2-3 sentences, which majority sign up immediately. Theres no platform like this thus word has been getting out fairly quick through the music circles. With more brand awareness we expect there will be a increase in signups without needed to constantly message musicians.


Costs for the month

  1. 4 Twitter spaces - $400
  2. 16 TikTok videos - $1200
  3. 10 pieces of Informational Content - $500
  4. 8 Video for youtube - $1400
  5. 16 articles on Medium - $300
  6. 140+ Custom musician graphics - $1000 (price stays same unless we pass 200 musicians)

TOTAL - $4800

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Hi @Zein i have reviewed your proposal and noted replies to comments by fellow council. I am prepared to support at this stage and look forward to seeing your Report

11

Hi @Zein Thanks for the detailed responses to the questions. Your reply gives me enough information to support this project for the initial month. I’m moving this to approved. Please track your metrics and growth and report back via the forum so we can follow progress. Thanks!

12

Great sounds good,

Whats are the next steps to getting payment processed?

1 Like
13

You can now

1)Proceed to Poll on AstroDAO.
2)Once the poll is approved, you need to submit THIS form Ironclad.

How to create a poll? Here is instruction.

Have a great day !

14

@Dacha Thank you & appreciate the help

Just did the poll

1 Like
15

Hey everyone,

Following up on the poll, says 1 day left and still need additional votes for funds dispersal
@Dacha @so608 @cryptocredit

We have everyone ready to start this ASAP