VRP Update 1

We've been hard at work researching and preparing things for this project. As we have put a lot of time and care into ensuring our future endeavors are done both ethically and legally I'd like to share a little bit about our current state and how we looking to grow this into the stream we all want. Below you will find some info about our current plans, what we can currently do, and what you can do to help. For further info on the business structure, we've added a page regarding financial transparency which can be found in the footer.

[Debut Stream]

We plan to have our debut stream on November 4th between 2PM-5PM PST. It will be a 3-hour stream featuring several segments and act as a preview of what's to come in the future. Our first demonstration stream will primarily use content that is freely provided and legally allowed for commercial use as it will launch our fundraising campaign. As we do not have the funding yet to begin to purchase licenses to play covers of popular songs though, it will consist of a variety of vocal synth originals we hope you all enjoy.

While we do have some initial music in place that can add up to the minimum time we’re aiming for, a wider variety to choose from to create coherent segments will be required. In addition we’re looking for artist submissions for backdrops, banners, and BGMs or instrumentals that may be used as such. If you would like to submit anything for the stream, even if it isn’t music, and you haven't done so already, please feel free to use our submissions form and indicate the type of content submitted.

[Information On Music Selection and Licensing]

We want to showcase a large variety of music representative of the diverse culture in the vocal synth community. Many in the community retain full independence, which makes the matter of getting permission (and ensuring they receive compensation if desired) a more personal and complicated process than with music found on broadcast radio. In addition, there are those who take the industry standard approach in monetizing their music and may have a PRO and/or record label to do so. Most cover artist use such music as well, requiring us to get several types of licenses to share correctly. Thus, it's a more costly and arduous task to do this correctly than one might expect.

As the project grows, we wish to play music from artists in all subcategories and of all degrees of success. We understand how important covers of music are in this space and the care given to recreating and remixing original works. As such, it is a major priority to be able to share these works legally. Unfortunately, it will take time to get there, but this is among our top priorities before going 24/7.

Given this information, our immediate goals to stream music in the near future relies primarily on free submissions of original works, either via our submissions form or through other forms of written consent. We want to ensure any music featured can help creators, so any music featured will display artist information including collaborators; for artists seeking commissions, we will have it denoted in the stream, and all music streamed will be logged for later listening. We also intend to provide subtitles and translation of lyrics to provide a more accessible experience.

If you have questions about what the usage of your music and funds received by it will go towards, please continue reading. If your question is not answered or you have a request you’d rather present directly than through our submissions form, please don’t hesitate to send us an email or message us on Twitter.

[Budget Outline]

Because of the complicated nature of music streaming in general and the intricacies of the vocal synth scene, the bare minimum in expenses will be $450-$600 a month, additional upfront expenses to start up range between $300-$600, and annual fees anywhere between $2,000-$8,000 depending on the success of the project (due to how music licensing works). This isn’t including any of the exciting things to help the community flourish that we want either. This is in the realm of basic upkeep, licensing fees, and essential purchases, not even putting a price on the socially and mentally labor intensive processes of reaching out to people and creating stream templates, segments, promotional material, and so on.

Since this project will be quite difficult to see to fruition and there’s only so much time and energy each person can spend working on it, we are moving quickly to open fundraising to allow us to do everything properly and open more possibilities for our team. While it would be great to either launch in full or begin this process with more resources under our belt, that won’t be a financial possibility, and we believe there must be something for us to show in order to request such funding. Since everyone so far, myself included are doing this as volunteers, all early funds will go into the following things in order:

1. Formal LLC incorporation

2. Software/hardware purchases/licenses that will allow us to host the stream remotely and provide a variety of content

3. Receiving the most essential licenses to stream a large selection of international music and covers (ASCAP, BMI)

4. Commission works, including custom BGMs, Talkloid segments, and songs

5. Additional licenses for particular songs and artists, (synchronization and mechanical licenses)

Once we reach these initial budget goals, we will move forward with other goals that are listed in our financial transparency statement.

[Fundraising Efforts]

With the launch of our stream, we will begin fundraising efforts to ensure we can provide the stream that fans of vocal synths want and deserve. We will be launching a Patreon, Ko-Fi, and PayPal links to facilitate this and allow donations as soon as the stream goes live. As we will be a new YouTube channel, options like SuperChat and ad-revenue will likely not be available at this time.

In addition, we will be looking to receive funding through donations procured elsewhere. There are many influencers who have struck success that have a fondness for vocal synth music, as well as many philanthropists who donate to artistic causes. We are interested in reaching out to such individuals in hopes the creative freedom we wish to share is worthy of their donations. If you have any suggestions on who we may reach, please feel free to share via email. Please respect these individuals privacy though and DO NOT request donation from them on our behalf and DO NOT spam them. If you wish to share our project with others, please do so in a respectful manner.

Please note: We will only accept donations from individuals who do not impose creative restrictions. If an organization or individual wishes to invest in return for creative control or profits, we will respectfully decline such offers. The creative freedom of the vocal synth community should be held to high standards and not muddied by capital interests.

[Voca-Stories]

Would you like to be featured in our next blog post or on our social media? Tell us your story with vocal synths and we'd be happy to feature you! We're currently taking submissions for Voca-Stories, a collection of excerpts written by members of the community detailing what this community means to them. Whether you're a singer, producer, artist, or even just a fan of vocal synths, if you've made it this far, we can assume they mean a lot to you, just like they do to us, and we'd love to hear from you. Please consider using our Voca-Stories form, or shoot us an email. Depending on the length and content, we'll include it in our blog posts, on social media, or read back by a vocal synth live on stream!

[Conclusion]

As you can see, we're putting time and effort into doing this right. We rely on the submissions and contributions of others, especially this early on when we cannot afford the licenses needed to create the stream we all want. If you're a creative and want to help, we encourage you to please fill out our submissions form linked here, or if you're interested in contributing more closely with us, please consider volunteering here. We hope for a successful debut stream and hope to see you all there!