There is no question about it. We are entering into the tipping economy full STEEM ahead. As the blockchain technologies are adopted by more consumers the tipping economy will become more ubiquitous.
We, as users of the Steem blockchain, are very familiar with the concept. 'Like' a post, and upvote (tip) the author. We've also seen other apps take advantage of the Steem blockchain; dTube, dMania, eSteem and others.
That's all fine and well but what about beyond Steem? The first one comes to mind is Sola. Sola is an Instagram like application that allows you to tip the post author by swiping up to "tip". They position Sola[1] as a product that drives viral content via social media... it's really just a tipping mechanism.
Sola doesn’t use the concept of following. It spreads information like a viral disease to the most interested users, applying AI algorithms combined with users reactions. Quality content can easily reach the whole Sola user base. Users post news, stories and entertainment cards, Sola takes care of the rest.
Just a couple examples of the tipping economy extending into the common realm of usage. That's not really what peeked my interest though. Steem is great if you just want to blog and interact. It has a very low learning curve. There are artisits, musicians, writers, and many others on Steem it. You don't have to be a computer scientist to interact with the blockchain.
What's going to take the tipping economy to the next level is allowing users to interact with and use devices and applications were they don't even know they are using a blockchain or cryptowallet.
So, how about this, a smart speaker that tips the musician when you clap. How often have you heard independent artist getting poor deals and very low royalties from streaming music services? This might just be the answer or at least the start of something very cool for the music industry.
This new smart speaker, called Volareo uses the Musicoin blockchain. It's toted as the World's 1st blockchain music streaming speaker. It allows fans to interact with artists by tipping them with Musicoin. At the clap of a hand.
Musicoin is online at musicoin.org and they already have more than 2,500 artists signed up. I'm listening to some of the tracks while I write this post. Musicoins can be traded on Bittrex and Cryptopia.
The Volareo Speaker - http://http://www.volareo.live/
It sounds like the Volareo smart speaker is going to be available sometime by the end of 2018. It will come preloaded with approx. $10 worth of Musicoin.
Isaac Mao, creator of Musicoin, says: “With Volareo, you don’t just listen to and discover new music — you reward your favorite artists instantly. By partnering with ROCKI, we have created a device that gives music lovers the ability to kick off a revolution right from their living room. This has been a dream of mine for years.”
It's pretty exciting and moving towards an economy that rewards content and contribution with tipping.
If you are going to give musicoin a try I would super love it if you would use my referral link:
https://musicoin.org/accept/MUSICe3fa937c409635828990219b
What innovations do you see making blockchain and the tipping economy more ubiquitous in our lives?
Is your Witness dance card full? If not, vote for some of the good Witnesses below.
