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May 2, 2026 · 4 min
Why we charge $1
On dignity, attention, and what happens when listening costs something.
Free is the most expensive price tag in music. When listeners pay nothing, the platform must pay itself somewhere — usually with attention sold to advertisers, with algorithms that bend artists toward whatever holds a thumb still longest.
A dollar is small enough to be honest, large enough to mean something. It's the cost of agreeing: I want to be here. I want you to play.
Every dollar goes directly to the artist via Stripe, in minutes. The model that lets a violinist in Lisbon play for someone in Detroit at 2 a.m. and have it feel like the same room.