Astrotwig has unveiled a monetisation feature designed to allow artists receive direct financial support from fans through the platform.
The feature, which comes with an in-app wallet system, enables artists to sell music, receive gifts and donations, and monetise content shared on the app.
“The new monetisation feature allows artists to sell their music directly, accept monetary gifts from fans and receive donations and gifts from their fan base,” Adeleke Oluwasegun, founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Astrotwig, said in a statement.
According to Oluwasegun, the update was developed to address financial challenges faced by Nigerian artists. “Each support also increases their listener score, which opens them to various bonuses and rewards from within the app.”
According to him, the wallet system was designed to allow users to store and earn tokens before converting them into cash. “Artists on the app can monetise anything from Pods to Tweegs to their music,” he stated.
He explained that the company’s earlier pilot application, which attracted over 5,000 users, revealed demand for direct artist monetisation.
“Asides the global statistic of artists not making money from their craft, the artists onboarded at the time wanted to be earning,” he stated.
On the technical side of development, Oluwasegun identified wallet integration as one of the key challenges faced by the company. He added that the feature would serve as the foundation for additional monetisation updates planned for the platform.
“The number one challenge was the technical aspect of integration of the intra ledger base system to peg the tokens to the users fiat wallet we ensured to leverage and build on the architecture of the already established financial system of Paystack,” Oluwasegun stated.