Charlotte-based startup Disctopia is determined to ensure emerging and seasoned creatives maximize their content.
Disctopia, founded in 2017, is a podcast-hosting and music-streaming platform designed to provide independent artists, podcasters and content creators the resources needed to accelerate their careers. The platform also enables creatives to be directly compensated from revenue aggregated through its subscription model — a benefit many larger streaming services such as Spotify may lack.
Patrick Hill, CEO and founder of Disctopia, said his motivation behind launching the platform was to provide an avenue for creatives to monetize their content more efficiently. After helping a close friend from college receive thousands of dollars in just a few hours for distributing his music, Hill — a UNC Charlotte and Livingstone College graduate — was inspired to create Disctopia.
The startup's services were initially targeted for indie content creators. That eventually changed amid the pandemic, driving Disctopia to provide its tools for all genres of creatives, including film directors, podcasters, authors, labels and distributors. The streaming platform also recently added audio books as a new offer, and it plans to incorporate podcast video next, Hill said.
"We created this platform so you can create your own lane," Hill said. "You could develop your own lane with merch, with podcasting, with audiobooks and still be found. We're not controlled by a logarithm and we're definitely not controlled by the labels."
How Disctopia artists get paid
Many musicians historically could not dictate the price for their content or receive a fixed rate for every stream when utilizing other platforms, Hill said.
"They couldn't name their own price for their own work based on how much money they put in and how much effort that was created," he said.
The local streaming platform is dedicated to ensuring artists receive the same flat rate per stream.
Disctopia pays artists 2 cents per stream. Large-scale platforms like Spotify pay about $0.003 per stream — equaling a revenue split of 70% to the artist and rights holders and 30% to Spotify, according to distribution company Ditto Music. Apple Music pays artists roughly $0.01 per stream, which makes one stream equal to 1 cent earned.
Hill said Disctopia is able to pay more per stream since the company is not advertisement based. If an ad does appear in a podcast, it's because the creatives placed it there themselves, he noted.
By providing a subscription model, each Disctopia plan purchased by supporters will go 100% back into artists' pockets. Subscription plans start at $9.99 and go up to $99.99, depending on a potential subscriber's interests. Artists can be paid up to 5 cents per stream if their content is exclusive to Disctopia or they can set their own price of a direct download, according to an article from AfroTech.
For additional monetizing alternatives, Disctopia artists can also sell merchandise or accept donations through its app. Creatives would only pay for the processing and creation of the merchandise.
Disctopia's latest initiative
Disctopia now aims to boost creative educational tools for local students and teachers through its platform.
In September 2022, the streaming service provided Charlotte Lab Schools with mobile podcast studios. The innovative space is accessible to students, teachers and administrators from the school's library or media center.
The mobile podcast studios include recording software, two microphones and other equipment for students to create and record podcasts. Students also have free access to the Disctopia platform, allowing them to stream or upload an unlimited number of episodes to their accounts.
"So what we're trying to do is allow students and/or teachers be able to create content to help them with their day to day," Hill said. "Creating podcasts is a wonderful way to teach students to express themselves. It teaches journalism. It teaches communication from a digital standpoint. It helps them be creative. For teachers, it allows them to get long-form information out to students and to parents."
Disctopia also provided the equipment and free platform access to West Charlotte High School last year. The company plans to offer a podcast kit to every Charlotte-Mecklenburg school throughout the year.
The streaming service now has more than 10,000 users, which includes a mix of artists, podcasters, authors and listeners. Disctopia's 300% increase in users since its launch led to a recent deal to distribute 20,000 audiobooks, 4 million podcasts and music from 10,000 artists, according to the startup.
