No longer free?

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Donald Hall

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Jun 5, 2019, 9:33:13 AM6/5/19
to WheresTheGig
I appreciate the site - our band uses it. Part of the attraction was that it was free. This seems no longer to be the case. Has our good fortune run out? 
 

Ethan Brown

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Jun 5, 2019, 10:12:59 AM6/5/19
to Donald Hall, WheresTheGig
Hi Donald--

I know it may seem that way, but the answer is "No, your good fortune has not run out."  First, nearly all of the features provided by WheresTheGig remain available, regardless of subscription status.  The question "Why do some advanced features require subscription?" is that in order to provide a high quality of service and make the site usable (quality server hosting, etc) require $$$.   I mean, you wouldn't use WheresTheGig if the server was down half the time and when it was up it was unresponsive, right?

So my solution was, I thought, brilliant! (you may disagree :-) ).  I'm not out to get rich, just to have sufficient funds to provide for site infrastructure, code maintenance (bug fixes), and code improvements (new useful features).  Fortunately, I know a software engineer/musician that works cheap!   Anyway, I don't need high subscription fees.  Basically the lowest tier is something like a quarter per day / one dollar per week.  When it comes to band expenses, even gas money to get to the gig, this is money that no one will even notice, but folks need motivation, so that's why a few of the features professional bands use are now subscription benefits.

That said,  WheresTheGig has always been first and foremost a service to support our community.  No one who needs its features will be denied for monetary reasons.  My attitude about this explains quite well why I'm not wealthy.  :-).  Check out the "Manage Subscription" page and the Patreon page at https://patreon.com/wtgig where I've written more about this.

So I hope you consider WheresTheGig a service that is worthwhile to support.  I have lots of ideas for making the site better and more useful to band leaders, and I would appreciate your help in making WheresTheGig the best it can be, through your subscription support.

All my best,

--Ethan


On Wed, Jun 5, 2019 at 6:33 AM Donald Hall <donha...@gmail.com> wrote:
I appreciate the site - our band uses it. Part of the attraction was that it was free. This seems no longer to be the case. Has our good fortune run out? 
 

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doug edwards

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Jun 5, 2019, 11:09:56 AM6/5/19
to Ethan Brown, Donald Hall, WheresTheGig
Hi Ethan.  Did you consider an ad model?  You might do very well with that and then still be able to offer all the features free to users.  Just a thought.

Ethan Brown

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Jun 5, 2019, 11:28:39 AM6/5/19
to doug edwards, Donald Hall, WheresTheGig
I did consider ads, but I'd really prefer to have WheresTheGig remain a non-distracting work space.   I've always envisioned the accounts on WheresTheGig to be the band's space, which is why, even when I first started the application over 15 years ago, I provided the ability for bands to display their own graphics on their accounts; to let them know this was their space.  We don't put ads up in our kitchens and living rooms, right?  Ads may be a necessity in the future, but I'd prefer to avoid them for now. 

But I do appreciate the suggestion, Doug.  Any ideas on providing capitalization for WheresTheGig is appreciated!  

--Ethan

Debora Galan

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Jun 5, 2019, 11:46:06 AM6/5/19
to doug edwards, Ethan Brown, Donald Hall, WheresTheGig
Please no ads. It’s one of the things I love about this and the small investment is a tax deductible expense.
Ethan’s time and dedication to this app is remarkable and a small yearly donation in support of the incredible benefits seems a very worthwhile investment.

Much love and appreciation Ethan.
Deb

Ethan Brown

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Jun 5, 2019, 11:54:52 AM6/5/19
to Debora Galan, doug edwards, Donald Hall, WheresTheGig
Thanks Deb.  I very much appreciate your kind words.

--Ethan

Ethan Brown

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Jun 5, 2019, 11:59:18 AM6/5/19
to Debora Galan, doug edwards, Donald Hall, WheresTheGig
Deb brings up an important point about the subscriptions being a tax deductible business expense.  For those of you than need more deductions, please be aware that the top Patreon subscription tier is the "National Act" tier and will provide you with a much higher deduction, so feel free to adjust your subscription level.  😉

Aaron Gayden

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Jun 5, 2019, 1:47:42 PM6/5/19
to Ethan Brown, Debora Galan, doug edwards, Donald Hall, WheresTheGig
My wife is INCREDIBLY FRUGAL! And she has said for years that if WTG was a paid service she'd gladly pay it. It's always hard to go from having something for free to having to pay for it. But NOTHING is actually free. Ethan, I appreciate how long you have gone from just a volunteer pledge drive every year and borne the brunt of the cost of your own time and expertise. I STILL wish I could subscribe at a higher level because you truly make it possible to keep my world on rails. I administrate so many projects  projects it's ridiculous. I be up in a bell tower if not for WTG...

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/wheresthegig/CAMpF3t6V-5n_VEMWm-%3DvsehXSL8RJXsT6Db0q53UFWmSBaNm0w%40mail.gmail.com.


--
Blessings,
Aaron Gayden

(530) 718-2421 cell

www.reverbnation.com/aarongayden

vocals/keys/bass/songwriting/arranging

Donald Hall

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Jun 9, 2019, 1:34:15 PM6/9/19
to WheresTheGig
Ethan: 

I am in.

Don


On Wednesday, 5 June 2019 13:47:42 UTC-4, aarongayden wrote:
My wife is INCREDIBLY FRUGAL! And she has said for years that if WTG was a paid service she'd gladly pay it. It's always hard to go from having something for free to having to pay for it. But NOTHING is actually free. Ethan, I appreciate how long you have gone from just a volunteer pledge drive every year and borne the brunt of the cost of your own time and expertise. I STILL wish I could subscribe at a higher level because you truly make it possible to keep my world on rails. I administrate so many projects  projects it's ridiculous. I be up in a bell tower if not for WTG...

On Wed, Jun 5, 2019 at 8:59 AM Ethan Brown <ethan...@gmail.com> wrote:
Deb brings up an important point about the subscriptions being a tax deductible business expense.  For those of you than need more deductions, please be aware that the top Patreon subscription tier is the "National Act" tier and will provide you with a much higher deduction, so feel free to adjust your subscription level.  😉

On Wed, Jun 5, 2019 at 8:54 AM Ethan Brown <ethan...@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks Deb.  I very much appreciate your kind words.

--Ethan

On Wed, Jun 5, 2019 at 8:46 AM Debora Galan <debor...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Please no ads. It’s one of the things I love about this and the small investment is a tax deductible expense.
Ethan’s time and dedication to this app is remarkable and a small yearly donation in support of the incredible benefits seems a very worthwhile investment.

Much love and appreciation Ethan.
Deb

On Jun 5, 2019, at 11:09 AM, doug edwards <dou...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Ethan.  Did you consider an ad model?  You might do very well with that and then still be able to offer all the features free to users.  Just a thought.

On Jun 5, 2019, at 10:13 AM, Ethan Brown <ethan...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Donald--

I know it may seem that way, but the answer is "No, your good fortune has not run out."  First, nearly all of the features provided by WheresTheGig remain available, regardless of subscription status.  The question "Why do some advanced features require subscription?" is that in order to provide a high quality of service and make the site usable (quality server hosting, etc) require $$$.   I mean, you wouldn't use WheresTheGig if the server was down half the time and when it was up it was unresponsive, right?

So my solution was, I thought, brilliant! (you may disagree :-) ).  I'm not out to get rich, just to have sufficient funds to provide for site infrastructure, code maintenance (bug fixes), and code improvements (new useful features).  Fortunately, I know a software engineer/musician that works cheap!   Anyway, I don't need high subscription fees.  Basically the lowest tier is something like a quarter per day / one dollar per week.  When it comes to band expenses, even gas money to get to the gig, this is money that no one will even notice, but folks need motivation, so that's why a few of the features professional bands use are now subscription benefits.

That said,  WheresTheGig has always been first and foremost a service to support our community.  No one who needs its features will be denied for monetary reasons.  My attitude about this explains quite well why I'm not wealthy.  :-).  Check out the "Manage Subscription" page and the Patreon page at https://patreon.com/wtgig where I've written more about this.

So I hope you consider WheresTheGig a service that is worthwhile to support.  I have lots of ideas for making the site better and more useful to band leaders, and I would appreciate your help in making WheresTheGig the best it can be, through your subscription support.

All my best,

--Ethan


On Wed, Jun 5, 2019 at 6:33 AM Donald Hall <donha...@gmail.com> wrote:
I appreciate the site - our band uses it. Part of the attraction was that it was free. This seems no longer to be the case. Has our good fortune run out? 
 

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You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WheresTheGig" group.
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You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WheresTheGig" group.
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Ethan Brown

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Jun 9, 2019, 1:43:07 PM6/9/19
to Donald Hall, WheresTheGig
Awesome!  Thanks so much Donald.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to wheresthegig...@googlegroups.com.
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