Clubhouse, the exclusive social audio app, is looking for ways to earn revenue for the platform for its creators, CEO Paul Davison told CNBC on Monday.
After debuting last year, Clubhouse is now valued at around $ 1 billion and hosts more than 2 million users. The premise is relatively simple, as there are no chat rooms based on text, video or images. Users will be logged into the app and will be greeted with some live virtual rooms, where they will be able to see a list of participants. If they click in the room, the audio turns on and you can hear the conversation. Think of Clubhouse as an app for live, unfiltered podcasts.
The app recently experienced an increase in users in early Monday ET, when Tesla CEO Elon Musk joined the platform to discuss various topics.
Clubhouse’s revenue plan is similar to the Patreon crowdfunding service model, which allows independent creators to receive funds directly from their audience. However, Patreon charges a small commission for these transactions and it is unclear how much or if Clubhouse would take a percentage of the subscriptions.
It also becomes an issue that social media users have complained about. If a developer can’t make money on one platform, he’s likely to move on to another when he gains strength. Clubhouse makes a bet at the beginning of its existence that it can attract more users by offering them a way to make money.
“There are so many amazing people who are smart, who are fun, who have domain experience, who are really great at bringing people together,” Davison said in an interview with Squawk Box. “And what we want to allow them to do is make a living directly at Clubhouse through subscriptions and events with entry and receiving advice from listeners who are happy to pay them directly for the experiences they are creating for them.”
Currently, users cannot pay for content directly through the app. The platform itself is free and there are no ads or premium plan for users. Davison said Monday that Clubhouse plans to introduce some sort of model “sooner rather than later.”
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