meaning that if someone has a paid mobile app or one that has premium features that need to be paid for, that is considered commercial use and they should support us.
2017-01-09 00941, 2017
Quesito
otherwise free mobile apps go to...
2017-01-09 00946, 2017
Quesito
yes
2017-01-09 00948, 2017
D4RK-PH0ENiX joined the channel
2017-01-09 00902, 2017
ruaok
now , the margins on mobile are shit. and mobile apps tend to not make a lot of requests.
2017-01-09 00911, 2017
Quesito
ok
2017-01-09 00958, 2017
ruaok
mobile is $10/month or so.
2017-01-09 00930, 2017
ruaok
the supporter can choose what amount to support us to. the dollar figures are really only there as differentiators of the different levels.
2017-01-09 00944, 2017
ruaok
so, we could have a $50 mobile supporter. totally fine.
2017-01-09 00952, 2017
Quesito
right
2017-01-09 00903, 2017
ruaok
bronze is next at $100.
2017-01-09 00916, 2017
ruaok
the $100/month support is a bit of a threshold.
2017-01-09 00930, 2017
Quesito
ok
2017-01-09 00931, 2017
ruaok
we have two prodominant ways in which our supporters can consume our data.
the VM allows someone to download all the code in a Virtual Machine setup. they can then point their clients to their own setup and make as many requests per second as they would like.
2017-01-09 00928, 2017
Quesito
do a majority of supporters choose VM?
2017-01-09 00934, 2017
ruaok
a lot yes.
2017-01-09 00943, 2017
ruaok
because the VM also decouples them from us.
2017-01-09 00948, 2017
D4RK-PH0ENiX joined the channel
2017-01-09 00959, 2017
Quesito
makes sense.
2017-01-09 00904, 2017
ruaok
while we work hard to keep the servers running 100% of the time, we're far from it. 2016 was terrible for us.
2017-01-09 00923, 2017
ruaok
now since our servers are in germany, things are much better, but we still have massive improvements to make
2017-01-09 00933, 2017
ruaok
still, our stuff could go down.
2017-01-09 00945, 2017
ruaok
imagine a scenario where ticketmaster depends on us.
2017-01-09 00949, 2017
Quesito
ok
2017-01-09 00905, 2017
Quesito
and then the servers crash?
2017-01-09 00905, 2017
ruaok
imagine now if they started selling U2 concert tickets and our shit crashed and it took their shit with it.
2017-01-09 00914, 2017
Quesito
yeah
2017-01-09 00921, 2017
ruaok
it is a contrived example that doesn't really apply, but you get the ide.
2017-01-09 00923, 2017
ruaok
idea.
2017-01-09 00938, 2017
ruaok
the downside to the VM is that it is a stale copy of the data.
we do not give anyone (unless there is a special deal on the table) access to the live data feed unless they are paying us $100/month.
2017-01-09 00947, 2017
ruaok
a special deal could be where someone feeds data to us or otherwise gives us something in return.
2017-01-09 00953, 2017
Quesito
ok
2017-01-09 00900, 2017
ruaok
this is quite tricky and you should leave those for me to deal with initially.
2017-01-09 00917, 2017
Quesito
sounds good
2017-01-09 00918, 2017
ruaok
(they have a history of not panning out so well, so I am more careful with them)
2017-01-09 00924, 2017
Quesito
ok
2017-01-09 00956, 2017
ruaok
people like zas who are in charge of keeping servers running want to get things squared away with plenty of time before a new service goes live.
2017-01-09 00906, 2017
ruaok
that bring about this common workflow:
2017-01-09 00919, 2017
ruaok
1) customer contacts us, signs up as "stealth startup".
2017-01-09 00940, 2017
ruaok
2) they work on their product to add MusicBrainz data/support, but while they do this, pay us nothing.
2017-01-09 00949, 2017
Quesito
yeah
2017-01-09 00954, 2017
ruaok
3) during this phase we do not give them access to the live data feed.
2017-01-09 00921, 2017
ruaok
4) towards the end of this phase, people should come back to use an hammer out final details for support.
2017-01-09 00946, 2017
Quesito
right
2017-01-09 00936, 2017
ruaok
5) more on this in a bit, but once we agree, we green light them. A default signup with metabrainz has no access to the live data feed. We can put them into "waiting", which is the
2017-01-09 00936, 2017
ruaok
"we're figuring our shit out or are developing stuff" phase.
2017-01-09 00956, 2017
ruaok
once they come back, we take them out of waiting and them publish them on our page.
6) if someone pays us less than $100/month, we approve them to be "limited". A limited meb account is different from a limited mb account.
2017-01-09 00902, 2017
ruaok
Limited in meb means, "no live data feed"
2017-01-09 00927, 2017
ruaok
Stealth start-ups will come to us near their launch date and will want to get access to the live data feed.
2017-01-09 00958, 2017
ruaok
I normally suggest 2-3 weeks before launch -- at that point we need to get their legal address into the meb site. that address goes on the invoices we send them.
2017-01-09 00914, 2017
Quesito
ok
2017-01-09 00935, 2017
ruaok
and we'll get their logo and a quip about what they do and we publish that on our site.
2017-01-09 00950, 2017
ruaok
I normally also tweet from the metabrainz account welcoming them into the fold.
2017-01-09 00903, 2017
Quesito
right
2017-01-09 00914, 2017
ruaok
that is the most common workflow for us.
2017-01-09 00930, 2017
Quesito
ok
2017-01-09 00935, 2017
ruaok
also, note that access to the API is not restricted right now. anyone can make requests without an API access key.
2017-01-09 00943, 2017
ruaok
we're going to change that soon, but you can ignore that for now.
2017-01-09 00949, 2017
Quesito
ok
2017-01-09 00950, 2017
ruaok
questions so far?
2017-01-09 00946, 2017
Quesito
The pending list, is mostly stealth startups that are in the 'developing phase' and/or need to be checked in on?
2017-01-09 00920, 2017
ruaok
the pending list includes these types:
2017-01-09 00932, 2017
ruaok
1) people who have signed up with us and have not been contacted yet.
2017-01-09 00956, 2017
ruaok
2) people who have signed up with us and have been contacted, but have not responded yet.
2017-01-09 00919, 2017
ruaok
the "Commercial users in the waiting list"
2017-01-09 00926, 2017
Quesito
I got it.
2017-01-09 00937, 2017
ruaok
are people who need to be checked up on periodically. but we don't have to deal with that right this second.
2017-01-09 00900, 2017
Quesito
ok--but perhaps a system for that in future?
2017-01-09 00915, 2017
ruaok
yes, there is a lot of room for improvement there.
