Roadmap: The Payeewall and a cooperative model for journalism
The founding mission of Machine is to pay our readers. We want to build a cooperative revenue model that shares profits with everyone who's a member of our community. This will be achieved through a mechanism called the Payeewall that ensures all content is open, yet rewards loyal people who are logged in.
Is this possible? We're not sure. But we're going to try. This project is not going to make anyone a billionaire (although clearly that would be wonderful). It's about giving writers a space to publish whatever they want, whenever they want, within the widening realms of tech, science and ideas.
We want to introduce complex new concepts to the world and celebrate innovators while playing our part in bringing down the walls that keep people out of academia or the industries of the future.
Here is a rough roadmap of how we're going to do it, starting with the problems we are trying to address:
- The attention recession: People are paying less attention to news and journalism in general. We want to build a community with a stake in our future and a reason to visit Machine regularly.
- Knowledge inequality: We will deal with complex cutting-edge concepts in a way which satisfies experts but is accessible to a wide audience. Paywalls lock down information. Our content will always be open, with The Payeewall rewarding our readers but ensuring all articles can be accessed by anyone.
- Centralisation: Machine is founded on a core belief in decentralisation. We want to see a media that's a galaxy of bright stars, rather than a few great big supermassive black holes sucking up everything around them.
- The dead internet: Bots are taking over. Soon, it will be impossible to know whether there's anyone else alive on the internet. There will always be a ghost in the Machine. We are proudly human and will remain so.
Building the Payeewall
Machine is starting from zero - so can end up anywhere. We're not putting a time frame on these stages, but we do want to move quickly. For the time being, Jasper Hamill will write most articles - but we'll be taking on freelancers as soon as possible to produce both articles and commercial content for our clients.
Stage 1: Genesis
Right now, we're focused on building up a content base and gaining subscribers. You can become a member below. We'll never spam you and will not send newsletters until the next stage of the roadmap.
This stage is about establishing a community and experimenting to see what content works for our audience, as well as registering ourselves as a cooperative business or social enterprise.
We will also establish revenue lines. These are not going to come from advertising that clogs the page and slows down the experience - although we will publish sponsored content, affiliate links and other non-invasive adverts.
Our income will primarily be derived from the sale of marketing services. We have deep expertise in PR and copywriting, so contact Jasper@machine.news if you need a freelance copywriter, PR consultant, fractional head of content or anything else involving words and the media.
Stage 2: Growth
We use an open-source content management system called Ghost, which puts a useful limit on its starter subscription package.
When we reach this ceiling (500 subscribers), we will upgrade and gain the ability to send newsletters. We'll then write to all 500 people and invite them to pay a subscription to join Machine, whereupon we will start to share details of our income on a monthly basis and agree a fair way to share profits.
It's our ambition to be able to at least refund the cost of a subscription - but we are aiming to make the dividend as large as possible.
We will make decisions on this important issue in close consultation with readers living behind the Payeewall. The community might, for instance, decide that the best way to spend the money is to pool it and distribute the funds to a charitable cause. We will choose our path through community votes and regular consultations.
Stage 3: Expansion
When the Payeewall is in place, we will look to expand a pool of writers in close consultation with the community.
We want to make sure that every one of our members has a stake in our future and a say in our decisions.
It's far from clear whether we will be successful. But it doesn't matter. We are journalists. That is our first and last passion.
We'll be happy writing stories about AI, space, ancient history and quantum computers to an audience of five people. These topics are more than a job. They are a guiding passion.
No matter what happens along the way, we'll be writing here on Machine through feast and famine. Every ending will be a happy one.
So let's build a cooperative future for journalism - together.
Have you got a story to share? Get in touch and let us know.