Season 0:
Initial Launch, Token-Enabled RSS
Since issuing our Season 0 Founder token, we've been expanding our toolset and creating a dynamic user interface that will launch with Season 1. Meanwhile, holders of our s0 Founder token have enjoyed early use of our MVP—which grants token-enabled access to a bundled RSS (feat. the Joshua Citarella, Interdependence, and New Models podcasts) as well as to a private region of our Discord.
Team Expansion
This spring, we added an engineer, a designer, and a product manager to our team, and secured legal counsel from a leading firm—a solid foundation for Channel's growth.
Channel Feed Bot
In advance of s1, we’ll be releasing the Channel Feed Bot, which integrates with Discord, allowing communities to publish to their own RSS feed, in app, simply by holding any designated ERC-20 or ERC-721 token. If you manage a web3 community and would like to help us test this tool, get in touch via @channel or our Discord. This bot will be maintained, at minimum, through the end of 2022 as our initial membership protocol is rolled out.
Season 1:
General Subscription Token
Channel will offer a general subscription token with Season 1. This will allow member information to be stored on-chain in the token’s metadata. Creators will then have a reliable, pseudonymous backup of their subscriber registry while members will be able to stay connected to their community even as platforms and venues change.
On-chain Member Badge & Dashboard
Active subscriptions will be represented via Channel’s dynamic token badge. Active members will access content via the Channel Dashboard, a unique interface aggregating material from the social graphs of subscribed communities, including chats, and web3 analytics.
"Proof of Patronage" Airdrop
Longstanding subscribers to any of Channel’s founding creator pods (Interdependence, New Models, Joshua Citarella/DNR), upon verifying their Patreon account through Channel’s site, will be airdropped a complimentary Season 1 membership. (Details forthcoming. Note that eligibility snapshot has already been taken.) This proof-of-patronage feature, among other web3 on-ramping tools, will be available to new creators and communities in Season 2.
Creator/Community Scouting
Initial access to the Channel Protocol is limited to creators and communities selected by our team. While it will eventually be permissionless and open to all, we invite community managers and creators to reach out to us on Discord or via creators@channel.xyz to request early access to our tools and/or to join the creator platform in s2!
Content Partnerships
The Channel token can unlock things beyond the Channel platform. (Recently, Folia granted Channel s0 token-holders access to an Oliver Laric work, wherein a “decomposed” version of the Channel token could be minted.)
Initial Marketing Push
A portion of our treasury will be directed toward a strategic presence at and sponsorship of high visibility events. Oh and did we mention merch?
Season 2:
New Creator/Community Onboarding
Our core feature is a flexible, on-chain membership protocol for creators and web3 communities. Beginning with Season 2, creators and communities who have completed the application process will be able to offer their own memberships via Channel.
Cross-Creator Discovery
While Channel’s token-enabled Discord feed bot will reach existing web3 communities, our unique publishing toolset will attract Web 2.0 creators in search of web3 advantages. As our network expands, we will encourage cross-community discovery through our site's UI and by promoting the best content to the Channel's front page.
Expanded Channel Dashboard
For creators, the Channel Dashboard will also be used to publish content and to access web3-specific features such as split payments, treasury management, and web2-to-web3 on-ramping.
User-Curated Channels
As Channel grows, creators will be able to opt-in to allow syndication of their content. General members will then be able to promote self-crafted "channels" of content curated from their favorite Channel feeds, earning a percentage when others subscribe.
Studios in NYC & Berlin
To ensure that Channel remains a project created for and anchored by a thriving creative community, we will establish permanent HQs in New York City and Berlin, with co-located recording facilities and space for small, Channel member events.
Season 3+:
Open Access To Protocol, Channel Foundation, DeFi Endowments
Our fundamental belief is that creator communities need to be portable, interoperable, and durable. Currently this is impossible using existing legacy platforms and payment processors. Our goal is to develop the Channel Protocol as a hyperstructure, “a crypto protocol that can run for free and forever, without maintenance, interruption or intermediaries.” Our protocol will store subscription data on-chain and will function as a pseudonymous community registry. The memberships will offer token-enabled content streams, recurring subscription payments and splits, a community treasury toolkit, and seamless integrations with other services.
Web3-Native Multimedia Content Support
Our MVP has been built around distributing audio—namely podcasts, given the centrality of this format in establishing the voice of so many post-web2 communities. Going forward, we plan to support video, streaming, publishing, and web3-native multimedia.
Defi Endowments
Affordable recurring subscriptions will likely remain the core payment method for the near future. However, we are also investigating alternative funding models for communities such as DeFi endowments (stake-to-subscribe) and on-chain 501(c)(3) formation.
Channel Foundation
In parallel, we aim to launch a cultural foundation for incubating new content and related projects, and enriching the development of the protocol.
