Some of these performances have amassed thousands of views on X. People did like it. Many of what you're labeling "new members" aren't getting their start in music here. They're being introduced to something new to them. Nothing is stopping them from bringing their audience here either. It's actually being encouraged, though that takes time. Nothing is stopping fans and supporters of music from coming here to support them with votes either. And if they actually manage to figure out supporting music in this fashion is just another way for the audience to earn here, I'm sure they'd be delighted. Though I realize I can point this out clear as day and people still won't get it.
The reason why some show up to create content and get paid, then leave once they're not getting paid, is because they did literally nothing to build an audience/viewership/readership for themselves.
Vibes approach is different than Open Mic. It's also an opportunity to set the music scene and new members on a more productive path with reasonable expectations. I'm supporting some of these performances and artists simply because I like what they did and enjoy music in general.
Of course these new Hive members aren't getting their start in music here. Much of what you said sounds great, but it feels adjacent to my main point. I've been on and around Hive for 6.5 years and to two conferences to personally know how this community often approaches new initiatives and its new members, and how that doesn't take long to fade. I can spell that out, but some people won't get it, nor want to. Music is a strong personal interest of mine, so I'm all for this initiative, and for artists to get and feel rewarded for their material. Anything that supports the arts and true organic content on Hive versus traditional internal inflation sloshing is a huge leap forward.
You and I have talked about the music scene here struggling to get off the ground.
It's an opportunity to avoid making the same mistakes all over again and it's off to a really good start. You need to look much deeper than just those rewards on posts to be able to see the entire picture. There's a lot of moving parts here. For instance this is the first community on Hive attempting to make the community itself go viral. Nearly everyone else created communities, attempts to pay contributors, but does nothing to attract outside interest. Akin to putting all the necessary resources into publishing and printing a magazine so it can sit in a box in your garage.
I'm giving it a chance. If people involved (stakeholders, those behind Vibes, the talent; everyone involved) manage to fuck this up and make all the same mistakes again, I'm outta here. Been around for 7.5 years and have witnessed my fair share of wasted potential and wasted money. I know what to look for.
I've often pointed out a few missing elements that end up being the reason projects fail. This one so far has been combining several of those elements into a neat little package, which is why I'm not surprised to see how fast it's growing. And there's still room to improve, which is a good thing, because that's called progress.
I've also criticized paying new members top dollar for simply introducing themselves, then struggling with the reality they must build a supportive following all on their own. These folks are bringing talent and an audience to the table straight out of the gates and will be able to be consistent, plus set themselves up to succeed here in the long run if they choose to do so, quite easily. But I'm not here to tell them how. I'm just here to enjoy some music.
Salute.
PS It's been awhile. Good to see you dude.
It's not only new members seeing high rewards. Week one someone who has been around for two years was highly rewarded because she performed really well and this Vibes thing also helped her get over 5000 views on Twitter. Came out of nowhere and blew everyone away.