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Many Choices in Payment Methods

1/24/2020

Payment Options are Rapidly Proliferating!

Consumers now have dozens of payment methods to choose from. This includes Cash; Debit cards; Credit cards; Phone-based 'wallet' and payment methods like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay; Identity-based payment methods (some coming soon) such as eye/face recognition, fingerprint recognition, and Hand-print recognition; and Cryptocoin such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Etherium, and many more (over 2,000 different crypto-currencies exist as of January 2020!), and other kinds of payment methods are being discussed as well.

New Ways are Needed to Organize Payments

With thousdands of payment methods now available (and new ones coming every year), there is a need for better ways to organize payment options, and signups for new payment methods. This need will grow more important over time as payment methods continue to grow. Each payment method has its advantages and disadvantages; so a person shopping close to home might have different needs than someone travelling, or doing something creative online. A solution is needed that addresses all scenarios.

We have a Solution

We are working on a patent for a new way of organizing payment methods, making it easier on consumers. Our solution will be revealed once it is Patent-Pending. It is a creative way to let users choose their favorite payment method, at any point in time. Our solution is intuitive and makes a lot of sense; and is instantly understood when you see it. Check back with us to find out more!

Contact Us

If you are working in the payments industry, and have some new ideas, or waant to discuss new payment methods in general, contact us. We are especially interested in new ways of organizing categorizing, and publicizing payment methods.

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Music Streaming Finally Hits 1 Trillion Streams!

1/10/2020

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Majority of Music is now done by Streaming

The music streaming industry has been steadily growing, and finally hit 1 trillion streams, in 2019. That is a very impressive number.

The likes of Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, Apple Music, Deezer, and other music streaming companies are supplying us with the majority of our music now.

Vinyl also continues to grow, and its about to surpass CD sales; while vinyl is growing, CD's continue to decline. The CD has a very low cost to produce, so it will stick around for awhile and you can still find new cars with CD players - but that will soon change.

Some of the music streaming services are working on higher resolution formats, and that will become a big growth area later once it gets more traction. Wikipedia has a good article on high resolution audio.

There is a movement called the MLC, which stands for Mechanical Licensing Collective, and is part of a new law called the "Music Licensing Modernization Act". Its goal is to improve how music licensing is done, to make it fairer and help artists earn; but it is early days for the MLC. You can read more here.

Spotify continues to be the best music streaming service, no question. Many people kind of gave up on Google, which at times has offered a rather confusing mish-mash of services. Amazon is starting to raise its quality level, even talking about higher definition music, so lets keep an eye on Amazon Music, too.

You can also read more about our invention, called the Master API, at our music blog site: MusicStreaming.com

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New Models in Streaming (Video & Music)

12/12/2019

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Streaming is Evolving

Besdies the Master API (our idea for music streaming), we are now working on a patent for a better way to present video content.

In the beginning there were a few content owners, like CBS, ABC, NBC, and the film studios. Then came aggregators, like Netflix, Roku, and Hulu. Now almost any of these companies can be a content provider, and be involved in various kinds of distribution and partnering with aggregators.

Original Content Creates Loyalty

oPeople genuinely like Netflix; there is a fondness there. Netflix has so much content, both original and re-broadcast, that people can find a lot they like - and there is no irritating advertising. Netflix is the king and will continue to be so for awhile. HBO is another well-liked company, due to the very high quality of their content. These tw companies are leading the way - but they have a lot of competition. A big challenge for any company with less content or quality is how to get people to signup; you need either a blockbuster hit, a very deep library of very good content, or to be the cheapest - which pressures margins. So newer streaming companies like FX and CBS have that challenge to find those blockbuster hits, so their streaming brand will resonate with consumers.

Data is Important - for Video, and for Music

Understanding what consumers enjoy watching helps set the direction for creating new content, and forming partnerships. Collecting data is how companies now consumer preferences; so data is very important - but so is ease of use. Some streaming companies are harder to use than others and that is an issue. For the music industry, we have discovered a new way to collect far more data, called The Master API - check it out !

A New Video Platform is Coming

We are patenting a new way of doing video streaming, where it is a more level playing field. Premium content providers like HBO and Netflix will still have a huge role but with our new model, all of the less-popular video streaming services will have more chance to grow, and be more visible in the mix. This is important because there is such a huge amount of content now - and the rate of growth is still increasing! So consumers need better tools, and our Patent-Pending method is exactly that. Once our model is widely adopted, consumers will have more content available, more consumed - and the average spend by consumers will go up, too because they will see more value.

Contact us to learn more about our Patent-Pending ideas in video streaming.

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The Payment Revolution

11/4/2019

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Payments are Changing, Across the World

Payments are changing, in every country of the world. Consumers (and businesses) have more options flexibility and growing security.

The Digital Wallet

Consumers are embracing the digital wallet. This is more than just carrying funds; you can store your credit cards there and a variety of other services. Wallets are catching on faster in some countries than others. The US has been slower, as credit cards are so well established, and there is so much legacy infrastructure in place. In other parts of the world, wallets are taking off.

The Unbanked

There are over one billion people in the world who have no bank account, no credit cards, and for many not even a government ID of any kind. They are called the unbanked; there is considerable need among the unbaned for ways of managing money, of being paid, and of paying bills. Many companies are jumping into this growing market; one of the best is PayTM, which has over 400 million users now in India - and is growing internationally as well.

CryptoCurrency Wallets

CryptoCurrency cannot be directly spent at the cash register; it is incompatible. So the digital wallets for CryptoCurrency have other methods, typically a real-tie conversion of the digital currency to cash, just enough to cover the transaction. While this works, its not clear if the model will scale. However, we have a patent that would enable spending CryptoCurrency directly at the cash register - with no wallet cash-conversion needed - and our model becomes more efficient ,as the network gets larger.

Payment Apps

In the USA, direct payment via apps is more common than a full digital wallet. The most popular payment app is the Starbucks app, and it works very smoothly. Starbucks has done a good job; they ought to license out their wallet model to other companies, or even better make their own standalone payment app, and let other companies simply use it - creating a payment network. This could have a lot of advertising potential, as well as a convenient (and painless) way to collect demographics.

The Future of Payments

it is reasonable to assume there will be more digital wallets created, and probably many more payment apps. Already we are seeing improved security in international payments, which should continue to get better - and faster. In the long term the industry needs better tools to help people manage their spending, help people plan for the future, handle taxes when due, consolidation of the digital wallets as one standard emerges, and decide on the future of CryptoCurrency.

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