Paid Subscriptions

[lconway]

I have to say, if it is true that all participants have to get the higher plans to use them, that seems a little overambitious. Why not do it like zoom, where the host needs to have the account, but the participants can then take part for free.

The whole idea of a growing community gets defeated that way. It was difficult enough to get colleagues to invest into the equipment needed and set it all up, now one also has to persuade them to pay monthly fees. That's not going to work, you are cutting off your user base that way.

I am not against paying for the service, but I don't think this has much of a future, if indeed it works like this.

Zoom is different from JK in one critical way. In Zoom the host is hosting and managing and presenting (or allowing presentations) while everyone else essentially observes. In a JK jam, everyone is actively engaged in playing: it's more of a collaboration than a presentation. That takes more resources than being a passive participant on Zoom. I think we're going to find out that a Gold or Platinum user can start sessions of any length and manage them (just like Zoom), lower-tier users are going to be able to join those sessions but will be limited in the number of hours per month (or per session for basic users). So they'll be able to join a session, but once their time runs out they'll be bumped. This doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

I do hope that there will be some sort of group plan though, where a Platinum user can start a session and others can pay maybe $5 per month and be allowed to play with their "group leader" (and other group members) for as much time as needed. That would work for band practice, choir practice, and lots of other group activities.

I'm also wondering about the teaching/learning tiers. I don't mind having to be a Platinum subscriber to teach, but it doesn't seem reasonable (or enforceable) to ask a student to be a Gold member if they're only there for a lesson once a week. Perhaps my $5 per month "group" suggestion would work for this purpose as well: we could establish a group for our students and they could pay for that tier or more if they chose.

Cindy Harris
Pittsburgh, PA

Cindy,

You wrote: So they'll be able to join a session, but once their time runs out they'll be bumped. This doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

This seems HIGHLY unreasonable to me. If I can't keep the group together for a full rehearsal despite my high tier subscription, why would I EVER buy that higher level? Rehearsal requires everyone be aboard. In fact, why would I use JK AT ALL in these conditions?

I have to concur with others who have commented on how this seems a "not ready for prime time" plan that is being launched prematurely. When I go the the DETAILS page, there aren't many. Every issue being discussed here has "Will write more on this later" as the description. Just not ready to answer the valid questions.

I support JK. I don't WANT to start with another service. But I will if things go badly here.