Jamkazam is moving onto Paid Subscriptions. Donors and volunteers' thoughts?

[TazTarry]

Also would be nice if you could get a yearly member$p discount.  I didn't see that mentioned in the email at least.

Hi Chris  If you go to the subscribe page and drop down you the options there are yearly plans, e.g. Silver for a year is $49.99, and Gold is $99.99, so in effect 2 months free.  https://www.jamkazam.com/client#/account/subscription

On other points: 

One thing I am waiting to see is how easy it is to go up and go down a level -  so sometimes my band will only want to rehearse just once a week for a couple of hours or so - Silver, sometimes twice a week or more if we are working to a CD or big gig (when live gigs come back) so we would need Gold. We all live someway from each other so will still want to include Jamkazam in our reherarsing schedule along with face-to-face even when Covid restrictions are relaxed (This is ignoring the sound quality which I'm not sure what impact the lower quality will have).

I and my band have found Jamkazam a life-saver in the Covid world.  Looking at alternatives (which I did before coming upon Jamkazam) and again now, either they look like taking a lot of setting up, or also cost simlar or more than Jamkazam now for what we need. Yes, it took some getting Jamkazam working for us but most problems turned out to be elsewhere - old laptops, wrong drivers, poor broadband, etc, and yes it does crash sometimes, but it is now working well for us.   I expect I will subscribe, either Silver or Gold.

All the best


Taz

[Askal]

Got the email on friday. Really have a hard time on consodering what to do. 5 bucks seem okay, but the 10h restriction is a bug to swallow. Equals 2.5h a week for a band rehearsal which is covering roughly the basic needs. And as pointed out - JK is not yet THAT stable and reliable so one could easily start a session and get going any given time.
The service was good as a free beta but it has to improve massivly to be worth considering spending 10-20$

---

Was donating without hesitation in July when i thought this was a community-driven project. Celebrated when the donation goal was reached. I am waiting for the promised „great improvements“ still today. Anyone noticed improvements since donation-goal was reached? On the contrary! Since about six week JK is even cra$ng when it is not even used, just running in the background. And when it is not cra$ng, it is constantly complaining with error messages on my mac. Sent quite some crash reports, didn’t change a thing. Not the kind of service i am willing to spend a monthly fee on this terms!

[Woti]

Just to understand what the new fee plan means for me:
In addition to my two bands, I wanted to build up a small jam community. The first attempts have already taken place. But with this fee plan I am losing all my jam friends ... 10 hours a month is not even enough for our rehearsals. So there is no longer any room for spontaneous jams, you have to keep it short, you don't have time to chat and so on....Unfortunately, all of this will disrupt a creative process!  And that's what I criticize, that you don't take the users on board in advance to draw up a plan together that does a little justice to everyone. Instead, we get a fee plan that is not even communicated.



Think about it, for 10 euros you have -> 10 hours per month, and that affects all of my fellow musicians. For us here, that's 70 euros a month. I wouldn't have a problem with it myself, but most of my fellow musicians don't want that and withdraw because they often despair of the difficult installation and configuration. I spent hours with the teamviewer keeping JK going. I've also thought about sponsoring this for all of my fellow musicians, because I think it's great, even after Corona, JK saves time and resources, is good for the CO2 footprint, and is a great addition to our face-to-face rehearsal.

I am ashamed and apologize  for parts of my post above , I have completely misinterpreted the new fee list. I have unlimited access for $ 10 a month. It's worth it to me. But I'm afraid that my fellow musicians won't want to pay "gold" for it and leave me alone with it. Thanks for your work.

Unfortunately, my request for a PayPal payment option has not yet been heard. Please have a look at Post # 2 on this topic for safety concerns.
https://forum.jamkazam.com/showthread.php?tid=1484

[voutoreenie]

20 bucks for a paid subscription to a program that works marginally for a 5 piece group (total cost 100 bucks) is pretty outrageous.  I have no problem paying for the service, but I pay less per month for Adobe InDesign and Photoshop, both of which work flawlessly and provide real time service and support when needed.  $5.00 per month for Platinum (if that's what we're using now) is a good rate.

The problem I also see is that for many of us who've been in working bands prior to the pandemic, this has been our only option to attempt to rehearse or put on new material.  It's not an option of choice, but one of necessity and if and when that necessity goes away, so will our 20 buck a month subscriptions.  However, for 5 bucks we'd probably consider staying on.  It is a viable option in better times to go over some things one on one, not it a rehearsal space environment.  It's a great option to run ideas past band members "spontaneously."

But again that's for 5 bucks, maybe slightly more, but not a whole lot.  And... the thing should work.  It shouldn't crash.  Band members shouldn't randomly gray out or disappear altogether.  Audio mix shouldn't suddenly become twice as loud or become "kazoo" like.

And, if these things are the fault of out not knowing how to address issues, set up properly, know our interface... then there should be documentation that easy to find and understand that will help us out.

voutoreenie


Yoon Lee Hi, everyone. 

I just tried opening Jamkazam on my mobile device and found the updated jamkazam webpage showing planned monthly pricing for a number of subscription tiers. 

https://jamkazam.com/remote-music-rehearsals/

Free versions would be limited to 4hrs/month, with each session being limited to 1hr/month, and three paid tiers being offered. 

I understand that Jamkazam now has a sizable community of users and assume that there are cost involved in hosting servers, maintenance and development etc. So Jamkazam finding a sustainable way of growth is something I've been looking forward to, and I believe this wish is shared among many. 

My question is rather, if the existing members had received any newsletters or announcement regarding this change, ESPECIALLY the volunteers and the donors who is helping Jamkazam reach their fundraising goal and more. (no-strings-attached, goodwill donations as far as what I can see)
Seeing the updated page on the plans and pricing without having received any announcement or newsletter, should come as a lack of transparency and consistency to the donors and volunteers, if not all users who are helping to improve Jamkazam by effectively beta testing it as they use it, and actively sending crash reports etc.  
If I may point out as an example, the 'Most Popular' highlight on the middle tier paid subscription plan on their website - I assume this is a common marketing practice yet is a false statement, as nobody on Jamkazam so far could've been a paid subscriber as the plans are listed as 'coming soon' at the time of this posting. Therefore there cannot be any data on which plan is the most popular. 

• Fellow users, have you received any announcement or newsletter regarding the coming paid subscription plans? 
  

• And to the Jamkazam operators, would you share/comment on my concerns regarding the lack of communication on your planned change into a paid subscription service, especially for those who has been volunteers and donors?
  

• And again, the community of people who make Jamkazam such a lively and noisy place - what are your thoughts?
  

Thanks and greetings to everyone, 

- Yoon

[StuartR]

Just to understand what the new fee plan means for me:
In addition to my two bands, I wanted to build up a small jam community. The first attempts have already taken place. But with this fee plan I am losing all my jam friends ... 10 hours a month is not even enough for our rehearsals. So there is no longer any room for spontaneous jams, you have to keep it short, you don't have time to chat and so on....Unfortunately, all of this will disrupt a creative process!  And that's what I criticize, that you don't take the users on board in advance to draw up a plan together that does a little justice to everyone. Instead, we get a fee plan that is not even communicated.



Think about it, for 10 euros you have -> 10 hours per month, and that affects all of my fellow musicians. For us here, that's 70 euros a month. I wouldn't have a problem with it myself, but most of my fellow musicians don't want that and withdraw because they often despair of the difficult installation and configuration. I spent hours with the teamviewer keeping JK going. I've also thought about sponsoring this for all of my fellow musicians, because I think it's great, even after Corona, JK saves time and resources, is good for the CO2 footprint, and is a great addition to our face-to-face rehearsal.

I am ashamed and apologize  for parts of my post above , I have completely misinterpreted the new fee list. I have unlimited access for $ 10 a month. It's worth it to me. But I'm afraid that my fellow musicians won't want to pay "gold" for it and leave me alone with it. Thanks for your work.

Unfortunately, my request for a PayPal payment option has not yet been heard. Please have a look at Post # 2 on this topic for safety concerns.
https://forum.jamkazam.com/showthread.php?tid=1484

I think that the JK team is using a third-party payment provider so the question would really have to be asked of them.