Bram Kanstein (@bramk)

Fountain Podcast App - Discover, share and support podcasts - powered by Bitcoin

Fountain is a feature-rich Podcasting 2.0 app and community on iOS and Android. Support your favourite shows as you listen and join in the conversation with other fans. Discover new shows through clips or playlists and earn rewards for listening and sharing.

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Bram Kanstein (@bramk)
Hey Product Hunt! Today I am sharing my favorite new podcast app by @merryoscar and @nick_malster ๐Ÿ™Œ I publish and promote my podcast 'Bitcoin for Millennials' via their platform and also get connected with my growing community in a way that I could never before. Listeners can support me through Bitcoin donations and boost episodes they enjoy. I absolutely love it and think you will too!
Oscar Merry
Hey Product Hunt - Oscar here from Fountain! Why are we building Fountain? The podcast listening experience hasn't really changed in any meaningful way in the last decade. Podcast players look and feel the same as they did - and the mechanics of discovering new episodes still happens outside of the app you listen on. A big reason for this is that the RSS Feeds - the spec that defines what a podcast is and how it's distributed - have not changed. The Podcasting 2.0 movement changes this. Setup by Adam Curry (one of the inventors of podcasting), Podcasting 2.0 is pushing the RSS Podcast Spec into the future with new tags that enable the features you see in the Fountain App: - direct support payments from listener to creator without leaving the app - music podcasts that let you listen to the full songs and save them to your library - streaming money per minute - with wallet switching that directs the money to whatever song is currently playing - searchable transcripts that follow along with the audio - social clipping that lets you save and share the best insights - playlists that let you save any kind of content - in-app micropayments that surface the best content based on a value signal rather than an attention signal Fundamentally we believe that attention-driven content discovery algorithms are bad for both consumers and creators. Youtube videos keep getting longer, creators need to feed the algorithm with regular content to stay relevant, and outrage generates the most views. Media platforms use the attention signal for their algorithms because that's all they have. With micropayments we can surface content based on a value signal that we believe will fix these broken incentives. On Fountain the content that gets surfaced is the content that other listeners find valuable - nothing else. If you're interested in helping push forward open podcasting - or want to see how value driven discovery works in the context of podcasts and music - please checkout Fountain and give me a follow! https://fountain.fm/merryoscar If you have any feedback about the app or think we're missing something in terms of features please feel free to comment here or DM me on Twitter! Thanks! ๐Ÿ™
Pierson Marks
Can you explain a little more about the whole "listen to earn" business model? Why/how do I earn?
Oscar Merry
@piersonmarks Users generate most of the value created by tech platforms - we want to reward that value so we give a portion of our revenue through ads and transaction fees back to users in the form of daily rewards. Every day you have a chance to earn on Fountain and can earn more by listening to promoted content that podcasters pay for. The earning mechanic is also great for onboarding because it allows users to earn a few sats and send their first payment to a podcaster for free.
Ismael Galiano
This seems a solid step forward in the new micropayments era we are going to. The fact that you have to pay (10 sats = $0.002616) for commenting is an interesting way of enhancing quality over quantity. The value-for-value concept is a necessary development too. I don't think it will be an enough financial source for content creators alone, but together with well-targeted ads and cherry-picked sponsors it can improve the general scenery. Would reccommend anybody to check the app. And congrats and best of luck to the Fountain team โ›ฒ๏ธ!
Oscar Merry
@galiano Yes the 10 sats comment fee has been great for us because we have seen absolutely zero spam on the app - I think many other platforms could solve the spam problem with micropayments. Value for Value is still a new concept for content monetisation but in 2023 we saw over $120,000 sent from listeners to podcasters on Fountain - https://fountain.fm/2023 If anyone wants to learn more about the Value for Value ethos I would recommend this episode with Adam Curry as a starting point - https://www.fountain.fm/episode/...
Janie Baek
Super cool! I'd be very interested to see what your Fountain Wrapped analytics look like at the end of the year :)
Oscar Merry
@janie_baek Thanks Janie! - we have some 2023 stats here - https://fountain.fm/2023 - each fountain user also has their own personal stats here - https://fountain.fm/merryoscar/r...
emanon
It's refreshing to see a forward looking podcast app. I'd love to see the addition of a skip silence feature! Many thanks to the Fountain team.
Oscar Merry
@nmshhhh skip silence coming very soon! we have it working on Android just finishing up iOS.
Barry Luijbregts
Awesome podcast player and great support. Fountain is modern and supports transcripts, chapters, people, Value 4 Value and much more. It's a great podcast listening experience. Give it a try.
Oscar Merry
@podhome Thanks Barry! ๐Ÿ™
Ben Cousens
Fountain has been my default podcasting app for a long time now. It's a sleeping giant for podcast enthusiasts. The value-for-value model of paying podcasters directly, including at the point in time that they said something that resonated with you, is incredibly cool. It feels like the future of content monetisation and UGC. Don't skip this app!
Michael Bumann
Fountain for sure one of my favorite podcasting apps and THE app that drives innovation in the podcasting space! The new podcasting 2.0 features are huge and everyone who likes podcasts should follow this closely an must try Fountain - it's clearly a game changer in the space!
Oscar Merry
@bumi Thanks Bumi! ๐Ÿ™
Alistair Warwick
Like other commenters here, I've never really been much into podcasts, but having heard about this app (I've forgotten the source), I gave it a go, mainly while walking the dog. I've enjoyed the massive range of topics available, including improving my French (through news and comedy), my understanding of CSS, and listening to a Dad & Daughter show that's hilarious, @merryoscar , @nick_malster are active in improving both the back-end technology and the UX. I'm not sure the sats-earning process is optimised yet (for weeks on end, I was unable to earn, despite clearing the cache and reinstalling the app, but it seems to have improved in the last few days). Value4Value (V4V) is a great concept to reward content creators for their work, and using the Lightning network means that sats can bounce around at little to no cost to either party. Excellent work so far. I highly endorse Fountain Podcast App
Niko N
Curiosity for micro payments got me in the door. The simple sharing of clips is what I stayed for. I don't want to send my friends a 4h Lex Fridman pod, I just want to send them the clip which relates to my point. Sure, there are always things that need improving for any early product. But the seamless introduction of "money flow" inside an audio experience app, that's really novel and makes so much sense. Nobody pulled it off so far. And for the sake of content creators I hope Fountain keeps growing. We need less comment spam and more direct monetisation mechanisms for content creators.
Mike Jarmuz
I love Fountain! Value 4 Value is the future. Connecting directly with your fans as a podcaster is so powerful. The social aspects of Fountain are next level, and even the monetization for creators can be really meaningful. Get the boosts, interact with your audience, and earn Bitcoin! Hands down the best tool and platform for podcasters and listeners.
Oscar Merry
@themuzzman thanks Mike! ๐Ÿ™
Martin Schumacher
Hello everybody, I was never into podcasts, so far. Sometimes it still happens that I listen to specific topics. Fountain Podcast might be an app to get me more into podcasts. I''m going to check this out for me.
Mike Rodgers
Love Fountain. The clip sharing makes it so easy to find new podcasts relevant to my interests. And Iโ€™m all for rewarding great content direct to the creators!
Oscar Merry
@mike_rodgers1 Thanks Mike! ๐Ÿ™
Frederico Mateus
Best Podcast App on the market. Bitcoin fueled. Value4Value.. You canโ€™t get any better. Use it almost daily while commuting
Andrea Pellis
Fountain is just great, some frash air in the podcast world and possibly (hopefully!) the start of a new way of supporting content creators. A must-see. @merryoscar @nick_malster
Mere Mortals Podcast
As a podcaster and podcast listener I've been using Fountain for a couple of years now. Has really enabled me to connect deeply with my audience and monetise my podcast at the same time. It is now my daily driver and can't rave highly enough about it.
Oscar Merry
@mere_mortals_podcast Thank you Kyrin! ๐Ÿ™
Sรญlvia dos Santos
I've been using @FountainFM and I already did a special live streaming on one of my 4 podcasts to explain how to use FountainFm and satoshis bitcoin :) Check it out https://fountain.fm/episode/x6VH...
Abhilash Chowdhary
Going to give this a try, team Fountain Podcast App. Looks interesting.
G R
Love Fountain!!! So glad itโ€™s finally launched on Product Hunt. As a podcaster, itโ€™s so great to see which episodes are resonating most, to get feedback from fans of the show and to have a chance to read comments. โค๏ธ