In this morning’s press release from Earbits, a Venice, CA company whose backers include WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, CEO Joey Flores clearly highlights the marketplace need for something like Groovies:

“Over 70% of streaming music listeners are non-paying, most of whom also recognize the need to support artists and labels,” said Flores. “Groovies create a social economy that maximizes the potential of this demographic by putting a real value on the actions they take to support their favorite bands. Groovies empower fans to earn rewards, recognition and unlock access to our growing music catalog.”

Here’s a quick example of how the Earbits product works. Each streaming song costs 10 Groovies. If a listener joins a Facebook fan page for a particular or musician, they earn 50 Groovies (thereby unlocking five songs). According to Earbits, the value of a Facebook fan is around $3.60, e.g. a much higher revenue stream than the 0.5-2.5 cents typically paid by streaming services for single audio tracks.

Earbits has implementing the social music currency across its network of 300+ music channels. Other rewards include 500 Groovies for opening an account and 100 Groovies for sharing a song on social media. The company plans to expand the rewards program in the near future to also include things like checking in at a live concert via mobile device.

Previously on FishbowlLA:
San Francisco Chronicle Gets Into the Radio Business