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As a mission-driven social enterprise and platform co-operative, The Pack prioritises authentic connections between musicians, listeners and businesses, for the purpose of creating a healthy music ecology. It's built on a co-operative that prioritises fairness for creators, not profit for CEOs, investors, labels and shareholders.

By using geo-fencing technology (or “virtual perimeters”) The Pack streams tracks made locally to a listener or business, leading to the discovery of local original musicians, and to real exposure and attendance at local gigs and events.

The Pack also notifies local music lovers when they're in a Pack streaming business, letting them interact with the business' playlists and access localised rewards. That means better customer retention and spend at Pack businesses, and valuable localised cultural and economic data for local and State government.

Until The Pack amasses a significant volume of local music there's not much value in highly localised perimeters – so we'll focus on getting WA-made music to WA businesses and listeners. Geo-fencing is used for preference and priority, meaning artists local to a venue get played first.

The real value is much more localised visibility for WA artists. Listeners are notified when they're near Pack businesses, venues, artists and gigs local to them, and can interact with those opportunities as part of their music community. They can also opt in to notifications for new music, gigs, merch, events and exclusives from local artists they've interacted with.

Our model is completely different. We use a 1:1 creator-consumer model – each subscription goes directly to the artists that member has streamed, as a percentage of that subscription. We can't know exactly how that plays out per artist yet, but we guarantee artists 70% of revenues, forever.

Yes. Artists can promote themselves directly to businesses and recommend themselves for business playlists via the app, and can be recommended by listeners and other artists. Artists can use their localised streaming stats to pitch for gigs in local venues – even unusual ones like shoe stores and hairdressers who enjoy small promotional gigs.

No. The Pack makes absolutely no exclusivity impositions on artists – upload your music anywhere you like. We just believe artists will get better returns, financially and in audience development, from our 'small and local is beautiful' system than from the global services.

There are no costly aggregators – artists control distribution via direct upload. Music is vetted for sound quality and compatibility only, then curated into business-specific playlists. It's free for artists forever, and our co-operative rules enshrine fairness in policy and practice.

Yes – we believe all artists should register their compositions with their licensing body, in Australia that's APRA AMCOS, and that our artists should be members of MEAA Musicians Australia.

The Pack does not provide legal or copyright protection for music, so we suggest all artists protect their copyright and themselves. The Pack is streaming, not licensing or legal, so we can't be responsible for content – only for where it gets played and how you get paid, directly.

Yes. Artists hold their copyright. The Pack has no right to ownership or exclusivity. Musicians also own the co-op – they can do anything they choose with their music. We're streaming, not management, agency or label, but we can help artists grow their audience and reach.

Most major services divide an artist's monthly streams by total platform streams, multiply by total monthly revenue, and keep roughly 30%. If an artist is signed, labels, publishers and distributors then pay them per their royalty deals – generally under 50%, often around 16% even for major artists. We think that's exploitative.

Around 70% of total revenues at the majors goes to the three major labels and Merlin, while unsigned artists stay largely invisible without marketing dollars to influence playlists. It's a rigged system that benefits labels, shareholders and billionaire CEOs – not the creator. So we work only with unsigned artists, or those on small independent labels willing to negotiate their own distribution.

By directing significant revenue – 70% – straight to local original musicians through direct 1:1 creator-consumer relationships, generating economic and flow-on mental health benefits.

Each listener or business subscription is divided among the artists they actually stream, rather than pooled pro-rata. The remaining 30% supports technology, curation and expansion, and our commitment to supporting, recording and including female-identifying, First Nations, CALD and LGBTQI+ musicians via an NFP cultural organisation.

The only point at which we can't keep your music is if you're signed to a label, major or independent, and can't negotiate to keep it up at no cost to The Pack.

If an independent label signs off on keeping your previously released catalogue on The Pack at no cost to us, your content can stay as long as it likes. In fact, we'd love that.

Not a cent. As a member of the co-op you are both the creator of the content that drives the system and an owner of the system itself. Membership is free, and you can upload as many professionally recorded tracks as you like, free, forever.

Artists can pay a small annual membership fee ($40) for a Pack Music Cooperative artist page – sell music, merch and gig tickets, build and engage your community and promote events, with minimal middle-men taking a cut. We're also partnering with a new ethical ticketing business to help you make more from ticket sales.

Yes. In Australia, businesses must have a licence to play recorded music on their premises, regardless of the service or medium. As The Pack profiles and supports Australian-made music – also a core value of APRA AMCOS – we intend to talk to the licensing body about a partnership supporting Australian unsigned musicians.

Yes. That applies to all streaming services regardless of business model. As The Pack provides a very different service to the majors, we intend to negotiate with APRA AMCOS.

This is the ethical AI / machine learning part of the system. The Pack initially curates business-type-specific playlists to start the ball rolling, and these evolve with customer interaction – Pack listeners can influence business playlists.

The system also recognises member listeners' playlists as they enter a business, so business playlists evolve on what their clients enjoy. Over time no two businesses should have the same playlist.

Participation is optional, but we think it's mutually beneficial. Rewards are set by businesses as an incentive for listeners who use the app on their premises and interact with their playlists.

Customers earn Pack tokens when they interact with a business' playlist in store and redeem them for whatever that business considers a fair exchange – a free coffee for every 10 recommendations, a discounted haircut, a beer or food discount. The Pack sets no minimum or maximum value.

Listeners are our largest contributing membership group, funding artists to create and distribute music through their monthly membership.

They're also our taste-makers – interacting with business playlists, creating client-curated spaces and helping local businesses design the atmosphere of their venues.

Beyond discovering the hottest new local music – much of it unavailable anywhere else – listeners get notified of upcoming gigs, new releases, merch drops and special events from the local artists they love.

Listeners are alerted when they're near a Pack business, can recommend tracks to business playlists, and in many spaces queue music via an in-app jukebox game for a small fee that supports artists and businesses. They earn rewards to redeem in store, plus fan badges that unlock discounted tickets and exclusive opportunities.

We're seeking partnerships with local governments in a patronage relationship that co-creates sustainability across local arts and business economies. That patronage supports development and local marketing of this streaming and sharing marketplace for local, original, unsigned music – a sustainable scaffolding for artists before they enter the crowded global space.

Patron memberships are tiered per capita so any council can take part, from $1,000 a year for councils under 5,000 people to $35,000 for those over 200,000. Patrons actively promote The Pack across their business, arts and local communities, and receive a content marketing asset pack and support from our marketing team.

De-identified, location-specific data to support effective cultural investment and arts, tourism and local economic growth – plus a major role in building sustainable arts economies and revenues for their local music community, and in local place planning that leads to more vibrant, connected precincts.

A hybrid: Company (Pty Ltd) + platform co-operative + not-for-profit cultural organisation.

The company owns and protects the streaming technology and intellectual property. The co-operative manages and supports membership and subscriptions, and licences the technology from the company. The NFP, in development, is philanthropic – a grant-making entity supporting preservation of the unique sound of our local music community and the recording of female-identifying, First Nations, CALD and LGBTQI+ music and musicians.

Co-ops are owned by their members, not by billionaire CEOs, shareholders and investors, so decisions about distributing the co-op's prosperity are made by its board and its members – musicians. The same goes for how the co-op evolves and is managed.

It means our members own the distribution of their creative content and are actively involved in the success of the platform, and in building the community – the healthier it is, the more viable the platform is for them.

Co-ops don't have owners, they have members. The Pack has a 12-member board of directors. All business decisions are made by the board, and all musicians, listeners and businesses are members of some type – full member or associate. Full members have voting rights and can influence the development of The Pack and make recommendations to the board and broader membership. The co-operative rules set out these parameters.