They play out about 2-3 times a month, supplementing their gig income with two ‘day jobs’ at area restaurants. Jamie has been playing guitar for about 8 years, has had some private lessons, and has been involved with a number of bands in the area. They download Lute on a Monday morning, fill out a profile, and submit a few live clips to our team right through the app. We review the clips, having no idea who Jamie is or where they’re playing from. We like what we hear, and Jamie is approved by Tuesday night. Jamie gets a notification from us, and then shares a link to their Lute Player Profile with their fans, friends, and family (about 500 on Instagram and Facebook), many of whom download Lute (for free) that very day. Jamie has a few minutes in the morning Wednesday before their shift starts, and goes live for 20 minutes. In that time, several of their friends and a few dozen random listeners from around the world connect with Jamie’s live stream. Jamie earns $10 in tips in about 20 minutes of live streaming.

Fast forward a few months, Jamie has been streaming consistently, for around 20-30 minutes a day, an average of 3 days a week, got in contact with a bass player who heard them perform on Lute and wants to meet up for a potential blues project, and has made over $500 in tips, just by streaming live on the schedule that worked best for them.

Jamie is now turning down extra shifts at the restaurant because of the extra income they’re making through Lute.

She has a residency at a local bar, a couple albums out, and over 50K followers on social media. She uploads a few clips of acoustic piano to Lute, is approved a day later, and gets a notification immediately. She blasts out her Lute Player Profile to her fans, letting them know they’ll be able to catch an intimate, stripped down acoustic set anytime they hear her on Lute. With her reach, over 2K people download Lute and favorite her immediately.

With her busy schedule, Lucy goes live just a few times a month, but when she does, a few thousand of her fans are notified that she’s live, and many join on the spot to listen. Each time she performs, she also picks up a few dozen new followers through Lute who tip her and favorite her. Lucy has set up her profile to link folks directly to her latest album release on Bandcamp, where she earns most of her album-based income.

Lucy usually does a full 45 minutes when she plays, and earns almost $100 each time in tips. In a few months, Lucy has earned $2,000 in tips, hundreds of new fans who follow her on social and, in many cases, who buy her albums and attend her live shows.

He never pursued it professionally, but has been asked by his friends to play at multiple weddings, birthday parties, and a few funerals, which he usually does for free. Greg abhors social media and doesn’t have any active accounts. He hears about Lute from a friend who describes it as the antithesis of everything that’s wrong with streaming music and internet addiction.

On a whim, he downloads Lute to his iPhone 6s, the first and last smartphone he’ll ever buy, and submits his clips that night. His playing is beautiful, and we approve him, not knowing if we’ve just admitted a Berklee student, an alum of Carnegie Hall, or our next-door neighbor. Greg gets a notification, but has nobody to tell, so he just goes live whenever he wants. With his spare time, he’s able to play for 30-60 minutes several times a day, a few days a week.

Greg blows away his audiences and almost everyone who hears him favorites him so they can tune in the next time around. Greg makes more in tips on a per hour basis than he ever did as a teacher, and ends up giving away a portion of his Lute earnings through our donation portal (in the works!) once he’s hit his personal goal for the week.

Since he doesn’t have any music online, he links people to a site dedicated to fighting climate change. Greg is an all-star Lute Player who goes live at the touch of a button, in an app that seems as though it was made for his cello, his lifestyle, and his heart.