Blogs & Articles: Lightning in the Wild: #FromTheJump Podcast 🔗 3 years ago

Lightning in the Wild is the blog series where we investigate how real people are using Lightning right now and describe the experience in their own words. In this edition, we’re taking a look at #FromTheJump, a Namibian podcast on the creative life.

Everybody’s heard of the Indian parable of the five blind men and the elephant, where each touches a different part, feels something very different from the others, and extrapolates from there about the nature of the whole. The one touching its trunk thinks he’s touching a snake, the one touching its leg thinks he’s touching a tree, the one touching its tusk thinks he’s touching a spear, etc.

At the risk of analogizing an allegory, Lightning is like the elephant. It means different things to different people. Our different perceptions of it, however, are not the result of blindness; on the contrary, Lightning tends to attract the most monetarily and technologically en-light-ened. Those perceptions are the result of the different ways we’ve discovered Lightning, the different ways we use it, and the different ways it makes our lives better.

Yes, folks, Lightning is an elephant. You heard it here first.

See the guy at the back? He just found a custodial Lightning app. (Image: Climate Interactive)

In this edition of Lightning in the Wild, Nikolai “OKIN” Tjongarero, a postmodern Renaissance man based in Namibia, will be telling us about his podcast, #FromTheJump, and his experience with the peer-to-peer Value for Value (V4V) monetization model. Nikolai’s story is exciting because it describes how a small business in the Global South is using Lightning to leapfrog fiat.

In the previous Lightning in the Wild post, Victoria Kayak — a kayak rental/tour shop in beautiful Victoria, Canada — shared how they got into Lightning, how they fostered adoption among their staff, and their brilliant, bitcoin-friendly pricing structure. Victoria Kayak’s ideas and story are inspirational and instructive, but their innovative approach was effectively to replace fiat with Lightning. Victoria Kayak is a conventional brick-and-mortar (or dock-and-paddle) business, and Lightning is just a better way for them to receive payments and stack sats.

These two businesses are grasping different parts of the Lightning elephant. One is plugging Lightning payment technology into a “traditional” business; the other is using a monetization model invented just this year and leverages a technology that didn’t exist five years ago for a business that didn’t exist fifteen years ago.

So let’s check out how the future has arrived in Namibia.

Say hi to Nikolai (center, top). And yay! The future still has puppies! (Image: Willem Vrey & the Omeho Project)

For Podcasters, Lightning Is Already Bitcoin’s Killer App

Nikolai was exceptionally ahead of the curve in that he first heard of Bitcoin back when it was trading at around $5:

I had actually been approached about Bitcoin all the way back in 2012 & again in 2016/17, but it was not meant to be, as the information just didn’t stick.

Of course it didn’t. Back in 2012, Bitcoin was just a very promising curiosity. It was still waiting for people to recognize its practical versatility and emancipatory potential.

Following a narrative we’ve now heard from several sources, Nikolai initially saw bitcoin as a better alternative to Western Union. As with so many, it had yet to occur to him that bitcoin wasn’t just an alternative to fiat but something categorically different:

I only saw Bitcoin as a way to transfer funds internationally and almost instantaneously, as well as a means to save for the long-term. Little did I know there was so much more out there waiting to be discovered.

His bitcoin baptism came from a collaborator of his who insisted on transacting in bitcoin:

One of the music producers we worked with tweeted that anyone who wanted to speak to him moving forward would have to first buy some bitcoin. I found this to be a very interesting concept and contacted him to buy some and learn more.

Bitcoin was for him, as it was for many others before Lightning, a pecuniary hammer looking for a commercial nail, a currency of the future looking for a business model in the present. Nikolai was working on that business model while much of the rest of the world was discovering Tiger King. Facing the challenge of COVID restrictions, he did what he does best — he got creative:

I’d have to say, personally, my podcasting journey with #FromTheJump started as something to do during the first lockdown most of the world went into. I found myself with recording equipment I had bought while doing my MBA in China years ago, an idea of connecting with creatives from around the world I have been blessed enough to have met on this journey of life and an urge to spread their stories and lessons by giving people a behind-the-scenes look into the conversations creatives have when nobody else is around.

But he quickly realized the inadequacies of the incumbent, fiat-based podcasting platforms, which are only viable for the Joe Rogans and Malcolm Gladwells of the world. Aggregators don’t really care about podcasters with audiences smaller than the population of Australia, and those creators can’t really make any money with them either.

But Nikolai is a knowledge entrepreneur as well as a business entrepreneur: he goes out, finds the information he needs, and integrates it into his life. That’s how he discovered V4V, the compensation model that lets listeners stream sats at the rate they choose while listening —a compensation model that would have been impossible on an ad-dependent, heavily intermediated legacy platform:

I found out about V4V while doing research on censorship-free social platforms and ways to get #FromTheJump to more ears around the globe. This led me down the rabbit hole which pointed to using the Lightning Network & the PodcastIndex, which then moved my focus onto the wonderful concept of Podcasting 2.0 & Value 4 Value.

As I started doing more and more research, I discovered that there was a Lightning client out there which did more than just be a wallet, but could integrate both that and podcasting so that I could monetise #FromTheJump directly to those listening to it. That had me hooked on wanting to find out more.

This led to me reading up on the different places I currently had my podcast on, like Spotify, etc…, and ultimately had me realise just how easy it would be to hold full ownership while still being able to monetise my podcast, but without having to give up a percentage of funds, ownership or having to self-censor beyond where I felt comfortable.

Lightning doesn’t improve on fiat’s V4V model; it’s what made that model possible and gave podcasters like Nikolai more control over their content and their income.

Watch out. There’s a parental advisory warning, so don’t forget to warn your parents.

Podcasting: the Node Operator’s Boot Camp

Since listeners’ payment streams can come from any number of sources simultaneously at any time of the day or night, a podcaster using the V4V model needs a full node that is always online. Some opt to use hosted nodes, like those offered by Satoshis.Stream and Voltage, which offer a considerable reduction in the configuration and management required … for a fee.

Others, like Nikolai, aren’t afraid to get their own hands dirty and want to keep more of the revenue they generate. That means learning how to set up, configure, fund, and manage a node from scratch. But maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds, and it doesn’t even sound that bad:

I was under the impression it was going to be way more difficult and technically taxing than it all turned out to be.

I did a “little” bit of research on how one would go about setting up a node and which of the options was most likely to be able to deliver to Namibia, along with what the level of difficulty in its setup would be, which led me to the wonderful people over at Umbrel who were willing to walk me, step-by-step, through a really comprehensive process, till completion. However, I didn’t even need the help because it was that easy. I think the most difficult part was waiting for the entire blockchain to sync up, because everything else made me feel like I knew exactly what I was doing and had me internally screaming “Hack the planet!”. Haha!

Hack the planet? A man after my own heart.

We grow the network by growing our relationships with users, and we do that by talking to them and responding to their needs. Hearing Nikolai talk about the experience since setting up his node shows just how worthwhile that onboarding effort is:

Once I went through the process of making sure #FromTheJump had been added to Podcast Index and claiming it as mine through the steps they provide, it was just a matter of waiting for everything to populate and the next thing I knew I was receiving boosts and having sats streamed to my node while I slept.

I’d definitely tell any podcaster who is interested in V4V to read through the setup properly to get the correct equipment for their node and to make sure their podcast is being hosted by a company that allows them full access to their RSS feed. Furthermore, make sure to join some groups of people (Telegram groups & Twitter are amazing for this) who are using the V4V model and see how they are going about it. But above all else, enjoy the journey because once you start receiving sats for your content, you don’t want to go back to begging corporates.

Nikolai sought out the technology and knowledge that he needs, set up his own node, is generating an income for himself, and he’s freed himself from begging. This is how Lightning is supposed to work. No, scratch that. This is how the whole damn economy is supposed to work. More sovereignty. More autonomy. Less begging. Yes! And Lightning has made it possible.

While you can’t judge a book by its cover, he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who begs much.

Here’s what Nikolai has to say about the comparison between the “legacy” fiat podcast distributors and Lightning-enabled podcast players:

I took it upon myself to familiarize myself with the terms and conditions of as many of the fiat-based podcasting models as possible, from Apple Podcasts and Spotify to iHeartRadio and Google Podcasts, and none of them can compare to the full ownership and monetary retention one can get from using a V4V client like Breez.

A simple example would be a streaming subscription to Spotify but not listening to all the episodes of a specific podcast. Now, you’ve already paid and it doesn’t matter if you use the service or not. In the case of V4V, you only pay for the content you stream, you only listen to 5 minutes of a 50-minute episode, you only stream 5 minutes’ worth of sats to the creator’s node. It really doesn’t get more cost effective while being directly supportive of the art form you’re consuming than that.

Exactly. Listeners only pay for what they use at a rate they themselves determine, the creators receive almost all of the revenue directly, and the intermediary distributors … don’t exist. Since everyone involved is a node, a peer in the network, intermediaries aren’t required for technical or business reasons. We’re all doing it ourselves, building what we need, helping each other help each other.

Exponential Growth from One Peer to Another

There are other intermediaries in the typical podcaster-listener relationship, but they are harder to see. First are the advertisers. In effect, the listeners pay the advertisers with their attention, and then the advertiser (under)pays the podcasters for doing something worthwhile that would attract all those listeners. Second are the payment processors. Listeners have to instruct their banks, credit card providers, online payment processors, or some combination of these to transfer their fiat funds to the podcasters bank. Of course, each one takes a cut, further decreasing the amount of listeners’ funds that reach their intended recipient, the podcasters.

As Nikolai has discovered, letting listeners stream directly from him and letting them stream payments back directly has not only helped the financial health of his budding media venture, it’s also allowing him to improve the content. He doesn’t have to care anymore what SimplySafe or SquareSpace or Warby Parker or any other unrelated, third-party business thinks about his creation.

Here’s Nikolai’s impression of how Lightning has changed #FromTheJump’s content and gotten closer to the listeners:

It’s helped me be able to continue to look at podcasting through the lens of adding value to my listeners through the interactions of my guests, without having to filter my content or sensor the creatives I’m in conversation with on #FromTheJump.

V4V has made it so I can focus on the content and not have to worry about generating funds for it to survive. It has liberated my ability to simply create, once again.

Disintermediating the relationship between Nikolai and his listeners is allowing him to do more of what he wants while simultaneously giving them more of what they want. Podcasters also receive anonymous metadata of, for example, episode information and at what points in the podcasts the boosts come in. This metadata gives them minute-by-minute, unfalsifiable feedback on what their audience wants and how to optimize their content according to their listeners’ preferences.

Again, the ones getting perhaps less of what they want are the advertisers and centralized aggregators. You cannot fathom the depth of our sympathy.

Our podcast service has taken off like a billionaire’s moon rocket. But we know it’s not perfect. In fact, we asked Nikolai for suggestions on how to improve. I swear we did. The question was, and I quote: “Are you or your listeners using Breez? How would you like to see Breez evolve to better serve you and your listeners?” We were practically begging for constructive criticism, but Nikolai had to go and flatter us:

I am fully using Breez and have integrated it not only for its podcasting uses, but also for it’s insanely easy-to-use PoS integration which I’m looking to help onboard different establishments I frequent to using it as well.

There’s not too much I could throw at Breez, other than maybe integrating a LNURLPay service so street performers would be able to use static QR codes for tips and donations straight into their wallet.

However, I do know that the good people over at Breez are very quick to implement requested changes, as can be seen from my request to have the South African rand and Namibian dollar integrated in the client, so I’d know exactly how much I hold in my home currency… This was done so fast I was shocked at the care for users. I’m talking about a few hours at most.

Badges in highly attractive and aesthetically adaptable blue and white.

One improvement that another podcaster requested, but that is also sure to benefit Nikolai, are badges that direct listeners from the podcasters’ websites to the content in the Breez podcast player. Go ahead and focus on your content; we’ll do our best to help you reach your audience. For a badge of your own, click here.

Nikolai is also a multiplier, which is a person who passes their knowledge or skills on to multiple others. Historically, society’s multipliers have been teachers, missionaries (I’m sure they meant well), coaches, and master tradespeople. Nikolai is a multiplier of the future that is collapsing into the present. Breez just happens to be a tool he likes to use to share his knowledge and skills related to Lightning:

Breez is truly a great love of mine and I use it for so many things. For podcasting, I am promoting it exclusively with Season 2 and moving forward into Season 3. However, I do understand that people are still in the transition and learning phase, so #FTJ Season 2 will be available on all models, even though I’ll only be actively pushing the Breez links in an attempt to further show my fellow creatives that it is possible to exist within the V4V “ecosystem”.

What a mensch! He’s onboarding his listeners gradually from season to season to soften the transition, he’s using his own podcast as a proof of concept to demonstrate the model’s viability to others, and he has exquisite taste in Lightning apps.

His service as a multiplier also extends beyond his audience. Nikolai is sharing his knowledge (and success) with the people he cares about:

Besides those sats I keep stacking, I’ve been using them to help onboard friends and family by sending them a few and having them send it on, which leads them to wanting to know more and doing their own research instead of looking to be spoon-fed, in my opinion.

I’ve really got a passion for bringing people to the table to inform themselves, by giving them a bit of context and a “case study” (me) to see that it’s not just people in America, or people who have an immense amount of technical knowledge who can use and profit from this. You can also be a poet, MBA graduate, podcaster, photographer, or someone who admires the journeys traveled and would just like to be entertained.

Sounds like poetry to me.

Lightning Is Many Things to Many People

The difference between #FromTheJump and Victoria Kayak shows that Lightning is kind of like the proverbial elephant. Different people can interact with it in different ways, and it means something different to each of them.

For some, Lightning means emancipation as a nation or even from a national government. For others, it’s a way to replace fiat and to insulate themselves from the trouble they see on fiat’s horizon. For Nikolai, Lightning is a way to keep more of the fruits of his labor and to share those fruits with others more efficiently.

Wherever we look, we see people leveraging Lightning to make their lives and livelihoods better. We’d love to hear your story too. Let us know if you’d like to share it with us or with the world.

And if you want to hear more from Nikolai, you can find #FromTheJump in the Breez podcast player. As a contributing member of Black Vulcanite, he’s also helped to produce one of the BBC’s 250 greatest hip-hop songs of all time, and you can find a sample of his actual poetry at the bar none group.

Lightning in the Wild: #FromTheJump Podcast was originally published in Breez Technology on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.