Going to Barcelona for the weekend and need a place to stay? Book a room at AirBnB! Need a ride home after a long night of partying? Uber will help you out with that! Throwing a wedding party and looking for an awesome band? Much more difficult to answer, right?

Arranging a private booking of a live music performance could take a lot of hassle. First of all, there is information asymmetry: an average person has little understanding of the booking process and does not know where to find the available options. Searching online will only result in finding musicians who has paid a lot of money to appear at the top of a Google search. These artists would cost you a fortune. A specialized booking agencies could help you out, but the extra fees are certainly not cheap either. Is there any affordable solution? Yes, there is!

Plugify is an online market place for booking live music performances. Similar to other platform mediated networks like AirBnB and Uber, Plugify mediates the direct interaction between supplier and customer. The website serves as a platform where local artists are able to create a profile, upload videos of previous performances and provide booking information. Customers can select the desired type of music performance and browse through the available options. Prices and requirements are immediately visible for the customer, making the booking process much more transparent. By using Plugify’s personal message system, customers are enabled to have direct contact with the artist to make arrangements regarding the performance. After that, customers can immediately complete both the booking and payment processes online.

Besides offering the first online transparent booking system to customers, Plugify also differentiates itself by creating a community where authentic, yet unknown artists can express themselves. At their turn, customers are able to discover and rate these talented musicians. Currently, Plugify has over 500 artists on their website available for booking, ranging from pianists to bands and DJ’s. In September 2016, the start-up has raised approximately 750,000 Euros to finance the platform’s further development.

So do you want to book a live music performance? Go check Plugify!

Sources:
https://www.plugify.nl/
http://www.sprout.nl/artikel/startup-van-de-week/online-muziek-acts-boeken-plugify
http://www.emerce.nl/nieuws/boekingsplatform-plugify-haalt-745690-euro-crowdfunding
https://innovation-awards.nl/concept/online-marktplaats-voor-live-muziek-optredens/
https://vimeo.com/158152384

Blockchain is booming. Labelled as the biggest innovation since the internet, it has become a hot topic among technology experts and has gained more and more awareness among the general public. While the vast majority focuses on the application of Blockchain technology in the financial sector (FinTech) or the Internet of Things, there is also another application of Blockchain worth mentioning: Bitnation. Founded by entrepreneur Susan Tempelhof, Bitnation uses Blockchain technology to develop a collaborative platform named Pangea where decentralized governance services can be offered. Bitnation has the ambition to become the first digital nation and “create a nation where state governments become irrelevant”. It sounds a little bit woolly, right? Allow me to explain the concept in more detail.

The initiative aims to change the way society interacts with the system of governance: It gives an individual anywhere in the world the ability to generate their own unique governance system that provides governance services in their own desired way. It gives society the opportunity to create numerous alternative governance systems that competes with each other by trying to offer the best service to attract customers. These decentralized governance systems differentiate themselves not by means of their racial identity, geographical location or their ability to exercise power, but their competence to provide the best service to their users. The choice of customers are not restricted by their nationality; everyone has the freedom to choose the option that best meets their personal preferences.

Bitnation is already offering various governance services such as legal services, insurance, and social services. Some examples of Bitnation’s achievements include the first marriage registered on the Blockchain, the first Blockchain birth certificate and Blockchain passports. Furthermore, they are partnering with the Estonian government to develop a public notary service based on Blockchain technology. Finally, Bitnation is currently developing a trial version of the Pangea platform to meet the requirements of the mass market. I am sure that we are going to hear a lot more of this disruptive innovation!

Sources:
https://bitnation.co/
https://cointelegraph.com/news/5-fintech-companies-to-shape-the-future-of-money
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYrsGpO2uCw
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/bitnation-launches-world-s-first-blockchain-based-virtual-nation-constitution-1455895473

In this blog we will focus on the changing dynamics of information goods within the newspaper industry. We will discuss the transformation by comparing the business models of the traditional newspaper NRC with the disruptive news platform Blendle.

Blendle is an online journalism platform offering articles from the most important Dutch newspapers and magazines. All these articles are available in one web application where users will only have to pay for the articles they read. On the contrary, NRC is a high-quality newspaper platform offering articles on a traditional printed newspaper as well as in digital form. NRC offers their subscribers full access to all the articles in the previous mentioned forms.

How do both platforms remain competitive in the newspaper industry? Being the first platform offering this type of service, Blendle has the first-mover advantage. The online kiosk also applies differentiation by offering a unique platform where users could purchase articles from all newspapers and magazines. The implementation of a pay-per-use system give users the freedom to choose how much articles and from which provider they want to read. Furthermore, Blendle creates awareness by offering free credit to new users.

On the other hand, NRC uses versioning to target different audiences. Although the content is mostly the same, with three different versions a larger amount of potential customers can be addressed. NRC also applies cognitive bias: by offering three different subscriptions, customers are more likely to choose the middle one than choosing the expensive or basic options. Along the same lines, NRC bundles its’ paper version with its’ online version. The upper option combines the online and daily newspaper, while the lower option combines the online newspaper and the Saturday edition. Bundling is a smart option when customers differ in their willingness to pay.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of both businesses? Blendle is the only company offering a differentiated product with multiple newspaper access. The pay-per-use concept is powerful as it makes news customizable and the cost for Blendle are quite low as they only provide the platform, not the news. Meanwhile, NRC uses different pricing strategies to increase revenue and is in charge of the content they provide. Moreover, NRC leverages cognitive bias in their subscription offerings.

The downside of Blendle is that they do not generate own content. Moreover, Blendle’s pricing strategy does not optimize revenue. Also, Blendle does not lock-in its customers: there are no subscription possibilities whatsoever. NRC’s weakness is the high fixed costs: they operate with an old business model in a competitive industry, focusing on advertising income. Their one size fits all principle makes it also hard for them to differentiate.

 How could both companies turn their weaknesses into strengths? By offering bundles of articles, Blendle takes the differences in customers’ willingness to pay into account. Blendle could even use data analytics to determine personalized prices. NRC should further develop their online activities, focussing on videos and interactive components. Moreover, NRC should adjust its’ pricing strategy by introducing group pricing.

Team 32