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# reKiosk Allows Tastemakers To Cash In On Music Recommendations
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/rekiosk-allows-tastemakers-to-cash-in-on-music-recommendations/
- Published: 2012-08-22T14:09:53.000Z
- Updated: 2012-08-22T14:09:53.000Z
- Description: Incentivizing fans with offers to spread the word about their favorite artist is good way to drive and track engagements, but what about those looking to spread the word about. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/08/rekiosk-allows-tastemakers-to-cash-in-on-music-recommendations.ht
- Author: admin
- Tags: Indie Music, Startups & Funding, Vinyl, Cassettes & Retail, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:49

[![Rekiosk](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201774448282e970d-150wi "Rekiosk")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201774448282e970d-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

Incentivizing fans with offers to spread the word about their  
favorite artist is good way to drive and track engagements, but what about  
those looking to spread the word about just good content? Should they be  
incentivized as well? The founders of [reKiosk](https://rekiosk.com/welcome?ref=hypebot.com) seem to think so, and have  
created a way for **independent artists** to distribute their work while **crediting (and**  
**awarding) those who have helped them raise the awareness**.

  
reKiosk is an interesting concept of selling music directly to  
fans, but more focus is placed on having them sell *for* you. The Brooklyn-based company has essentially created a  
curator-driven marketplace that delivers the majority of any sale to the  
content’s creator and the curator. The idea is that bloggers, influencers and  
tastemakers can direct people to his or her reKisok store rather than iTunes, where  
they can receive 25% of any sale. reKiosk takes 5%, while the content creator gets  
the remaining 70%.

“reKiosk is a website, built from the ground-up, for people who  
love independent media,” reKiosk’s CEO Aziz Isham told Hypebot. “We provide a  
sleek and easy system for digital sales, and allow other people to act as your  
distributor – receiving a share of your sales in exchange for selling and  
promoting your media. Bloggers, publishers, major labels and independent  
musicians all exist on the same platform, governed by the same set of rules.  
reKiosk is like a thousand small, indie record shops under one giant digital  
tent.”

reKiosk uses Dwolla to process payments (rather than PayPal) and  
administers them once a month to avoid fees related to per-song micropayments.  
The company works with independent publishers in both music and literature has  
plans of offering a freemium model for power users to list more items. The  
company, still in beta, will take down its registration wall later this month.

“We believe in curated  
search — and in trying to recapture the feel of the corner record stores that  
have, unfortunately, been victim to e-commerce and big box stores,” Isham added.  
“To that end, music on reKiosk is discovered by checking out lots of small,  
independent, digital kiosks — each one curated by a person, not an algorithm.”

Early feedback for  
reKiosk has been said to be positive, having been called "an amazingly  
powerful tool for the 21st century music industry” by Pledge Music CEO Benji  
Rogers and "the biggest thing in retail since Jeff Bezos left Wall Street  
for Seattle” by OR Books publisher Colin Robertson.

It’s tough to gauge  
how receptive musicians would be to a service like this though, and it really depends  
on what their primary goals are –  
driving awareness, or earning money from recorded music sales. Obviously both can  
be achieved with reKiosk, but this product is seemingly a bigger win for  
tastemakers and influencers rather than musicians. 70% is a fair cut  
considering the layers at work here, but the experience could be nothing more than disposable  
transaction for the artist.

We will follow up with  
reKiosk again later down the road once they are out of beta and get a sense of just  
how influential they’ve been to the bottom line and awareness levels of  
musicians.

—

***Hisham Dahud*** *is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for [Fame House](http://famehouse.net/?ref=hypebot.com) and an [independent musician](https://soundcloud.com/hishamdahud?ref=hypebot.com). Follow him on Twitter: [@HishamDahud](http://twitter.com/hishamdahud?ref=hypebot.com)*