In my roaming for different kinds of ways to bring in extra spending money that can contribute to your multiple streams of income, I have to admit I almost skipped by this one thinking yeah, right! But something tweaked my curiosity just enough to take a close look and I am glad I did.
Slice the Pie is a way for new musicians to get their work out there and Slice the Pie provides them a pathway to use on the road to a recording contract. You can read about all that part on the website, it is pretty cool how they help provide feedback and funding to the artists that show the most promise. Anyway, what we are doing here is looking at the first step, which is giving everyday schmucks like you and me a “slice of the pie” by getting paid to listen to this music.
Here is how Slice the Pie works
A new artist signs up and uploads three tracks on the system based on genre. We schmucks are called scouts and scouts listen to these tracks for at least one minute, and longer if you want. Then you write a constructive review of what about the song, what you liked or did not like, that must be over 100 characters. Basically you start out with the length of a Tweet and go from there. You are rating different elements of the song on a scale of 1-10. Best of all you get paid for your review!
Payment can range from .02 to .20 per review. They sometimes have a special where all review are on price, like one that they did last June where all review were 15 cents. You can also sometime earn a voucher from the artist if your reviews were particularly good, or if you made a donation to the cause.
If you want to learn more about being a scout, here is their Scouting Guide.
What's the twist?
Well, your reviews need to be quality and helpful and not, ” great song man “or “dude your music is awesome.” They won't work. You do that and they will shut you down.
As a scout you get rated for each review you write, 1 to 5 stars. It is a computerized algorithm based on review length, targeted words they know will show up in quality reviews, fully using the 1-10 rating scale (not giving everything the same #), and how often you log on and participate. The higher your star rating, the more money you get paid per review. It can go up and down, which makes sense if you go a week without logging on the star rating may go down, even if your reviews are great.
In music industry, the power of the crowd cannot be overlooked, so the collective feedback form all the hundreds of Slice the Pie Scouts will give any new artist the kind of information they will find invaluable to help them with their career. So Slice the Pie holds quality of review as an very important.
How do I become a scout?
You sign up by clicking here and no it doesn't cost you anything. Once you are in, you choose the types of music you like (or can stomach). Each type of music has its own scout room, so you go to the room of the style you like and listen to what it there and right a review. You will never know the name of the artist before you listen, they randomly provide you with songs to rate. Once you have submitted your review they tell you the artist and song title. You can tip the musician if you choose ( I talk about this later) to show your support, for the songs you really like. Tipping is always a good thing but in this case it counts in your star rating as well which helps you make more money.
I'm no musician and/or a horrible writer, so How can I do this?
You do not have to be a musician to write a decent review, Remember you are writing 100+ characters for each area you rate. Really it is a two or three sentences. If you can write a complete sentence, you are good. Use music terms, like vocals, lyrics, bass, harmony, bass, drums, percussion, the lead singer, the over all blend of sound, and you should be good. A whole lot of what you listen to will be horrid, but you won't say , ” This is crap!”. You are giving feed back to the artist, so tell them what to do to improve.
How do they pay you?
Like most online companies they use Pay Pal as their payment method. You need to have $10 in your account to get paid. But once you hit that, you submit a payment request and it takes up to 5 days to receive your payment. However it can be pretty quick based on the feedback I've read. The $10 could take awhile to get to if you only get paid .02 cents per review. So that is incentive to get your star rating up to 5 stars this way you can earn the maximum .20 cents per review. If you do, earning the $10 may not take as long.
More options…..
When an artist signs up with Slice of the Pie, they are given a Showcase Account. Once you listen and rate the music, they tell you who the artist is. Right then and there you can choose to support any artist you like by donating money to their Showcase Account. You can use your earnings, from your account, or donate from your pockets. This can be as low as $1. This is part of the other side of the business and how the artists build up their accounts. Slice of the Pie will occasionally feature only the most popular Showcase tunes, which are the ones who got the most donations. By the way, you can earn a variety of things by making a donation, including boosting your star ratings which earns you more money when listening to the songs and writing reviews. Artists might give folks who made donations vouchers to buy their tunes, or you get promotional stuff from them. So sharing is definitely caring with this company! lol
FYI once an artist reaches a certain level, they get all the money from their showcase account and can then start recording. Like I said you can read all those details on the website, they have a great FAQ page. I am only concerned at how you loyal subscribers can bring in some extra dollars.
What about the international audience?
Well the good news, is that this company is from the UK, so they are already international. I saw scouts listed from all over the place on the top scout page. There are some places whose Internet providers don't mix so well with the Slice the Pie system, so Slice the Pie does not support their countries any more. I think the Philippine's is one,
Multitaksing:
What I like about this opportunity is that involves your listening skills. So this leaves you open to work on other easy money making opportunities I've recommended.
Okay so that's the pretty picture of the opportunity. But you already know I have to address the stuff that rubs people the wrong way. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing my job, so here goes.
Cons
Extra change. Unless you want to sit for hours and hours listening to music and writing top qualities reviews you won't make the huge dollars. I'll be honest, I tried this for a day and made some money. But I make more with other activities. So I quickly lost interest. The great thing about having multiple streams of income is that you can pick and choose what works for you. You can hand pick the opportunities that you enjoy the most and give you the biggest bang for you buck. In this instance I'd prefer to focus on other opportunities. However that being said if this type of opportunity does it for you and you're consistent, you could earn $30-$50 a month. But this is definitely not for the person looking to totally supplement or replace their monthly income needs. It is extra change that can come in handy down the line. For instance I know a lot of folks that let opportunities like this sit and build up money in their Pay Pal Account. Then when the holidays come they have accumulated some decent spending money for taking advantage of all these non-traditional multiple streams of income. So keep that in mind.
If you don't have a semblance of an ear for music, it might not work for you. You do not need to be a musician, but even if you played trombone in the elementary school band, you would have some music sense. However there are those that just don't hear it. So those folks would probably do best to look for traditional work at home jobs or other non-traditional opportunities.
So Is Slice The Pie Legitimate?
From everything I can see this is one big green light from where I stand. The company has been around for at least 4 years, so it is stable. One thing I like about this opportunity is that it is totally different than a lot of the other things I've recommended in the past. So definitely sign up if you like the idea of getting paid to listen to music!
In any event, let me know what you think about this opportunity. By the way if you were sucking your teeth as you read how much you can make with this and thought to yourself, I need “real money” you might want to visit our jobs page which is updated everyday with traditional work at home jobs that might be more your flavor.
I hope you enjoyed yet another legitimate way to make money at home. Good luck.
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