Rap Plug Live is now available on all platforms download the app today and stream classes, content and events from some of our award winning rap plug pros.

#Roku #AppleTV #AppleStore #GooglePlay #FireTV #AndroidTV#SmartTV #IOS #SamSung #LG

TECH UPDATE 

Hello everyone our development team has been working hard to create new features and functionalities on our platform that will enhance the overall experience and value proposition for our users, partners  and customers. 

RECENTLY LAUNCHED  

Roku App Continue Watching

Adds the ability for users to pick up where they left off on videos and see a list of recently viewed videos on Roku Apps.

Sell products from the player

We're adding a serious upgrade to our player to allow our partners to sell products directly in the player overlay. For each video, we will be able to add a URL to purchase a product from brand partners. We'll then display that on top of the video for a few seconds to encourage  users to make the purchase. For example we can  send  users over to Shopify to buy exclusive T Shirts from a tour or beats from a producer who just laughed his “PRO CLASS” on Rap Plug.   We sell a physical copy of a film we are showing + more. 

In our first iteration this feature will be available only on the web, but we will expand it to mobile apps in the future.

Coupons page redesign

We're working on a complete redesign of the Coupons page to allow bulk actions such as deleting coupons! In addition, the card view for coupons will be rebuilt into a table view. We will be able to export coupons into CSV file and filter them by expiration date, discount and product types.

My library on Mobile

My Library" is now available on native mobile apps.

A mobile app version update is required.

Email settings and custom email domains

To guarantee transactional and bulk email delivery in the future we will send all emails from verified custom email domains only. By default, Rap Plug will provide our “Pro Partners” with a custom address on the Rap Plug domain, but much like storefront domains we can set custom domains that are verified via our domain provider.

Emojis in Live Chat 😊😊

If you're on your phone it's pretty easy to type an emoji into the live chat, but from a computer it's a little more difficult. So we're adding a handy emoji picker that will upgrade our chat interactions with fun emojis!

Ultra low latency streaming mode

We'll soon add the ability to reduce stream delay to around 5 seconds. Ultra low latency is on the edge of what's technically possible for streaming so we will need to test to make sure it works for our users, but we'll make it an option to switch between 3 different stream delays to ensure your users continue to have a good streaming experience.

Downloadable receipts for end-users

In our end-users' dashboard users can now find a link to open historical receipts and print them as needed.

Live event analytics

Live event views and watch time have been added into the analytics section. Existing reports are updated to include the views and watch time and we've created a new section just for live events.

Trial conversion rates

We've just launched our new In Trial Analytics for subscriptions and we can now see the rate included in the Trial Analytics.

Introducing Google Pay for Web!

For our web customers, they now can checkout with Google Pay, which much like PayPal will simplify the checkout process. We'll automatically enable this where supported.  Payouts made with Google Pay will be processed through our Stripe account integration. 



Simplified iOS Subscriptions

Our iOS customers can now signup for a subscription without first creating a account. They will simply click "Get Access" on a subscription and the iOS purchase confirmation screen will appear where they can complete their purchase.

Removing the requirement to create an account will reduce friction during the checkout process which will lead to more conversions for Rap Plug Live. Of course, we still want to capture their name and email, so additional actions the user might take in the app will eventually prompt them to provide their name and email to pass back into Rap Plug Live .



Video Player 2.0

We've got a brand new player launched in beta that will greatly improve player performance and speed:

•         We'll support iOS native player out of the box
•         It's a lot smaller which means it loads even faster
•         Close captioning support is improved.
•         Better support for Chromecast
•         All new design refresh

Taxes Report

We've launched a new tax report that will break down purchases by location of the purchaser so we can remit tax payments according to the purchasers location if needed. This should simplify a lot of the headache of managing tax collection for different jurisdictions.

Roku Video Analytics

We've added video views from Roku into RPL analytics so we can see our overall watch time stats increase as it will include the Roku views in the view and watch time counts.



Multiple Subscription Terms for Roku Apps

Instead of a single subscription duration term option for Roku apps, we can now offer both a monthly and yearly subscription term!

Watched Videos Indicator

A new watched indicator will be added to videos on the web when a user watches more than 95% of a video, users will also be able to manually set the video as watched with the click of a button. Users will see this status on both the thumbnails in the catalog and the video page itself. As an admin, you'll have the ability to disable this feature completely in your settings.

 Multiple Subscription Terms for Mobile Apps

Instead of a single subscription duration term option for Mobile apps, we will  soon be able to offer monthly and annual term subscriptions!

Live Event Attendees Report

We now have a new report that we can download for each completed live event that will show a list of all attendees. We may see some minor UI changes to the live events list page to accommodate this new feature.

Live Event Calendar Feed

With the click of a button, our end-users will  be able to add live events to their calendar using Apple, Google, or Outlook calendars!

Try Again for Free Analytics

We’ve seen our analytics for Reduce Churn. We're bringing a similar update to our Try Again for Free marketing feature. You'll soon see charted data on how many users were offered the automation and how many accepted.

While we're here we're going to update the flow to better comply with CCPA regulations on the details a customer needs to know before starting another free trial.

Featured Categories for Mobile Apps

Now, much like our web storefront, our feature category will be prominently displayed at the top of our catalog in our mobile apps.

New analytics backend

Sounds boring? It's not! When you're delivering content around the world through a combination of CDNs to ensure smooth playback for all users, getting fast and accurate view data can be a challenge, but by building a new analytics backend we can get going on:

•         Better unified app and web analytics
•         Almost instant data updates (no more waiting 24 hours for data)
•         Video heatmaps
•         and much, much more.



Easier Subscription Signups for Roku

We all know what a pain it is to have to type text on your smart TV. With our upcoming Roku changes, users purchasing a subscription will have their Roku account email automatically populated during the subscription process so that it's one less step to complete during the checkout. This should increase the number of purchase completions for your Roku app.

Subscription analytics

We can now see detailed analytics on our monthly recurring revenue,  Churned revenue, and Subscription Growth Rates. 

Subscription analytics is a new feature to help us better understand our revenue without relying on third party integrations.

Continue Watching

This adds the ability for users to pick up where they left off on videos and see a list of recently viewed videos. 

We've added a handy toggle to disable this feature under Customization. So much like "My Library" we can now toggle this on or off.

Add ability to duplicate live events

We will soon have regularly scheduled events and want to use the same settings as previous events. With this feature, we can duplicate live event settings for easy setup of future events.

Subscription upsells

When an end-user goes to purchase a subscription plan, we can try to upsell them to a more expensive plan or a plan with a longer subscription period.

Tiered subscriptions

Tiered subscriptions allow us to sell content grouped by tier instead of just plan duration. We can create a plan with all our VODs and another with all our VODs plus live events and sell them at different prices. We can also setup something like a Bronze, Silver, and Gold tier - each with increasing amounts of content.

Leadzen Email Capture Funnel

Leadzen allows us to build an email capture form to use in marketing campaigns. We can give a video to a lead in exchange for the email address. After the video is watched, a series of upsell emails will be sent offering them a discount to signup for a subscription.

Bulk delete videos

We can now use a quick multi-select option in the video list to bulk delete videos in one swoop!

New people profiles and end-user analytics dashboard

We've added a revamped end-user profile in the admin with new analytics! We can now see total spend, watch time, most watched videos, and a chart of recent video views.

GDPR/CCPA compliance - delete end user data

To satisfy GDPR/CCPA regulations we're adding a way for end-users to delete their accounts while ensuring you don't lose access to important financial data.

Monthly sales analytics charted

We can now see our monthly sales charted and can even filter on payment processor source(Stripe, Paypal, etc.) and segment between transactional and recurring payments.

Landing page builder

If you've used Squarespace or Wix before, you'll know exactly what this is. We've built an amazing page builder that gives us dozens and dozens of fully customizeable blocks with everything from setting the rounded corners on buttons, to custom fonts, to font colors, and multiple layout options.

Add custom user fields into various webhooks

We can now find custom user fields in the following webhooks:

•         user created
•         user signed-in
•         payment method updated

We can also find these data points in the user created Zapier trigger.

Require CAPTCHA on account creation

To prevent those pesky spam signups we now have a CAPTCHA required for all signups.

Global timezone settings

Our Rap Plug Admin team can set a global timezone to add consistency across timestamps across various features. Live events, activity histories, scheduled content releases, and more.

Live chat for live events

We can now enable live chat for live events and talk in real time to our end-users while we run a stream. There's built-in moderation functionality and a counter to see how many viewers our live stream currently has.

Add VAT support

We can now enable VAT under settings and it will collect taxes based on the users' country of purchase in the EU. Rates are automatically adjusted for you as any changes are made in rates.

Reduce Churn Analytics

We now have analytics on cancellations and churn reduction. We can see the reasons our customers are cancelling and a dollar amount for the amount of revenue we have saved through the reduce churn automations.

Gift Cards

End-users can now purchase gift cards to gift to their friends and family. When a gift card is redeemed it applies a credit to the end-users' account and they can purchase any content or subscriptions using their balance.

[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].

Hello!

As you might know, Rap Plug Inc. has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Rap Plug Inc. be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.

This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.

Thanks for funding the future.

-StartEngine

Rap Plug is an official media / marketing partner for Revolt Summit!

Revolt Media TV chairman Sean "Diddy" Combs has brought The Revolt Summit back to Atlanta!

 This summit aims to inspire, educate, and empower the Black leaders of tomorrow as they chase their dream to the top. The Revolt Summit will consist of panels, competitions, workshops, and performances which will consist of some of the biggest names in entertainment!

[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].

Hello!

As you might know, Rap Plug Inc. has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Rap Plug Inc. be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.

This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.

Thanks for funding the future.

-StartEngine

We would like to give a HUGE THANK YOU to all of our new investors & stakeholders! Over $30,000 raised so far in our Seed Round. $800,000 raised in our Pre Seed round and we are a revenue positive company! We appreciate you! 

Join us on our journey to raise $1,000,000 as we become the next POWER HOUSE company in music, media, and tech for Hip Hop and entertainment. 

[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].

Hello!

As you might know, Rap Plug Inc. has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Rap Plug Inc. be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.

This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.

Thanks for funding the future.

-StartEngine

YOU are invited to our Plugged In Artist Showcase on November 18th! 

Our last showcase was a HUGE success and we have a feeling this one will top it ! The Plugged In Artist Showcase is an opportunity for artists, brands, and media outlets to present their skills, brands, and/or platforms to major labels, media executives, along with new fans or consumers.

Before our showcase begins we will be hosting two all access panels with legendary music executives and industry pros. 

In addition to our panels, we will have 10+ record labels in attendance, multiple media outlets, and of course, live performances by both up-and-coming & featured artists. 

We will be leveraging this event to promote our StartEngine campaign to 1,000+ guests! 

All of our investors will have FREE access to the event! 

General Admission tickets and All Access Passes can be purchased today via this link: 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/plugged-in-artist-showcase-tickets-198478824507

Please share this event to others who may want to attend our showcase!

Trust us, you do NOT want to miss this. 

--

Thanks to YOU, Rap Plug Live has passed the 20k mark in investments! This is only the beginning! As we continue to keep this momentum going, Rap Plug has some incredible events coming up in the next month including: 

• A3C Music Festival  

Atlanta October 22-23rd

Since its founding in 2005, Atlanta's A3C Festival has become one of the most important hip-hop events of the year. During the day, industry professionals mix it up at the A3C conference with panels, live interviews, and special speakers, while at night the three stages at the festival grounds are lit up with talent.

• Revolt Summit Atlanta

November 10th-13th

The 2021 Revolt Summit will aim to connect artists, entrepreneurs, creatives and aspiring executives with each other to network and celebrate the culture of Hip Hop.  Featuring panels with A-List musicians, celebrities and entrepreneurs at the top of their fields the REVOLT Summit champions a spirit of connection and learning within the Hip Hop community.

• LEGENDZ of Streetz Tour 

October-April 2022 (27 cities) 

Covering the exclusive behind the scenes of the Legends of the Streetz tour which features hip-hop heavyweights Rick Ross (a Rap Plug Investor/Co-owner), 2 Chains, Jeezy, Gucci Mane, and more! 

• Plugged in Artist Showcase

November 2021 (official date to be announced) 

Hosted by Rap Plug Live, the Plugged In Artist Showcase is an opportunity for artists, brands, and media outlets to present their skills, brands, and/or platforms to major labels, media executives and new fans or consumers.

We will be sharing more updates and information regarding each specific event, with many more activations & events to be announced!

THANK YOU for helping us hit this milestone! Let's keep it going!