Starting the Voicy Friends Association.

Hello. This is Ogata, CEO of Voicy.

This series, titled "Voice Resume," is where I, as the founder, talk about the path Voicy has taken so far. I would be happy if you could also follow the magazine.

Well, this is sudden, but today I have created a community for the audio platform "Voicy".

I have done something similar in the past. I launched an online salon called "Voicy Fan Lab," where people who like Voicy personalities could join and we worked on various projects together.

What I am trying to do this time might be closer to a fan club initiative. I've named it the "Voicy Friends Association."

What exactly is this?

I will explain.

What is the Voicy Friends Association?

Voicy has always focused solely on delivering the audio of attractive personalities, but in addition to that, I had a desire to properly address the creation of events and a community.

We haven't done nothing; we've launched Fan Lab and held Voicy Fes every year. However, as a company, I want to tackle this more seriously.

I've been thinking about it for a long time, but in June I decided, "Okay, let's do it," and immediately launched the Event and Community Division directly under the CEO and started moving.

I want to create a place where we can continuously provide experiences like never before.

In my head, I have two main things moving. One is planning and operating events that have never been seen before, which only Voicy can do.

The other is a fan club-like organization called the "Voicy Friends Association" that supports the Voicy service. I want both personalities and listeners to participate more and more.

There are several membership benefits.

1. Exclusive broadcasts you can't hear anywhere else

Examples of the broadcast lineup include "Friends Association Everyone Gather Live Broadcast," "Friends Association What Should We Do Meeting," "Voicy Real Talk Partial Archive Listening," "Voicy Behind-the-Scenes Talk Night Partial Archive Listening," "Happy New Year Year-End Countdown Live," and more.

I am also considering these other membership benefits.

2. Advance application for Voicy-sponsored events

3. Special pricing for Voicy-sponsored events

4. Priority purchase for local meetups

5. Priority purchase for personality networking events

Right now, some of the most amazing audio programs in Japan are Audrey's All Night Nippon and Jane Su and Mika Horii's "OVER THE SUN." They are incredibly popular, to say the least.

The reason I find them so amazing isn't just because they have a lot of listeners.It's more about the fact that they are drawing huge crowds to their live events.

I believe the true measure of an audio service's success isits ability to drive traffic to live events.It's about using your voice to generate enough passion that people want to meet you in person.

Many people who listen to Voicy also say that if their favorite Voicy personality were to hold an event, they would definitely want to go and meet them.

Thinking about that, I realized that Voicy also needs to properly host live events. While we continue to hold various talk shows every month,I want to launch a brand-name talk event from Voicy, similar to TED in the United States.

At the same time, I have always wanted to create a fan club, a "Friends Association," where those who enjoy Voicy and those who want to support it can literally help sustain its activities.

The monthly fee of 3,000 yen is by no means cheap, but I hope that those who want to enjoy Voicy to the fullest will join us so we can build the future of Voicy together.

There is now a channel on Voicy called "Voicy Friends Association."Those who become premium listeners of this channel are members of the Voicy Friends Association.

The Friends Association has membership numbers,and I'll make sure that holding a low number will bring you some benefits, so I'd be happy if you joined early.

Also, several broadcasts have already been released, so please take a listen if you'd like.

Beyond creating a space that everyone can enjoy, I want us to think together about how to create a great environment as the number of members in the Friends Association continues to grow.

I mentioned earlier that I am launching both events and a community at the same time; we will have more and more interesting events coming up, and members of the Friends Association will be able to get priority access to event tickets.

I believe this will create a synergistic effect.

What comes after the plaza, the economic zone, and the culture?

The reason I started something so challenging again is, of course, to take the Voicy platform to the next stage.

I think the plaza where the personalities currently using Voicy and the listeners who tune in can find joyis gradually taking shape.

An economic zone is also emerging there, and more and more personalities are starting to earn money within Voicy.

I believe this means we have been able to create a new culture in society.

We have created a new world where voice creators can earn money, such as by receiving direct payments from listeners.

That said, I believe we need to create more interesting experiences on top of that, led by Voicy. At the very least, I think we need to properly demonstrate that kind of stance.

The entertainment industry. At first, you probably buy cassette tapes or CDs, and then gradually you start going to live performances, and services reach deeper fans. I think that's how it goes.

Services that enter through the ears tend to make you like the person speaking more and more, and you start wanting to gather and connect in real life.

Events and communities must definitely be a good match.So, I want to provide a solid answer with the Friends Association and its accompanying events.

Actually, I agonized quite a bit over making the membership fee paid.

I didn't want to be seen as a greedy platform by doing this.

Also, I wondered if it was right for Voicy to take money that should originally be paid to the personalities.

I thought about it a lot, but I concluded that doing it for free would be meaningless.We can keep costs down and make people happy without charging money, but I want to charge properly and provide an even more enjoyable experience than that.

I want to prove that events and communities can properly function on the Voicy platform.

And if there are people who want to support us, I would really like them to do so.

How we can design this in a way that is convincing is the key and the crucial point for the future of the Voicy Friends Association.

Making the Voicy office in Shibuya a sacred place for talk.

Right now, if you join the Friends Association, what happens is that we are providing more and more audio content that you can't enjoy on other Voicy channels, such as introducing various personalities, having secret conversations you can't hear elsewhere, and talking about the future of Voicy.

Actually, I have always said,I want to create a super interesting program as an official Voicy one.I really want to challenge this using the membership fees from the Friends Association.

I think it is important for a platform to gain earning power and create content that becomes a flagship for that space. We need to properly take on that challenge.

And I am thinking of holding real-life events and social gatherings where you can meet personalities, and if possible, I would like to go to regional areas as well.

In the event business, I want to create talk live shows where people who love Voicy or love the personalities can easily gather.I want to make the Voicy office in Shibuya a sacred place for talk.

Of course, we will also hold large events where many personalities gather. Apart from that, we will also plan new events. You know, I might even make it a10-day event.I'm thinking of doing something like gathering a few personalities every night for consecutive live shows.

So, with that said,

You can find the details for the Voicy Friends Club here. The membership fee is 3,000 yen per month. It's a bit more expensive if you sign up via the app, so I recommend using the web version.

If you'd like, please consider joining. Thanks to everyone who joins, we are able to operate Voicy, and it makes future developments even more exciting.

Thank you for your support.

Post-recording editorial notes

At the end of June, I also talked a lot with Nishino-san about the thoughts behind launching the Voicy Friends Club.

I would be happy if you could like or follow.