Hi everybody! This is your capt… err… Community Manager speaking! I guess it’s been a while since we’ve released any update, and no one can really blame you if you guys are getting anxious. Well, the only reason we haven’t released any transparent update as of recently is basically because we were so damn busy working. The devs are still going crazy doing their typy-typy whatever the hell it is that they actually do (here’s to hoping they aren’t “ks;gfjadfssaldj;afgk;kvmdapf-ing”), our marketing team was very busy getting our name out there (one of the guys even went all the way to the Corfu Island in Greece… okay, he went there on vacation, but still…) and our management department got us some crazy deals and managed to list us on awesome exchanges (Cryptopia, anybody?). As for me, well, I’ve been caught up managing the community, making announcements, answering your questions and emails and completing many other tasks — being a lean startup is cool, but time-consuming.

So, anyway, hope you enjoy the fligh… err… ride!

Soniq Stars

The Website

As you may or may not know, the landing page that will tell the story of Soniq Stars, the Next-gen Talent Show App, is heavily in production and will be released very soon.

Soniq Stars landing page sneak peak

Website versions with responsive design for different resolutions (desktop, tablet and mobile) are good to go and have been handed off to our front-end developers, who are currently working on implementation. A few illustrations and a couple of smaller tweaks here and there, and we’re ready for liftoff! Okay, enough with the airplane pilot references already! God!

The gist of Soniq Stars? Here’s a twitter-friendly description:

“The Next-Gen Global Talent Show App: Participate in free-to-enter competitions by uploading a video of yourself performing, win weekly prizes and earn money from user’s votes. Everything is rig-free and available globally with the help of the blockchain technology!”

262 characters! Well, all that tweeting has finally paid off!

I guess the biggest challenge we’ve been facing with building the Soniq Stars landing page has been crafting an efficient style guide for future design efforts. I guess helping our front-end developers implement the new website without the time-consuming back-and-forth communication with the design team has been quite a challenge, as well.

The Trailer Video

Did you know that Dropbox’s explainer video helped them get many smart people to give them “the same feedback as if putting a product in their hand”, said Drew on sllconf 2010.

Well, we decided to take the same route and create a trailer video for Soniq Stars.

Armed with nothing but vision and passion, we set out to write a script for this trailer video, that will contain our vision of the product we’re working so hard on. We took our time to design the characters — we wanted something our customers can relate to.

We had no idea how many decisions were on the road ahead. We knew that making a video was complex: voice, background music, the level of detail; we’ve been through it, the whole nine yards. However, the Soniq Stars is a much more mature, seasoned project, filled with passion and cherished by many, and as such, it turned out a much bigger deal than our old explainer video.

Two alternatives: high and low fidelity. We went for the one with less details.

Finally, the script was done — now we have to deal with some concerns regarding design and you can expect the video very soon. The biggest challenges here have included making a perfect script and deciding on the level of details for the characters and scenes.

PWA (Progressive Web Application)

If you are in the IT field like our nerdy devs, here are some juicy details regarding the implementation of the app itself.

Given the fact that one of the main business requirements we set for our app was it being available for viewers anytime and anywhere, we knew we had to go with a mobile app. Now, since Google Play Store and Apple App Store disallow apps to support cryptocurrency payments, payouts especially, according to their terms & conditions, we knew we had to find a workaround here. And so, our team embarked on a brainstorming session that took ages, and once the wisemen of Soniq were done scratching their heads, a proverbial lightbulb (although honestly, we were so exhausted that some of us may have actually hallucinated actual bulbs) appeared above our heads and we decided to go with Progressive Web Application.

A tricky little gesture

The struggle was far from done — there was a lengthy road ahead, paved with thorough and exhausting research on PWA and mobile performance. We have found ourselves at the point where we will be using React PWA. When it comes to gesture detection we are leaning towards reliable hammer.js.

The biggest challenge here — coming up with a PWA with a native app look and feel for both Android and iOS devices.

The SONIQ Token

New Exchanges

Ah, the hard work has definitely paid off, and the payoff was definitely long overdue. We’re very, very proud to say that SONIQ is now listed on 3 exchanges, featuring 4 pairs in total: BTC, LTC, ETH and DOGE. These exchanges are, by respective listing date order:

· Coinexchange.io

· Livecoin

· Cryptopia

We’re also happy to announce that we’re looking to add the USDT-SONIQ pair very soon.

Our business development team is working hard on listing SONIQ on a FIAT-to-Crypto exchange by the end of September! As soon as this is done, you guys, as our loyal community, will be the first to know.

Oh yeah, did you know that you can see SONIQ statistics on CoinMarketCap and Blockfolio now?

The biggest challenge involving climbing aboard exchanges was negotiating about the terms of listing. We were constantly looking for a win-win scenario that will respect the needs of exchanges, holders, as well as our very own. Pleasing everyone was never meant to be easy, but we have proved that everything is possible with hard work!

Coin Growth Model

Getting listed on exchanges was only the first step — climbing on top of a dam that would release a ton of difficult tasks that lie ahead. One of the most important and difficult tasks was coming up with a Coin Growth Model for our token and the ecosystem.

SONIQ is not a security. It’s not equity either. SONIQ is a utility token that’s going to be used as a payment method for our apps and services. The value of this type of tokens is in direct correlation with the actual usage of the token in question, meaning that our primary goal would be the growth of our customer base and coin holders. Without these two, there is no success. Hours of brainstorming have brought us leaning towards the following model:

A significant percentage of SONIQ profits (from our apps and products) will be added to a special pool; i.e. locked and out of circulation. Why? Well, the purpose of this model is incentivizing the SONIQ holders to have a say in management decisions and future project directions. A real, actual say that will allow the holders to essentially partake in managing the funds from the mentioned locked pool. We believe in our community and a perfect business model where the community gets exactly what they want.

Naturally, the holders’ voting power will be determined by the amount of SONIQ tokens they hold according to a rich list — the more you invest in Soniq, the more Soniq will invest in you.

SONIQ is a token with a low supply, and with up to 45,000,000 units in circulation, it is very realistic that it will surpass the US Dollar value per unit, especially once its use case becomes available for global use!

As the popularity of our app grows, the token usage will follow in suit, creating the demand for a token that is scarce to begin with.

Of course, the biggest challenge with coin growth is avoiding speculation as much as it’s possible. What we have laid out here before you might be just a hypothesis, but we’ll come up with a series of tests and adjust our model if/when/where necessary.

The Soniq Project

Community

I’ve been keeping myself busy with many tasks that aren’t really in the domain of a Community Manager, but that’s just how a lean startup works, I guess. I can’t really complain, though — it’s been and is quite a learning experience! That being said, I am always at your disposal, on Discord, Telegram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, even on Instagram and email. I encourage you to get on the mentioned community channels and watch out for updates, as we will be posting a ton of exciting upcoming content very soon.

To whom it may concern, here are some numbers. I’m so proud of you guys!

Facebook: 1985 likes

Twitter: 1694 followers

Instagram: 1560 followers

BitcoinTalk: 1673 reads

Medium: 1209 total story reads

Discord: 280 members

Telegram Broadcast: 84 members

Telegram Soniqchat: 43 members

LinkedIn: 20 followers

YouTube: 17 subscribers

Discord Referral System

Here’s a cool idea I’ve been dying to tell you about! Yep, you guys are gonna love it!

So, we figured our most dedicated community members deserve to be rewarded. Excited? Right? Anyway, as we all know, our Discord server is our primary communication channel and the main community building tool. Well, our goal is to gather as many crypto enthusiasts and music industry pros as possible, gathering feedback on all of our ideas and products. This has brought the idea of some kind of a referral system to the table; a referral system where the community members will be rewarded, in SONIQ, of course, for bringing fresh new members to our greatly cherished community.

Unfortunately, we didn’t find an existing solution that fits. Fortunately, our policy here at Soniq is “if we can’t find a solution, we’ll make one!” That’s right, we are going to implement the referral system ourselves!

This has already been in the making for some time and the beta-version of the back-end is complete. Now, we’re waiting for the front-end for our admin panel to be done and once this is completed, our Discord admins are going to start using our clever referral concoction to hand out rewards for referrals! Pretty neat, huh? I know, right?

Transparency

Finally, it’s shameless bragging time!

We celebrate, value and practice radical transparency here in Soniq, and we are working towards being fully and absolutely transparent not only inside our offices, but towards our community and everybody else out there to whom it may concern! We are always on the lookout for extra room for improvement, so here are two pieces of awesome information for you: