Rich Jensen

Hello, I’m Richard Jensen. I’ve been serving as the executive for Resonate Co-op, a community dedicated to democratic governance, technology that serves humanity, and music—particularly making music sustainable and supportive of artists. Our goal is to enable artists and communities to organize their lives around music, fostering fellowship and empowerment among those for whom music is deeply significant.

At Resonate, we blend our business model with music streaming, paying artists approximately three times what corporate platforms offer. Our platform is open to everyone, and we feature a unique ‘stream to own’ purchasing model. While we pay higher rates, exploring our catalog remains affordable. When a listener finds something they love, the price doubles with each subsequent listen until the track is purchased, becoming part of their personal collection. This approach subsidizes exploration and helps build a global cooperative community where artists can find their audience and empower other organizations.

Moreover, we are committed to expanding the cooperative ecosystem in several ways. One key aspect is what I call ‘digital dignity’—ensuring that people are well-protected online and that we foster a democratic space on the web. Handling digital identity is crucial, and we aim to create various modalities of identity and resource exchange that can be shared safely with other cooperatives. Our vision is for everyone in the community to experience a complete, 360-degree cooperative lifestyle.

Having organized my life around music for about 40 years, I view it almost as my religion. I truly believe that if anything can save the world, it will be our music superheroes. That’s what brings me here today.