Add support for value-block for direct payment streaming

pepege · August 14, 2021, 9:39pm

I’d like to propose support for the value-black to allow direct payment streaming. The podcast:value block gives podcasters a way to receive Bitcoin payments in real-time over the Lightning network using apps such as Breez.

Specification details by @daveajones et al:

github.com

Podcastindex-org/podcast-namespace/blob/main/value/value.md

# The "podcast:value" Specification

<small>Version 1.3 by Dave Jones - 2021.02.25</small>

<br>

## Purpose

Here we describe an additional "block" of XML that gives podcasters (and other media creators) a way to receive direct
payments from their audience in response to the action of viewing or listening to a created work. Utilizing so called "Layer 2"
cryptocurrency networks like Lightning, and possibly other digital currency mechanisms, near real-time micropayments can
be directly sent from listener or viewer to the creator without the need for a payment processor or other "middle men".

The value block designates single or multiple destinations for these micro-payments.  The idea is that the creator of the media
describes (within the feed) where and how they would like payments to be sent back to them during consumption
of that media.  The format is designed to be flexible enough to handle many scenarios of direct payment streaming.  Even
the use of fiat currency, if there is an API that is capable of interfacing as a receiver within this format.

<br>

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Support an easy way to add the following block into the RSS feed. Maybe even based on settings in existing contributors.

Example:

...
<channel>
  <podcast:value type="lightning" method="keysend" suggested="0.00000015000">
      <podcast:valueRecipient
          name="Name 1 (Podcaster)"
          type="node"
          address="1234567890abcdef..."
          split="60"
      />
      <podcast:valueRecipient
          name="Name 2 (Podcaster)"
          type="node"
          address="1234567890abcdef..."
          split="40"
      />
  </podcast:value>
  ...
  <item>...</item>
  <item>...</item>
  ...
</channel>

I’ve tried it out using the Breez app and my own Bitcoin Lightning Node, it works great!

ericteubert · August 21, 2021, 8:58pm

Interesting. Know of any hosters that are already implementing this? I’m looking for existing UI. How does one enter bitcoin values normally (for the suggested value, I assume there’s a better input than simply a float of 0.00000015000? (I’m not versed in crypto-stuff). Also wondering about the split UI, especially on the episode level. Maybe giving roles weights (on-air contributors get a factor of 2 or something like that) makes more sense than raw input fields.

pepege · December 22, 2021, 9:07pm

Sorry for not replying earlier, it seems I didn’t get any notification about your reply.

I only know about a podcast index that is using it currently. It uses a given RSS-feed and injects the additional code:
PodcasterWallet.com in combination with Podcastindex.org. The forementioned Breez app queries the podcastindex.org to pupulate the player accordingly.

The specification for the value-block supports different cryptocurrencies, currently bitcoin/lightning and nano is mentioned. In case of bitcoin, 1 BTC denotes to 100.000.000 satoshis, so instead of using the BTC value on the UI, using satoshis might be more suitable. 100sat are currently ~0,04 EUR.

Regarding the split: I agree, altough it is a simple solution currently.

pepege · December 24, 2021, 7:58pm

@anita This might interest you as well!