If you’re dying to get into someone’s Twitter Space, and are willing to pay for it, you might be in luck.
Twitter announced on Thursday that it was rolling out Ticketed Spaces, or live audio rooms with pre-paid tickets people can buy, to some iOS users. Spaces is Twitter’s version of Clubhouse, the audio-only chat app that has dipped in popularity over the last couple of months. Unlike Twitter Spaces, Clubhouse doesn’t allow users to sell tickets in advance, although it does allow people to send their favorite creators money through a virtual tip jar.
“We want to help people creating cool Spaces make $$$. Today, some Hosts will be able create Ticketed Spaces!” the company said on its official Twitter Spaces account. “We’re experimenting on iOS only for now but we hope to get it to everyone soon. know it’s taking us a little time, but we want to get this right for you!”
Some might be asking, why would you want to buy a ticket to a Twitter Space? Twitter’s got tons of ideas. Hosts can create Twitter Spaces and hold workshops, conversations, or meet-and-greets with loyal fans, the company points out.
Twitter opened applications to access Ticketed Spaces in June. In order to be eligible, applicants have to had hosted at least three Spaces in the last 30 days and have at least 1,000 followers. Only people over the age of 18 can apply. Tickets can be sold for between $1 and $999—the price is at the host’s discretion. Hosts can also control how many people can enter their space, setting the limit at 5 or even 100, Twitter explains.
People that buy tickets to Spaces will see it show up in their notifications and also receive a reminder from Twitter before the event begins.
While seeing the range that hosts can charge for tickets may make those dollar bills start appearing in front of your eyes, it’s not all for the hosts. Twitter takes 3% of hosts’ earnings in fees. Once a host earns more than $50,000 using Twitter’s monetization features, including Super Follows, the company will begin to charge a 20% fee. Since this is only available for select iOS users, let’s not forget Apple’s 30% cut for in-app purchases.
After doing the math, some may find that Ticketed Spaces is a legit way to earn money. Others may conclude that isn’t worth their time and effort. The most important factor, it seems to me, is whether people will want to spend more time online than they already do in this pandemic-plagued world.
God knows there’s nothing like closing your computer and taking your headphones off nowadays.