Everything seems to have a subscription service these days. Now, live music in Richmond has joined the club.

Sceen [organizers use all caps though it’s not an acronym] is a new live music subscription-based service for local concerts. For $20 a month, supporters can get free entry into local shows that have not sold out and 80% of that money goes directly to the artists.

“That’s roughly the cost of going to one show,” says co-founder Luke Rabin. “Plus it turns empty spots at shows into real financial support for hard working local musicians.”

“Think of it like MoviePass or a theater ticket subscription,” co-founder Bethany Lansing adds. “People can get access to a number of shows and local artists get a cut of the pot.”

Like other subscription models, Sceen members receive access to an events calendar for currently available passes for shows at Banditio’s, The Camel, Révéler Experiences and the Tin Pan, along with a weekly email stating which shows are available.

The idea for a live music subscription service originally came about when Rabin started working in the music industry after going to school for economics and saw firsthand how difficult it is to make a living as a musician. He started thinking about different financial methods that could make music more of a sustainable way to make a living, and looking at other subscription-based models led to the service’s creation.

“We’re musicians ourselves, so we understand how hard it is sometimes to pursue music professionally,” Lansing says. “We wanted to help artists actually make a living rather than just having a really expensive hobby. This way, people can put money directly into the pockets of artists purely because they believe in the importance of local music.”

Sceen officially debuted in early August at the 804 Day festival, but Rabin and Lansing soft launched the service over the past year working through the technical processes and getting artists and venues on board. Currently, Sceen has 90 artists active in its system, and nearly $5,000 has already been given out to those artists.

Payouts to artists are divided up based on how long they play and the number of fans attending, to make things as fair as possible. For example, in a three-band bill where two of the bands are playing for 30 minutes and the headliner for 60 minutes, the headliner would get a higher percentage of the payout depending on how many Sceen members checked in to the show. But the more concerts artists play and the more people attend through the subscription service, the bigger slice of the monthly payout they can get.

Rabin and Lansing say it’s completely free for any artist to be involved with Sceen. They simply need to claim an account and get their shows on the platform’s calendar. They can also include sections on what to expect at each show, from genre of music to type of experience, to strobe light use and more. Venues also have the ability to claim an account and enter shows.

Richmond indie folk duo Juniper Tree is one of the artists currently using the platform. Band member Valerie Westerman Bess says the experience has been very beneficial.

“The payouts from months where we played Sceen shows helped us to fund studio time and pass along earnings to our bandmates and crew in more significant amounts than we had before,” she says. “I love the idea of an initiative to help fill rooms and bring more patrons to venues. From my perspective as both an artist and a fan, a full venue always feels extra alive, and there’s a special energy to sharing live music moments with other people in your own community.”

As the live music subscription-based model evolves and improves, Rabin and Lansing know that it will take some time to get people on board, but ultimately, community supporters are really in control of where their money goes.

“We built an engine but we can’t make it run without the involvement of others,” Rabin says. “It needs artists and venues and the supporters to hit the gas pedal.”

“We’re doing this as supporters and lovers of the Richmond music scene,” Lansing says. “We’re all part of this together and we want to help make it better.”

For more information on Sceen and to sign up, visit sceen.co.