Voice SNS “Clubhouse” will be translated into Japanese by the end of the year “Japan is a high priority country”

Clubhouse, which provides the voice SNS “Clubhouse”, held a briefing session for Japanese press on September 30th. This is the first time the clubhouse will hold a press conference in Japan. Normally, Clubhouse does not allow audio recording or transcription of conversations, but at this briefing session, recording for article writing and screenshots of the speakers were allowed.

The briefing was held on the Clubhouse

Clubhouse CEO and co-founder Paul Davison, CTO and co-founder Rohan Sess, and Artie Lammercy, Head of International Affairs, will be present at the briefing. In addition, Kazuhiro Obara, the creator of Clubhouse and the author of “Process Economy”, also participated as a guest speaker.

While talking about the origins and business strategies of Clubhouse, Paul will make Clubhouse compatible with Japanese in the coming months and monetize creators working on Clubhouse. Clarified to support.

Clubhouse CEO and co-founder Mr. Paul Davison

Clubhouse CTO and co-founder Rohan Seth

Clubhouse International Head, Artie Rama Mercy

Background of “Clubhouse” development

Co-founded Paul and Rohan met more than 10 years ago. At that time, both of them were working on SNS. The two of them talked about doing something together, but he said, “Both are good adults with children, so it’s better not to do SNS,” Paul said. So, they considered a service using their favorite audio, but eventually started Clubhouse, a voice SNS.

“I found it difficult to create audio content and succeed. I’m really working hard on podcasts, but I think it’s very difficult. Educational apps, enterprise, and business apps. Or ……… Is there no choice but to create an SNS app? If so, we thought we were here (laughs) “(Mr. Paul)

Clubhouse will start in March 2020. .. He started with a very small team and thought “let’s grow the community carefully” (Paul). As a result, he was attracting attention all over the world and did not anticipate a wave of users.

“I was worried that it would suddenly grow too big and collapse. I was happy to enjoy Clubhouse, but as a small team, I’m not ready yet. I think we were calm and focused hard on getting the app to work and the community. “(Paul)

Japanese localization and monetization

At Clubhouse, about 300,000 early this summer The room was open, but as of the end of August, it had increased to about 700,000. The average Clubhouse usage time for one user is 70 minutes / day worldwide, but 113 minutes / day in Japan. Paul described Japan as “one of the most important and high-priority countries for Clubhouse.”

Currently, Clubhouse only supports English, but from now on until the end of the year, localization tests will be conducted in several languages ​​including Japanese, and it will be officially announced at the end of the year. I plan to do it. When Japanese localization is done, the UI (user interface) of the application, guidelines, customer service, notifications, etc. will all be in Japanese, and “Clubhouse can be used even if you do not understand English” (Mr. Artie) ..

For another initiative, monetization of creators, subscription registration for rooms and clubs, payment when entering a room, and “Tipping:” offered in the United States. We are considering three methods called “tipping)”. It is said that matching between creators and sponsored companies is gradually progressing.

Overseas, some creators have already succeeded in monetizing. “There are cases where people who worked for financial companies succeeded in monetizing and quit their jobs. Also, many people in music-playing rooms raised $ 100,000 and donated it as a charity. Now, Clubhouse’s iconic comedian, Viera Mar, is now able to live on a corporate sponsorship contract or throw money. A musician who earns hundreds of dollars just by opening a room for about 20 minutes. There is also “(Mr. Paul)

Mr. Viera Mar

who is the icon of the Clubhouse app

Guest speaker Mr. Ohara said, “There are many creators living on a monthly subscription basis in Japan,” and it will be a stable foundation. I had high expectations. On the other hand, he said, “It’s important for creators to be born from Clubhouse, so in that sense, throwing money is good.”

Continued enhancements

Clubhouse is investing in high-quality sound, such as adding spatial audio functions, and music is said to be a popular category of Clubhouse. “I think it’s really great to see guitarists, pianists and singers who don’t know each other gather in a room across borders to make music,” Rohan said.

Mr. Paul said, “I believe that voice apps and voice SNS will continue for a long time. I want you to connect and interact with people through your voice.” Showed the attitude to enhance.

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