Access tiers: free, followers, subscribers, paid
Every upload can carry a different rule. Here is how to think about which.
Every piece of content on Steezi has an access setting, applied per item rather than per account. You are not choosing to be a free artist or a paid one. You are choosing, each time, who this particular thing is for.
The four settings
Public. Anyone, logged in or not. This is your front door and your search-engine surface. Most of what you publish should be public.
Followers. Anyone who has followed you. Costs nothing, but requires a small commitment. Useful for the release before it goes wide.
Subscribers. Only people paying you monthly. This is where the exclusive material lives.
Paid. A one-off purchase for this item. Good for an album, a full show, a stem pack.
The mistake most people make
Putting the best work behind the highest wall.
If nobody can hear what you are good at, nobody has a reason to pay. The paywall does not create value; it captures value that already exists. Something has to establish that value first, in public, for free.
A useful test: if a stranger landed on your profile today, is there enough public work for them to decide whether they like you? If not, you have walled yourself in.
What actually belongs behind a wall
Not better work. Different work.
The demo. The version with the verse you cut. The live take. The thing you would not release publicly because it is unfinished, and that is exactly why the people who pay you want it.
Subscribers are not buying quality. They are buying proximity.