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Paywalls have proved a successful business model for some publishers, but the all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for all products and audiences. Offering solutions are flexible tools, such as this platform that enable businesses to let readers choose how they pay for their content, or a Spotify for journalism offering pay-per-article functions. Now, Composer from Piano is another variable payment system, which enables media providers to adapt their business model whenever they want, without any coding.

To begin, publishers use Composer’s back end to find out about their various audiences. The platform analyses attributes about the different visitors, such as the frequency of their visits, whether they are coming from Facebook, whether they use adblockers and whether they are on mobile. Then, the publisher can view that metadata on a simple management interface, define each audience segment and tailor their payment offers to them, all without any coding. For example, an offer might be triggered after a visitor has viewed a set number of pages or videos, or tried to access a specific piece of content. Composer will then complete the subscription, getting recurring payment information, newsletter signup and any other desired transactions.

How else could online publishers vary their product for different audiences?