You pay us, or
your audience does.

No — a paid event is free to run. No subscription required. We take 20% (Broadcast) or 25% (Studio) of ticket sales. Monthly plans are for producers running free-to-attend events who need delivery capacity (hours, viewer headroom). Live AI Translation is a separate add-on, off by default.

Yes — start a monthly plan and cancel anytime. You keep access through the period you already paid for, so a one-month Broadcast or Studio subscription covers a single event with no future obligation.

Broadcast (OBS/encoder → HLS CDN) delivers your stream at low cost per viewer — scales to large audiences cheaply. Studio (browser webcam → WebRTC CDN) connects every viewer directly as an interactive participant — great for multi-presenter events, Q&A, translated events where per-language audio sync matters. Studio costs more per viewer because WebRTC bandwidth is roughly 6–10× the HLS CDN rate. PPV on Broadcast is 20%; PPV on Studio is 25% because the extra cut covers WebRTC CDN audience delivery so your viewers aren't additionally metered.

For paid (PPV) events, Riverbend Live deducts a platform fee from each ticket sale automatically via Stripe Connect: 20% for Broadcast events (RTMP→HLS CDN) and 25% for Studio events (browser webcam→WebRTC CDN). Stripe also charges its standard 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction — paid by your business, same as any Stripe payment. The platform fee does NOT cover Stripe's processing. Running a paid event costs you nothing upfront — we only earn when you do.

Yes. Upgrades take effect immediately with prorated billing. Downgrades take effect at your next billing cycle.

A concurrent viewer watching an event you've published without a PPV ticket. On Broadcast, viewers over the plan's included cap accrue overage at $0.50/peak viewer — the stream is never cut. Studio bills audience from viewer #1 via metered pricing rather than a cap.

It's a hardware unit that combines multiple internet connections into one redundant stream. You only need it if you're streaming from places with unreliable connectivity — venues, outdoors, mobile setups. Most home or studio creators don't need it.

Two ways. The dedicated Translation plan ($199/mo) bundles 5 live-translation hours every month, up to 100 peak translated viewers, and a 5-hour VOD back-catalog translation starter — purpose-built for multilingual broadcasters. Or turn translation on à la carte on any Studio event: it's billed by the hour per destination language while you're live. Solo host (one-way): $39/hour per language. Host + on-stage guest (two-way): $69/hour per language. Translated audiences stream over the WebRTC CDN so they're billed at $0.50 per peak concurrent viewer from viewer #1; events longer than 4 hours add $0.15 per viewer for each additional hour.

For organizations that want us to run the event end to end — managed production and white-glove launch, satellite acquisition, or a private whitelabel deployment. These are custom-scoped and custom-priced. Talk to sales to get started.

Every producer gets a unique referral link on signup. When someone you refer makes their first transaction, your 12-month earning window starts. You earn 5% of their gross platform revenue (PPV + future subscriptions), paid directly to your Stripe Connect bank account on the same schedule as your own payouts.

No trial — start on Broadcast Free (always free) and upgrade once you need more hours, more viewers, or Studio interactivity. No credit card required to stream your first event.