SharePlay Alpha, LiveSpace Open Beta, and Owncast Updates: The State of Alternative Streaming in 2023

Hey everyone, Josh here from Indie Creator Hub, and honestly? I just wrapped up our first live stream in way too long, and my brain is buzzing with thoughts about where these alternative platforms are actually headed. We covered three major updates tonight, and each one tells a different story about what independent streaming could look like if we stop accepting the status quo.

The Thing About SharePlay That Actually Matters

So I got alpha access to SharePlay last week, and look, I'm not gonna sugarcoat this. The platform has serious potential, but they're being smart about not rushing things. Ten hours of streaming time per week during alpha testing, no dashboard access, just an RTMP server and streaming key. Sounds limiting, right?

But here's what struck me during my time streaming there. The video quality was genuinely good. Like, really good. No transcoding issues, clean 1080p source, and the monetization system with their Play Coins actually makes sense. Think Twitch bits, but the animations don't corrupt your actual stream because they're overlays on the video player, not baked into the feed.

The thing SharePlay gets right is restraint. They're not trying to be everything to everyone immediately. When I suggested ideas like partner program perks, longer clip storage, maybe some transcoding options for different tiers, it felt like they were actually listening instead of just nodding along.

But here's the uncomfortable truth nobody wants to talk about. SharePlay needs viewers more than streamers right now. We've seen this pattern before with Glimesh, with Brime, with every platform that focused on courting creators without building an audience first. You can throw millions at streamers, but if nobody's watching, what's the point?

LiveSpace's Bold Move (And Why It Might Actually Work)

LiveSpace just dropped into open beta, and they're doing something I haven't seen before. They removed viewer counts from stream thumbnails. Just gone. No more "this person has 500 viewers so they must be good, this person has 3 so they must suck."

It forces you to actually look at the content instead of just following the crowd. Wild concept, right?

But the real news is what their community manager Ashley announced during a stream with another creator. They're offering 1,000 creators 100% sub revenue split (minus processing fees, so realistically around 95%) for one full year. That's not a typo. One thousand creators, essentially keeping everything they earn for twelve months.

Now look, this could be a brilliant community-building strategy or a spectacular way to burn through investor money. The bet they're making is that creators will fall in love with the platform and stick around after the year is up. It's either confident or desperate, and honestly, I'm not sure which.

What LiveSpace understands is that streaming platforms need to be actual platforms, not just streaming services. Their Twitter-like community feed, subscriber-only posts, browser-based streaming options. They're thinking about the entire creator ecosystem, not just the live content part.

Owncast 0.1: The Quiet Revolution Continues

And then there's Owncast, which just released version 0.1 with updates that sound boring but are actually game-changing for anyone running their own server. Resizable chat windows, pop-out chat, automatic cleanup of old stream segments in object storage.

This is the thing about Owncast that makes it different from everything else we talked about tonight. You control it. Completely. No algorithm changes, no policy updates that destroy your reach, no corporate decisions that wipe out your community overnight.

The Federation angle matters more than people realize. When your Owncast server federates with other platforms through ActivityPub, you're building connections that no single company can break. Your audience follows you, not the platform you happen to be streaming on this week.

The Pattern Nobody Wants to Acknowledge

Here's what watching SharePlay, LiveSpace, and Owncast side by side taught me. Each represents a different approach to the same fundamental problem: corporate platforms treat creators as content factories, not humans.

SharePlay is betting on quality and restraint. LiveSpace is throwing money at the problem and hoping community features stick. Owncast is saying "forget all of that, just own your stuff."

All three approaches could work. But they only work if we stop treating platform choice like some kind of loyalty test and start thinking about what actually serves creators and communities.

What This Means for Independent Creators

The diversity of options we're seeing isn't accidental. It's what happens when people get tired of being at the mercy of corporate algorithm changes and start building alternatives.

But here's the thing that really hit me during tonight's stream. None of these platforms matter if we don't actually use them. SharePlay can have the best video quality in the world, LiveSpace can offer 100% revenue splits, Owncast can give you complete control, but without communities willing to follow creators to new platforms, they're just expensive experiments.

The future of independent content creation isn't about finding the one perfect platform. It's about having enough viable alternatives that creators can make choices based on what actually works for their communities instead of just accepting whatever the algorithm decides this week.

Moving Forward

Look, I don't know which of these platforms will still be around in five years. That's not even the right question. What matters is whether they're pushing the entire ecosystem toward treating creators like humans instead of content machines.

Tonight's stream reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. Alternative platforms aren't just backup plans for when the big guys mess up. They're experiments in doing things differently from the ground up.

Your Turn

So here's what I want to know, and seriously, call me out in the comments if you think I'm being too optimistic about any of this. What would it take for you to actually try streaming on an alternative platform? Is it about features, audience size, monetization options, or something else entirely?

Because the future of independent streaming depends not just on the platforms that get built, but on the communities willing to build something new instead of just complaining about what already exists.

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me through all my rambling about server configurations and revenue splits. Become a creator supporter if this resonated with you, and let me know your thoughts in the comments or our Discord. I read every single one, even the ones that tell me Owncast is too complicated and I should just stick to Twitch.

Until next time, keep creating independently.

JoshB

The Independent Creator