The challenge in launching a streaming service focused on independent music is that your biggest competitors have all the independent music too – and much bigger resources to develop new features and attract listeners.

Still, the idea of an ‘indie Spotify’ retains appeal, and Vocana is the latest startup giving it a go.

Among its key features are fully user-centric payouts, with the royalties generated from each listener only going to the music they listen to. Vocana is also promising to give artists more data on their fans – on an opt-in basis, of course – including the ability to collect email addresses.

The service is also putting some welly behind social features, with hubs based around genres, scenes and artists, as well as developing a community of independent playlist curators.

Vocana is currently in public beta and has recently signed deals with CD Baby and DistroKid to supply music.

But as with previous services in this space, inventive product development and smart marketing on a budget unlikely to match the Spotifys of the world will be required for Vocana to carve out a sustainable slice of the streaming market.