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The music industry
is dominated by the big tech firms that have set up centralized music streaming
with unfair compensation models. For instance, Spotify, one of the leading
music streaming platforms, pays artists an average of $0.003-$0.005 per stream,
yet there's so much work that goes into creating and promoting the music.
What's more, artists
have to deal with record labels whose only goal is to maximize profits. They get
a lion's share of income and dictate unfavorable terms when establishing
contracts. Since the industry is saturated with problems, it creates a
significant entry barrier for upcoming artists.
But is there a solution
to help fairly reward musicians and encourage them to create more music? Yes! Over
the last decade, much has been said about blockchain technology's disruptive
power. This article will discuss how blockchain can solve most of the problems
in the music industry and make the lives of musical artists and fans much more
manageable.
What Solutions Does Blockchain Provide
to the Music Industry?
Blockchain
technology cuts out all the intermediaries involved in music sales. We are
talking about all the distributors, record labels, and centralized music
streaming platforms. Streaming platforms have revolutionized how we listen to
music but they create intermediation between the artists and their fans.
While we have
mentioned the meager royalty payments, there is also an inaccurate and late
payments issue. Artists have to wait for months before getting their
compensation. Blockchain technology through smart contracts will enable
immediate and accurate payments to musical artists after every stream. No
intermediary will delay or take a share of the artist’s money.
2.
Intellectual Property
Protection
With the current
model in the music industry, it's easy for artist’s content to be stolen online
as their IP rights aren't protected. Blockchain guarantees artists intellectual
property protection as every music released on the blockchain ledger comes with
a unique ID. Since no one can change data on the blockchain, it provides
traceability and transparency, allowing artists to control their work.
With blockchain
technology, we can also end the illegal download of music. Blockchain
technology enables the creation of a global database of ownership, rights, and
rules. Artists can create an immutable record of all producers, contributors, and
other entities involved in the creative process. The data remains intact whenever
someone transfers the music files on the blockchain.
3.
Blockchain Will Create One
Standard Across all Music Databases
The music industry
today has over 500,000 databases that lack interoperability. Since stakeholders
in the industry don't share data or use a standard music file format, there's
no synchronization between the databases.
The most popular
file format is the 27-years old WAV and MP3. Unfortunately, these music formats
don’t enable artists to create, maintain and transfer unchangeable records of
the music rights and contributors. However, blockchain technology enables a unified
standard in the music industry.
Through smart
contracts, artists can create a standardized file format that carries all
synchronized ownership rights, media files, metadata, and licensing information
for the music. Hence, enabling easier tracking, monetization, and communication
in the music industry.
In Summary; The Future of Music
There are far too
many intermediaries in the present music industry, so there is little money
left over for musicians. Centralized music streaming services are also unreliable,
dangerous, and susceptible to malevolent actors.
Luckily, with
projects like Audius, we can shift the power back into the hands of artists and
fans. Audius is a decentralized music streaming platform based on blockchain
technology. Names like 3LAU, Dead Mouse, The Chainsmokers, Jason Derulo, Katy
Perry, and Justin Kan (Twitch's co-founder) back this platform.
The platform is operated
by nodes worldwide, unlike Apple Music and Spotify, which are hosted on
corporate servers. Blockchain technology provides trustless participation to
all parties, including fans and artists, while ensuring the integrity of data
in a sector where no one trusts the other.