Audius - Decentralized Music Platform | Crypto Academy / S5W3 | Homework Post for @wahyunahrul.
I welcome you'll to the 3rd week of the season 5 SteemitCryptoAcademy intermediate course by Professor @wahyunahrul
Without wasting time, I would like to quickly proceed with the given tasks.
QUESTION 1
What do you think about the presence of the Audius platform in the music industry?
MUSIC
The world Music was derived from the Greek word (mousike) which means "(art) of the Muses" with "Muses meaning the goddess of music, art, dance, and poetry".
Music can simply be regarded as a careful arrangement of sounds in other to produce a pleasing melody, rhythm, or harmony.
Making music serves as a form of entertainment and it helps to uplift mood, reduce anxiety, stress, and depression.
It is also a medium of self-expression and has other scientifically-proven benefits such as the reduction of cortisol levels in the body and the fact that cortisol is a hormone that initiates stress, making music a stress therapy which is medically needed during high-stress conditions such as surgery.
* MUSIC INDURSTY
The music industry can simply be regarded as everyone who is involved in creating, managing, promoting and every other various aspect involved in the music business.
The music industry consists of different record labels that primarily work to promote songs and music videos and grant copywriting to songs made by musicians who are signed under them.
In as much as these companies help musicians in achieving certain goals, it is still done without cost on the side of the musician.
A musician gets only but a percentage out of what is earned from his music. Also, a record label can make deals and reach other agreements using the music of a musician without his or her approval.
CENTRALIZED MUSIC PLATFORMS
Nevertheless, the need for record labels has reduced due to the emergence of certain musical platforms such as Apple Music, Deezer, Audiomark, Spotify, etc. These platforms create an opportunity for earning and promotion for musicians without the need for a record label.
Looking at the above, it is quite obvious that these earnings are minute when compared to what these platforms generate from fans who stream music on their various platforms.
Fact that these are centralized platforms, the owners swerve as intermediaries between fans and the musicians.
The involvement of the third parties is what has made accessing music on these platforms expensive for fans because they will have to cover for the earnings of the musicians and that of the intermediaries.
Regardless of this high payment by fans, musicians are still being paid peanuts by these platforms.
AUDUIS PLATFORM
This exploitation of musicians by centralized music platforms is what has led some of them into looking for a much better alternative and this is what has brought some and will still more into the Auduis platform.
Auduis is a blockchain-based music platform that was founded by Roneil Ramburg and Forrest Browning in the year 2018 with the main net launching on the 24th of September, 2019.
Being decentralized has made it possible for Musicians to be paid directly without any cut going to a third party.
This direct relationship between musicians and their fans has brought about a low cost of accessing music for fans and high earnings for musicians. And this is achieved due to the nullification of the third party.
Activities on the Auduis platform such as streaming and reward are done using its native token the Audio token which is currently at $2.39.
The presence of the Auduis platform has made the music industry what it should be by ensuring a fair reward distribution that benefits musicians.
The platform also allows equal rights to both fans and musicians alike by giving users who hold and stake Audio tokens the right to vote and make decisions on the platform.
It also offers them the opportunity to earn incentives by them becoming node operators. Those who can't afford to become node operators due to its high cost can delegate their tokens to nodes to earn yield.
Also, the very fact that the Auduis platformis based on blockchain gives musicians the right to total ownership of their content once uploaded because once data is recorded on the blockchain, it cannot be hacked, deleted, or forged.
Adding to all the above is the partnership of Auduis with the largest short video platform "TikTok."
TikTok is a centralized video platform made mostly for content creators. So far, it has produced a lot of celebrities due to it's large audience.
For a musician to independently upload songs on TikTok he or she will need the help of publishers who will ask for pay or demand for a cut on revenue but on Auduis platform, due to its partnership with TicTok, musicians on the platform can directly export their songs to TicTok without any need for a publisher and this, in turn, cuts down on the cost of promotion.
The presence of Auduis has brought a lot of positivities in the music industry due to its decentralized nature and other wonderful features mentioned above and it is only but a matter of time before it will be more widely adopted by other musicians who seek a much better platform to interact with their fans.
QUESTION 2
With the governance system used by Audius, do you think that system has made Audius a fair and fully decentralized platform? If not, please provide your personal suggestions for the system that Audius uses to make it more fair and decentralized
Yes, the governance used by Auduis made the platform fair and decentralized, and below are my reasons.
Before I move to the impact of Auduis governance on the Auduis platform, I would like to first quickly explain what governance is all about.
Governance in the blockchain system is an act of encoding rules to implement changes into the blockchain protocol.
These encoding rules in form of updates are proposed by the developers to node operators for them to vote on whether to accept or reject the update and the conclusion is drawn based on the side with the most votes.
The governance rights in the Audius platform come as a result of having an amount of staked Audio token in your wallet connected to the platform.
This allows you certain influence on the platform which includes taking part in decision making, etc.
To ensure that the implementation of every proposal is based on the decision of users, there are criteria to which a proposal must reach before being regarded as valid.
The proposal must at least have 5% of the total Audio token voted for or against it and also over 50% of the vote should be in favor of the proposal otherwise the proposal is regarded as invalid.
Decision-making on the Audius platform doesn't end with node operators as there are users who can't afford to be a node due to how expensive it is.
These users delegate Audio tokens to node operators and in turn, earn a certain amount of incentives from the node rewards.
Voting influence of nodes operators and delegators are still of the same weight as a vote is equivalent to 1 $Audio which both can afford.
This makes the outcome of every proposal just and based on the community choice which in turn has made Audius a fair and fully decentralized platform.
QUESTION 3
Explain how to do 2 types of staking on Audius complete with illustrations. (Image Required)
There are two types of staking on Audius platform which are;
- Node operator staking.
- Delegation staking.
NODE OPERATOR STAKING
Node operators are users on the Audius platform who performs certain functions like accepting, creating, and sending data using a connection of computers running on the Audius network.
These node operators take a major part in governance by being able to make decisions as regards the platform. This is due to their staked $Audio token which increases the security of the network and in turn grants them influence on the platform which also allows them to earn incentives based on the amount of staked $Audio.
In other to partake as a node operator, users are required to have a strong computer with at least 200,000 pieces of $Audio token staked. These necessary criteria are what has made being a node operator expensive for most users which in turn has left them to function as delegators.
To stake $Audio token, one will have to first connect Metamask wallet to Audius.
- See steps below
(Step 1) log into Audius.org and click on explore dashboard
(Step 2) Click on "Connect Metamask" on the top right corner
(Step 3) Click on "Open Metamask" and click on "Connect" shown on the Metaverse window on the right-hand side. After that, you have successfully connected your Audius account to Metamask wallet.
Step (1) When you must have connected your Audius account to Metamask, then click on "Register new services" under services.
(Step 2) A user is given a choice to run either "discovery node" or "content node" with a minimum of 200,000 $Audio for each to stake. Click on register to choose the node to operate as
( Step 3) Click on confirm with Metamask in other to navigate to Metamask and confirm transaction
(Step 4) Click on confirm transaction to complete the process
This is an alternative type of staking for users who can't afford to participate as a node due to its high cost. Delegators are users who delegate their $Audio token to node operators which in turn yield them incentives. They are also allowed to request their delegated token at any time. Users who serve as delegates also participate in governance by being able to cast their votes against or in favor of different proposals that are being brought up on the platform. This decision-making that is left in the hands of users in form of nodes and delegates is what has made the Audius platform completely fair and decentralized. Step (1) After your wallet has been connected, click on "Service" and select any node operator from the available list and delegate to. I will be going with the first one (Step 2) Click on "delegate" on the top left corner. The below node operator runs 4 discovery nodes and 11 contents nodes and has 164 delegators (Step 3) Enter the amount of $Audio token you would want to delegate and click on delegate (Step 4) Click on "confirm with Metamask" in other to navigate to MetaMask and complete transaction Step (1) Click on "not now" Step (2) Enter email and click "sign in" Step (3) Enter email and password Step (4) Set up profile. I did manually Step (5) Input profile picture and username Step (6) select a minimum of three artists to continue Step (7) Account almost ready Account completed Below are some of the features available on the Audius website. This feature is contained on the Audius platform. It serves to contain a list of trending songs separated into weekly, monthly, and yearly and with the top 5 weekly songs getting a reward in $Audio token from the platform. This feature allows users to explore different music options such as underground music, trending music, best New releases, top albums, under the radar, Playlists created by people you follow, remixes, etc.
SOURCE
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TRENDING
Also on the top right corner contains "All Genre" which one can click to select a specific type of genre in other to know the currently trending ones. Although the weekly reward is only given to the top 5 trending songs in a combination of all genres.
EXPLORE
Also, it contains an option to select music based on mood which is a very unique feature. Selecting music based on mood is an option we can't find on any other music application but Audius understands that choice of music at different times is based on one's mood and that is what has made them add that feature.
FEED
This feature allows a user to see all music posts on the platform with their number of plays. It also provides the option to repost, share, and like content made by other users.
Clicking on the "All post" allows a user the option to only see original posts on "Feed", "Repost" or "All posts" which I am currently seeing "All posts".
FAVORITES
This feature allows a user to manage his or her playlists, albums, and other content from different creators which he or she considers as favorite.
It also allows easy navigation to trending because that is where a user will find most of the tracks and albums to either favorite or create a Playlist with.
PROFILE
Here a user can edit his or her profile in other to change name or profile photo, location, and edit bio.
The profile also contains a record of reposts made and Playlists created so far by the user.
Another content of the profile is the provision for track upload. This allows any user to easily upload any of their works on the Audius platform at no cost.
AUDIUS API
This is one of the fascinating features of the Audius platform.
It allows users the privilege to develop Apps on the platform with top 10 apps winning a certain amount of Audio reward each month.
This free API has led to the development of a lot of entertaining and useful apps on the platform which can easily be accessed by any user.
- screenshot
Users can also vote on some of these apps in other to nominate them for steam rewards.
$AUDIO VIP TIERS
Aside from governance, $Audio holders are ranked based on the amount of $Audio token they are holding and are able to unluck various new features.
These rank ranges from bronze to platinum. Bronze badge are holders of at least 10 $Audio, silver badge are holders of at least 100 $Audio, gold badge are holders of at least 10,000 $Audio while platinum badge are holders of 100,000 $Audio and above.
QUESTION 6
Explain in detail how the mechanism of uploading music content on Audius.
The content nodes and discovery nodes are responsible for processing contents on the Audius platform.
The music uploaded by the content creator is first received by the content node. Still, on the content node, the music uploaded is verified before being sent out encrypted as a reference code with a timestamp.
This timestamp helps in the protection of the user's content by serving as copywriting which helps in ownership claims.
Duplication of the data from the content node occurs and is transferred to the other two content nodes in the system. This is done to prove that the data doesn't exist on just a single node but rather a group of nodes hosting it.
The transaction is then recorded on the Audius blockchain with the user's profile information linked to it. This information stands as proof of the owner because it cannot be changed, erased, hacked, or deleted.
After the completion of the above, the Discovery node then comes into play by collecting the information from the on-chain in other to hash and index it.
After hashing and indexing, the discovery node which also serves as data storage links the stored data to the profile of the creator in other for him or her to easily claim ownership of his or her content.
When this whole process is completed, the discovery node will send a notice to the initiator telling him or her that the content has been uploaded.
QUESTION 7
Upload your original music to Audius and show the proof using a block explorer. (Screenshot Required)
To upload music on Audius, one has to start by being logged into the platform, using an already registered email and password.
NB: This process is best done using a computer not a smartphone and according to the class, the upload should be an original track and not one already released by an artist.
Therefore I decided to use this opportunity to promote one of my friend's music who is aspiring to be an artist. I didn't go straight into uploading the track without his permission because it could serve as plagiarism or theft.
- See screenshots of our chat below:
STEPS TO UPLOAD SONG ON AUDIUS
(Step 2) select the track you would want to upload from the list of tracks on your list
(Step 4) Input the necessary details about the song such as song description, artwork, genre and mood
Upload artwork
Input description & continue
( Step 5) After inputting the necessary details and clicking continue, the actual song upload will take place.
I have successfully uploaded your first track on Audius
Finally, click on View track to see track result which will contain its details such as genre, mood, description and artwork
CONCLUSION
Audius is a decentralized music platform built on Ethereum blockchain with the aim of bridging the barrier between artists and their fans.
The platform is aimed at solving problems of extortion from intermediaries and record labels as regards centralized music platforms.
With the help of this class, I have been able to test-run the Audius platform by uploading a track made by a friend of mine and some results have been getting such as followers and few plays and with one adding the track to his list of favorites.
- See screenshot
Hi @pocoloco01, Thanks for taking my class.
Based on the homework that you have made, here are the details of the assessment you get:
My Reviews and Suggestions:
In question number 5 you only put a lot of pictures of Audius features, but the explanation given is still very lacking.
Your explanation of the mechanism for uploading content on Audius is good, but the illustration you include is an illustration from internet, you should make your own illustration so I can see how well you understand the mechanism.
I like that you ask permission first before uploading other people's music on Audius, this is what everyone should be aware of because this way we value the work of musicians.
I still see that there are some grammars that are still wrong, try using Grammarly to help correct the wrong grammar.
Thank you!