Idea for utilizing Blockchain in the music industry; Monetization of musical content on the Blockchain by way of creation of a token based exchange comprised of individual, musical piece /artist specific tokens.
First of all i want to say that this is simply an idea that will almost certainly amount to nothing. Anyone that will have the will to read this through should think of this as a simple thought exercise. I don’t want anyone to think for a second this post is trying to pitch any kind of idea to anyone. I wrote this because I thought it would be fun and I wanted to put the idea from my head onto “paper”. This post is written with the help of my boyfriend, an economy student.
Like my account might show i am a lowly minnow introduced to the cryptoscene a few weeks ago . At the point of writing this sentence im already feeling the pressure of making a too large of a leap and attempting to explain my idea, for what its worth, in a coherent way.
Fear of failure should never be a reason not to try something
Since i joined Steeemit i went on a rapid learning curve climbing endeavor. As of this point im pretty sure i read about most of the best known music based blockchain projects and to be honest i personally was not impressed by any of them for a couple of reasons i will go into here. Of course, i could have missed a few of them, and there could be some promising ones i don't want to misrepresent, so please drop them down in the comments if such exist .
Rewarding content creators is always an admirable endeavor which is in the core of each of these projects and from what I have learned from Steemit, people can truly steer clear from mainstream cynicism and are capable of great generosity and cooperation. But honestly, one thing will never change when it comes to enjoying musical content:
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FREE IS THE PREFERRED CHOICE.
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That one single statement sheds a light on the problem of all these platforms. I wont name any of them but they all basically share the same issues coming from the same reasons:
- People will rarely pay for something they can effortlessly get for free
- Donations are only ever just a bonus
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Replacing the $ figure with a BTC sign does not change anything. All it does is create another barrier in the way of transferring funds from consumer to artist. Sure, it reduces some costs and eliminates the “middleman” which might increase artist revenue but the disadvantages outweigh the current advantages by a huge factor. The only way you will ever get someone to pay for something he can get for free is by making it convenient for them to access it. Because all of these services (iTunes, Spotify, Netflix...) offer easy access to their content and reasonable prices you will see people paying for content they can get free.
Blockchain based services are in themselves inaccessible, complicated for the general public which completely destroys their ability for any kind of mass adoption. Currently those platforms have nowhere near the viability of the likes of Spotify or iTunes. Due to the fact of being very difficult for the general public to buy into even the best known cryptocurrencies, let alone the more obscure ones. All that amongst other reasons listed.
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The goal of music blockchain project, imo, should not be one of trying to emulate current market processes but instead specifically focused on providing the artist with the greatest possible revenue while providing the consumer two basic things:
- Opportunity to share in the financial success of the musical creation
- Opportunity to support the artist of choice
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Both of these points are attempted to be addressed by the already existing blockchain based, service proving softwares, although the problem of mainstream accessibility is still great meaning the revenue artists might gain at the moment is almost nonexistent. And it will be nonexistent into the foreseeable future. Their inaccessibility destroys any viability they might have, meaning that currently they are incapable of even fulfilling these 2 points to any level.
Those platforms aren’t a bad idea in themselves, far from it, but currently they offer very little to either the artist or the consumer. I really believe much more can be accomplished
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WHICH IS WHY I WOULD PROPOSE SOMETHING POSSIBLY IMPOSSIBLE AND PRACTICALLY QUESTIONABLE
The creation of a platform that would provide:
- An internal token based exchange with tokens specifically tied to individual musicians.
- A supporting licensing and payment system
- A Decentralized file storage
- A Fiat-token interface (eventually)
As it might seem at first, the exchange is the largest addition to the already existing ideas. This exchange would be a massive endeavor and it would basically function like this:
Artists raise money through a token launch of the individual “musical creation” token (MCT #12345), or a launch of their individual artist token, which is similar to an initial coin offering (ICO). Here, anyone can buy the tokens upfront. The artist would set the pricing and keep a percentage of tokens in the initial launch. The coins sold would act as a share in the “musical creation” offering a part in the revenue gathered by other means. “radio plays, adds, commercials, streaming platforms, record sales, steemit, dtube, dsound upvotes, etc. (this is something that would need to be looked into more) ” Effectively paying the holder a dividend in set time intervals.
Imagine you could have bought into a song like Bohemian rhapsody by Queen and earn income from the revenue stream that song has been generating over the decades from radio plays, movies, commercials, record sales, etc.
Holders of the token would then be able to trade those tokens on the exchange. This is extremely important since this would achieve 2 things:
- It would make the platform instantly attractive to crypto investors by providing them a profit making opportunity
- An immediate financial injection for the artists
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Not only would the consumer be able to support the artist of his choice but he in turn becomes an investor receiving dividends and the ability to trade tokens in the open market. It is well known that a high number of users of crypto are investors looking to make a profit and without them cryptocurrency would not achieve the growth it has. The pure music consumer base currently in the crypto community is still in its infancy and you cannot rely on them for growth of your brand or platform.
Which is why, if you take a look at all these startups connecting blockchain and music, you realize the attention and exposure they are receiving is very low after the initial hype of their ICO launch. Even Steemit you wouldnt call "large" and Steemit is magnitudes larger than most of the similar platforms in the cryptosphere. Their coins might be trading but their platform is either in beta, alpha or just isn’t getting much attention from the targeted audience. Basically in a perpetual state of “experimentation”.
Once you offer the investors the opportunity to make a profit through a token exchange, you reach a point where everyone is benefiting from the platform, the investors, the consumer and most of all the artist.
One interesting aspect would be the dividends paid from the revenue stream of a single “musical creation” that would offer a “real” source of income to the holder of the token, thus eliminating the pure and wild speculation existent with some ICOs. Those dividends would assure that the token prices would never fluctuate violently because you could partly anticipate the potential income of each “musical creation”. This would also (possibly) lead to a “communal” effort from the holders of the token to advertise and share the content they hold a share in.
Not to continue going long and wide ill just summarize with a few points explaining the goals of this idea :
- Provide a way for consumers to support their artist
- Provide a way for artists to monetize their content
- Provide a way for consumers to take share in the revenue of the artist’s content
- Attract crypto investors by offering them a trading opportunity that is based in true value.
The talent and quality of the musician
As I said: This is just an idea I had and I will be sharing it with a few of my developer friends over a cup of coffee. Id love to hear your thoughts on this and if needed rip this idea to shreds.
Have fun and keep on Steeming. :D
We're still early! Musicoin is still in Beta.. I do see things working out for the artists now ...the days of ripping artists off are numbered
Haha. You made it. Thx for commenting. See you around. 😁
Hey @silentscreamer, great article. Quite a long read :) That can already be achieved in a way by Steemit and Musicoin... Those are still not implemented good enough IMHO but at least there's a huge potential (and probably already is doing so) to disrupt the current way the music industry works. We'll see what the future will bring! Steem on and much respect for the tons of work you put into this post! :)
Well i hope it amounts to something.😁 I brought up the issues Musicoin has in the article, not to repeat myself but Musicoin has a bleak future imo. It boils down to: "why would i choose a service that inconvenieces me significantly over a much convinient one?"
"Because crypto" is not a good answer. Which is why im proposing a platform that would offer an exchange with tokens launched by artists for individual songs (probably an overkill) or their own artist token. That way you offer a trading opportunity for investors, instant cash injection for artists and a way for consumers to support their artists. The "consumer convinience" would then be less important for the system to work and would eventually be attained in the long run.
Anyways thanks for commenting. 😁
I think it's not "because crypto", it's more "because a fair amount of money" or "any money at all" :)
I like the token idea, however the convenience is also a huge factor IMHO. There are plenty of people (me included) who don't want to be trading/brokerage professionals just to make a fair amount of money. A token based system you suggested might work only if it's so easy to use that literally everyone can understand it and make something out of it.
Amennnnnnnnnnnn wow do you have an awesome brain :)
Thanks for sharing these awesome insights. We have a journey to change this music industry but we can inspire this real, positive change it will just take some time.
Much love and respect
Thank you. It took a while to organize and put into paper. Using what i know however lIttle it may be. 😁
Ay great info and I especially liked the artists issuing their own tokens. I think that's an awesome idea that way fans early on get rewarded for discovering them before the mainstream did (besides a lot of other benefits).
This was a very detailed post, your idea is pretty good, I hope something comes from it. Good luck!