Decentralized Music Streaming Services: Reviving Music

The music industry has faced a myriad of issues since the first known record in 1888. However, decentralized music streaming services constitute a viable solution for many of these issues.

• Blockchain can be used to manage intellectual property rights and copyrights in music.
• Blockchain’s signature traits can benefit labels by improving marketing and curation and verifying data.
• Smart contracts can enable instant micro-payments and set royalty percentages for each copyright holder.

Music is food for the soul. Both its creation and its consumption are cathartic. Have you ever heard a song that made you release pent-up emotions as if it has broken a dam?

Making it big in that industry is often a herculean task; you either go at it independently or you sign with a record label. And while people have become more aware of record labels’ predatory practices in recent years, being an independent artist is no easy feat. In fact, both options can stifle creativity by imposing requirements and hindering the creation of music that truly speaks to you. Unfortunately, many artists find themselves manufacturing art rather than creating it. Fear not, however, as decentralized music streaming services  through blockchain may mark the new dawn of music.

So, We Are on the Same Page

Despite the music industry having undergone disruptions over the years, old structures and big shortcomings still exist. Rising operational costs, minimal artist pay-outs due to intermediaries, and inefficient royalty payment processes are just the tip of the iceberg. Most centralized music streaming services are inaccurate, unsafe, and vulnerable to malicious agents, and there is no global database for copyright and neighboring rights.

Blockchain for the Revival of the Artist

The bureaucracy of it all, and certain predatory practices, have sucked the art out of many artists. At one point, it felt as if they were manufacturing rather than creating. But there’s hope with decentralized music streaming services for resurrecting the love for music.

Copyrights

Blockchain has immense potential for managing intellectual property rights and copyrights in music. This technology can bring transparency to music ownership rights and royalties through the establishment of music rights marketplaces and royalty management platforms. Also, blockchain in music hasa vast peer-to-peer database where precise music copyright and intellectual property information is stored.

Transparency and Traceability

The blockchain’s immutability, inalterability, and transparency offer advantages to labels, such as improved marketing strategies and curation, and verification of data. The ledger’s unique ID and time stamp address issues with digital content piracy, as the music is recorded on it. By using decentralized music streaming services, artists can own their “masters” and prevent unauthorized copying or theft of lyrics and melodies.

Instant Micro-Payments

Blockchain and smart contracts can enable instant micro-payments and solve the issue of fair compensation for artists and rights holders. With virtually no middlemen involved, smart contracts can optimize automatic payments and set royalty percentages for each copyright holder. Musicians can be paid fractions of a cent after each sale or stream, and royalty payments can take place in seconds.

Final Thoughts

There is a big distinction between making art for the sake of self-expression and producing it for the sake of money and sales, leading to commercial success. And fans notice that. Always.

Nowadays, there are certain songs out there that, in my opinion, are tailor-made to go viral and make money rather than express emotions or opinions. There is a reason the new generation of artists often lacks the “spunk” of those that came before them. But with blockchain, especially decentralized music streaming services, despite certain limitations, there’s hope that they gain peace of mind to focus on their art rather than sales.

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