Blockchain Disruption in Music Industry is it Happening Now?
Source: https://btsg.community/t/blockchain-disruption-in-music-industry-is-it-happening-now/273
Changing the Tune of the Music Industry
Music is an intricate part of our lives. Humans of all cultures have invented and developed unique brands of music, proving its fundamentality to our existence. Music can cause us to move with it or sing along. It molds our moods and sets the ambiance of the space that holds us.
We have experienced many shifts in music from vinyl to VHS tapes, CDs, and now online music in modern times [1]. As it standards, all you need to access the vast array of music options out there are an internet-connected device and the relevant software.
Music-making has evolved from analog to digital, with the scene changing permanently along with it. The increased availability of music-making technology due to the digitization of music production has caused an explosion in the industry’s number of players. This digitization has also come with challenges such as copyright infringements that are difficult to curb.
How Blockchain Impacts the Music Industry
In this era of streaming, platforms like Spotify, Deezer, and Apple Music have caused a massive paradigm shift in the way people obtain music. Despite this, what independent artists earn through these major platforms is minuscule. There is little opportunity for emerging musicians to acquire the audience required for monetization. This need has led to the idea of implementing blockchain technology into music industry [2].
It is the basis for what is known as a distributed ledger, which allows a more secure data storage and management system. In this system, data is transferred across a network, and everyone within it holds an identical copy. Any changes made to this data is reflected in all copies within seconds.
Blockchain holds the potential to rescue the music industry from the billions it could have lost by updating the rights and royalties process. Value chains ensure that writers, singers, producers, publishers, and stakeholders are compensated for their work properly. Welcoming blockchain would maintain a single version of the truth irrespective of rights specifics and territory.
We understand that trust is necessary to take a leap of faith that comes with the devolving transaction, but blockchain looks to be the future for industry stakeholders.
Massive Disruption, Is it happening Now?
The music industry has been overdue for another big shift, and blockchain appeals to many. Steven Haft, former Hollywood film producer, treasurer of the Blockchain Social Impact Coalition, and current head of global partnerships, ConsenSys, said that blockchain is the remedy for decentralizing the music industry.
One of the several ways blockchain could redistribute power is through smart contracts. It would make it more difficult for label executives and lawyers to take the lion’s share of profits if recording contracts are made on the chain. This would help signed artists earn more than their usual 12% of revenues [3].
The possibility of power shifting hands because of blockchain exists, but hopefully, forward-thinking music companies will hop on it and stay ahead of the curve.
Currently, BitSong is building a distributed (open source) blockchain music ecosystem to create a decentralized and trustless hub that interconnects the various market players.
BitSong’s mission is to decentralize the music sector by simplifying the bureaucracy as much as possible in order to offer artists a meritocratic, transparent, fast and intermediary-free earning model and users a new way to listen to music and get rewarded.
Try the new bitsong music player
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References
[2] www.pwc.co.uk/industries/entertainment-media/insights/blockchain-recording-music-industry.html
[3] www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/music-artists-make-12-percent-from-music-sales-706746
