Blockchain music technology is a growing trend: Here’s how it’s transforming the music industry
The groundwork for blockchain music was laid in 2020, and the applications for blockchain technology in the music industry are still multiplying. Music is among the sectors that are more recently discovering the benefit of this emerging technology. In addition, Decentralised Finance (DeFi) has advanced even further thanks to the wave from NFTs and other digital finance assets.
More and more brands are employing this technology and VChain is a perfect example. Brands like VChain are leveraging blockchain technology to heighten the information and product sector. They are not the only ones either. Morpheus.Network is also revolutionizing supply chain operations using this technology. Similarly, UTRUST leverages blockchain to create a flawless transaction system that businesses can rely on. Last but not least, Clintex uses this technology to reduce delays in medical trials.
How blockchain music is revolutionizing the music sector
For quite some time, the music sector is among the industries that has been in great need of a disruption – a new model of operation. Blockchain technology offers exactly that. It provides effective solutions to the common challenges the music industry is facing. For instance, it can help reduce unethical practices in this sector. It can also resolve the issue of diminishing royalties. In a sector full of counterfeiting incidents and event mismanagement, especially with ticket sales, this technology can help.
Fairness and transparency
In the music industry, fairness for artists – especially on matters of royalties – is a sore issue. That’s because there are so many middlemen who tend to benefit more than the artists themselves. As a result, the artists typically only receive a portion of the money coming from subscription, download, and streaming services.
Back in 2017, Spotify was among the biggest offenders for unsettled royalties. They suffered a $43 million lawsuit for not paying out royalties. Thereafter, the music giant scrapped these practices that would typically leave artists with the short end of the stick. In place of their old model, they have adopted blockchain technology. This is after acquiring Mediachain, a startup that ensures there are fair distribution royalties to content creators and artists. These parties are now enjoying a more rewarding system than before.
The revamp in Spotify is a great example of the transparency in the music sector as a result of blockchain technology. Additionally, there’s an acknowledgment of content ownership by labels and musicians, thus enabling fair pay.
Another amazing example is Opus.audio. This is a P2P network that enables users to swiftly share files. Users can also upload or create content on the platform. When musicians or artists use this platform to sell their content, they get 90% of their profits.
As such, it creates a better opportunity for musicians to gain exposure and earn more from their efforts. The platform earns revenue through ads to cushions artists from the expensive cost of using their platform.
The future of blockchain music technology
While it remains an emerging technology, the rate at which blockchain technology is gaining recognition is impressive. As such, many sectors in the music industry are employing it. Thanks to this technology, artists can claim fair pay for the first time. In some cases, they can even create individual accounts that allow them to track their royalties, downloads, and subscriptions.
Fewer middlemen
Simultaneously, they can avoid major issues that generally cripple the music sector. This includes multiple middlemen, counterfeits, and ticket sale mismanagement, among others. That’s because the decentralized system eliminates the loopholes that some people can use to defraud artists. Instead, it streamlines the entire music industry enabling everyone to get rewarded fairly.
On the other hand, blockchain music technology will cost bigger businesses a lot. For starters, with this technology there is no more room for middlemen. Traditionally, artists have had to rely on major labels that are often greedy just to sell your music at the highest price possible. What’s even worse is that these labels often want to keep all the profits for themselves, leaving nothing for the artists themselves. The traditional music industry allows labels like these to profit off the blood, sweat and tears of artists too easily. On the other hand, the blockchain music industry puts artists in direct contact with their fans. Artists can now sell their content directly to consumers via blockchain-based platforms, thus allowing them to enjoy a bigger slice of the pie.
Better events
Organizing a music event is no easy feat, given all the logistics that you have to worry about. It’s both physically and mentally demanding. Most organizers tend to burn out due to the tons of activities they have to juggle at any given moment. For instance, they have to deal with ticketing, artists, venue owners, intermediaries, and fans. And that’s just the beginning. Luckily, blockchain music technology helps them streamline all these activities and makes them easy to manage.
Less ticket fraud
Have you ever had to wake up early in the morning to secure a ticket to your favorite music event? Well, it can be very frustrating when you realize the tickets were sold within seconds, and not even to music fans like yourself. Instead, some opportunist leveraged this chance to buy massive numbers of tickets using bots.
Thereafter, this fraudster would start selling the tickets at an expensive rate. While this is unquestionably unethical, the event organizers are never eager to solve this issue. After all, their target is to sell all the tickets – and at the highest possible price. As a result, some fans end up buying fake tickets from third parties thinking they are genuine. These fans can easily be turned away at the gate, simply because they unknowingly bought a fake ticket. This sours their experience, and destroys the credibility of the artist they were going to see. When artists are trying to grow and retain a fanbase, it’s very important that every moment of the fan experience is positive and memorable. It’s not an exaggeration to say that one bad experience can cost you a fan for life.
Thankfully, when artists use blockchain technology, they can easily avoid this problem. For instance, Ghettos United Through Sound (GUTS) uses this technology to ensure only legitimate tickets reach the fans. The smart tickets from this technology are unique, traceable, and fraudproof.
A better fan experience
Blockchain music technology is already helping countless artists to receive fair pay for their content. It removes the loopholes for fraudulent activities and eliminates middlemen. That’s not all there is to it. Blockchain technology finds even more applications in the music industry through loyalty rewards. In other words, event managers and artists can reward loyal fans for support and community engagement. For instance, a platform like eMusic rewards its fans with exclusive content at a lower rate. On the other hand, Viberate gives fans free Viberate (VIB) tokens for contributing to its database.
Conclusion
We’ve seen blockchain technology find applications in multiple industries over the last few years. In the same way that the rapidly evolving technology has transformed other industries, it is now gradually taking over the music industry. Since it promises great rewards and fair pay, many artists are joining music marketplaces that have adopted this technology. Likewise, fans are gravitating towards the same platforms to enjoy the community aspect and the loyalty rewards. If you’re an artist who wants to leverage the full benefits of this technology, this is the time to adopt blockchain music technology.
We can’t emphasize this enough – as an artist, if you’ve been getting poor pay from your music royalties, blockchain music platforms can offer you a world of change. Given that new platforms are still emerging at a rapid pace, this is the best time to look for blockchain-based platforms and use them to sell your content.
In addition to joining a blockchain music platform, you will find it useful to partner with PR specialists who have experience working with people like you to help you get a foothold in the blockchain industry.
If you’re looking for a good blockchain PR agency, you should consider working with the experts at Pressfarm.
Pressfarm is a PR agency that has experience working with blockchain-based projects, brands and companies to create newsworthy content that help them make a name for themselves. The PR specialists, expert writers, and certified designers at Pressfarm can help you create quality content that improves the credibility of your blockchain music project. By helping you with email pitches, press releases, and guest posts, Pressfarm can help you capture media attention and win your target audience over.
Beyond creating this content, they distribute it to media professionals and influencers in the client’s niche. With their winning distribution strategy, the experts at Pressfarm will submit your content to the right startup directories. They will also get you featured on respected media outlets, and professional networks in your niche to boost your online visibility. This strategy is designed to help you feature in relevant search results across different search engines including Google, Yahoo, and Bing!
As a client, you also get access to custom media lists built by an account executive to help you connect with the best thought leaders and storytellers in your niche. These media contacts are pulled from Pressfarm’s media database of over 1 million journalists, bloggers, and influencers.
With the expertise at Pressfarm coupled with their rich network of media contacts that spans across the world, you can make quite the impression with your blockchain music project.