Blockchain technology may be introduced to musical industry to make interaction between musicians and consumers more transparent.
Several such projects have been initiated by companies such as Revelator, Colu, Ujo and OCL, writes Bravenewcoin.com.
The aim of all these projects is to give authors immediate access to information concerning popularity of their songs and to facilitate transfer of money to rightholders.
With the help of blockchain technology, the authors will be able to observe the demand for their songs in real time, due to the system tracking every download. “Our mission is to bring transparency to the industry”, said Bruno Guez, Founder and CEO of Revelator.
Using blockchain Ujo, Revelator and Colu are going to provide automatic delivery of payments for downloaded tracks from the customer to the rightholder. The customer will have to no need to know much about the blockchain technology; however, in case of Ujo they will have to possess Ether, the digital currency used by this company.
Some singers and songwriters, including Imogen Heap and D.A. Wallach, support the idea of using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to make the musical industry more transparent. D.A. Wallach, the author of “Bitcoin for Rockstars”, welcomes the partnership of Revelator and Colu, which will make possible creation of a special Rights Management API. Imogen Heap is working with the team of Ujo.
Musical industry is currently facing problems concerning distribution of royalties. Many musicians seem to be unsatisfied with the payment and information service the big industry labels provide.
Last year Taylor Swift pulled her songs out of Spotify arguing that streaming music shouldn’t be free (or virtually free). She also persuaded Apple CEO Tim Cook to compensate artists for streaming music through Apple Music even during the customers’ trial period, what the company didn’t want do at first.
The information about hit songs is currently scarce and outdated: companies collect the data and make reports once or twice a year, which isn’t enough for industry players who want to understand the trend, argues Bruno Guez.
Andrew Levich
