Digital Music is in serious crisis and needs help! I am really happy to see more musicians talking about this topic. Technology has always been a scary issue for artists who are not so open for changes but I feel the time has come.
So how can we fix it? According to some, the answer lies with the technology du jour: blockchain.- Factmag
I just wonder why it takes so long to stop resisting?
Don’t get me wrong -- there is a HUGE DISPARITY between the royalty rates paid by tech companies and the royalty rates that music creators deserve. However, with technology growing faster than it ever has, it has become a requirement that we in turn do our part to adapt and stay educated. We just can’t afford to stay set in our old ways. The main issues with payments in the digital age are the laws that do not protect creators and a lack of transparency in connection with payments to creators.- Dina Lapolt
What should every musician know about the blockchain and how it could help ?
Music2020 explains in this video
In this video, we explain how this could benefit the music industry, creating a free-market ecosystem faster and more efficiently than we have ever had.
Midem 2016 /Discussion how Blockchain can change the Music Industry
How could content creators get compensated for their work?
Lets be clear, this business has a huge transparency problem how artists get paid . Now its the right time to give the transparency issue the attention it urgently needs.
Blockchain could completely transform the music industry. Revenues are dipping due to piracy and illegal use of content. Singers and composers are being short-changed by music companies and streaming services. Business models built upon patterns and practices dating back to early 20th century, decades before the invention of digital and online services, are fueling a lot of bad will. - Article in venturebeat.com
Blockchain music solutions will have to overcome a lot of challenges!
The Blockchain could find a way out of the problems the industries is facing and could bring together the entire community from amateurs to record selling stars.
Record labels, big and small, have typically failed to keep proper records for the artists they sign,” notes Hawn from Audio Network. “Contracts have always been excessively complicated. There were very few standards, and these were often flouted by labels, leaving data entry to interns and IT departments. This doesn’t go away when you move the infrastructure to the blockchain; if anything, it gets worse and will cost millions to fix. - Article in venturebeat.com
How blockchain can change the music business?
The blockchain got a lot of the attention in various industries and is finally showing promising signs to change the music industry as well to maybe fulfil the needs of all parties involved.
It will probably not be welcomed by those who profit from a lack of transparency or big tech companies that prefer to monopolize rather than share. Clashes are likely to ensue if the idea actually gains traction and real momentum. One of the advantages of a blockchain ledger is that it can establish a more direct relationship between creators and consumers. It could transform publishing, monetization and the relationship of artists with their communities of fans. - Source Techcrunch
A call for all artists! What are your thoughts?
Here are five data solutions I read in this article that would make the digital marketplace work better?!
- Unique global identifiers for each individual song: musical work (composition and lyrics) and master (sound recording)
- Databases that maintain accurate information about these identifiers
-Databases that are interoperable (i.e., that "talk to" other databases) to provide a complete ownership picture
-Databases that are machine-readable (i.e., that do not require time-intensive human authentication and cross-referencing)
-Industry standard information sets that are supported across databases
Without transparency everybody will lose! Fans, artists and services will lose. I work in this mad business over 40 years and just recently quit but I would be so sad if the industy could not innovate nor adapt. Everybody, agents, managers and musicians should come together to find new solutions!
With all but the top-earning musicians struggling to get paid, the promise of a new technology that could support artists at both ends of scale seems almost too good to be true. Josh Hall finds out how the blockchain could upend the industry. - Source factmag
Messages to remember
"Music is the weapon. Music is the thing of the future. Music is the weapon of the future." - Fela Anikulapo Kuti
Yours
Green Velvet