Music Would Mean A Myriad Things On Blockchain
By Kapil Rajyaguru
Music industry has gone through tremendous change over the last few decades. For years, big brands like Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group have thrived and controlled the whole music industry, managing music rights and earning huge profits.
With blockchain, there is a larger chance of copyrighted music staying protected forever, artistes getting their royalties without fail, the chances of black-marketing of show tickets going down or becoming almost non-existent, and the overall music streaming industry turning robust.
We have come a long way since US-based Napster changed the way music lovers all over the world listened to and enjoyed music of their choice. If we got gramophones in legacy, we lugged onto CD players and walkmans the moment they arrived on the scene since they gave us the choice of listening to tens on numbers on the go. The world of MP3 changed all of that.
The transformation that began with Apple’s Ipod went on to online music platforms that gave us the choice of listening to everything, and more. In short, it spoilt our choices!
Today, 3.0’s blockchain is revolutionizing it even further. Platforms such as Spotify and YouTube have transformed not just the business side of the music industry but also how music is experienced by the users. The global music streaming market size is pegged at $34.3 bn and is estimated to grow by around 15% in the next 7 years!
Going forward, the Blockchain music distribution platforms would be able to connect artists directly with listeners, building a direct seller-consumer relationship. Every search shall have equal chances of being found out, based on the relevance, instead of being pushed by an algorithm.
The interest in blockchain technology by the music industry is rapidly growing. Every time music files are transferred on the blockchain; this data stays intact. Just like internet disrupted the music industry for good, blockchain technology undoubtedly has the potential of disrupting the music industry for better.
Still, the number of shortcomings still exists, including rising operational costs and high administrative fees, minimal artist pay-outs due to lots of middlemen, overall lack of transparency especially about metadata and copyrights, leading to tedious royalty payment processes as well as lack of global collaboration due to an overall absence of trust.
Since blockchain technology is based on decentralized and enhanced security, it holds huge potential to solve problems within music industry faced by music lovers and artists alike.
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