Rocking the Blockchain with Musicoin!
For the longest time, the music industry has been dealing musicians and songwriters a raw deal. Last year only 12% of revenue derived from music sales went to the artists and writers who created the magic. That is frankly unbalanced and some call it shocking! A big contributing factor to this state of affairs is that the music industry is densely layered with middlemen, who all want a cut. Artists and writers always seem to wind up at the bottom of the feeding chain. But now, through the power of blockchain, all that is changing in favour of independent musicians.
In just over a year, Musicoin.org has blazed a trail in the music streaming industry. The platform has revolutionised the way music is consumed and distributed: fans listen free and can engage with and support independent musicians, while the artists themselves earn the most competitive stream rate in the industry. What’s more, there are no annoying ads. The Musicoin miracle, or revolution if you prefer, is powered by blockchain technology.
So what does it all mean for independent musicians?
Firstly, musicians get paid fairly in MUSIC – the world’s first crypto currency for music. Secondly, Musicoin’s smart contracts are transparent and there are no middlemen. Thirdly, it’s a real musical community in which musicians can interact with each other and fans.
So, Musicoin is revolutionising the way musicians distribute music and boosting its value at the same time. The Musicoin Blockchain delivers instant payment for every stream. That’s a BIG deal! Because in the centralised world songwriters have to wait months for reports to be compiled before they can get paid. And of course when those cheques do finally arrive, they have been eaten away at by layers of intermediaries. Whereas… at Musicoin musicians get paid instantly and keep 100% of their revenues. It’s really no wonder that at the time of writing some 5,000 independent musicians from all over the world are on Musicoin.
Musicoin uses the blockchain to power a decentralised, peer-to-peer platform, where transactions are transparent and secure, and musicians get every penny of the revenue from their streams instantly.
By now you’re probably thinking how is it possible for fans to listen free and for musicians to get paid? It sounds like a magic trick or a miracle of economics! Actually, Musicoin does it by using the blockchain to remove all the middlemen and implement Universal Basic Income (UBI). You can read more about how this economic and sustainable model works on this page at musicoin.org. Briefly, a cohort of miners (very powerful computers) generates the currency, in a tried and tested system pioneered by Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Musicoin has its own currency which can be traded on exchanges for bitcoin and ultimately changed to fiat currency. How MUSIC is distributed among musicians is governed by a Musicoin smart contract, which is ironclad and means each stream operates on a Per-Per-Play (PPP) basis. MUSIC is automatically transferred to the rights holders for every stream, instantly. The smart contract is, in fact, really smart: it’s created at the same time the musician uploads a song or piece of music. So there’s no complicated admin to distract musicians from what they love doing – creating music! The contract enters the blockchain where it remains a transparent record that can’t be maliciously tampered with or changed. This power of the blockchain is far reaching and already making waves in banking, insurance and government circles for its ability to create robust contracts and transparent records of transactions.
As for the listeners on Musicoin, they enjoy a huge selection of great music in all genres for free (without being bugged by ads), and feel good knowing that their streams directly support independent musicians. They can also “tip” MUSIC to their favorite musicians and support them even further.
Musicoin is also about creating a living breathing musical community based on the principles of Sharism, a concept realised by Isaac Mao, Musicoin’s Chief Architect. It emphasizes nurturing knowledge and value within a community to create a positive social impact. Everyone is valued and necessary to Musicoin: the miners, listeners, developers, outside providers, and of course the musicians.
RESOURCES
For the full scoop read Musicoin’s white paper
Example of artist page at MUSICOIN
Artists & fans join at musicoin.org