Exploring the transformative impact of blockchain on the music and entertainment sectors, we’ve gathered insights from founders and industry leaders. From the potential of a cryptocurrency-based music subscription service to blockchain’s far-reaching transformative potential in entertainment, here are the top seven opportunities these visionaries foresee for artists and creators.
- Cryptocurrency-Based Music Subscription Service
- Transparent Royalties and NFT Monetization
- Fractionalized IP Investments for Creators
- Digital Ownership Tokens for Creative Works
- Direct Control Over Intellectual Property
- Authenticity Assurance and Digital Collectibles
Cryptocurrency-Based Music Subscription Service
It would be nice to create a music service with a paid subscription, where the cryptocurrency contributed by users would be fairly distributed among the artists depending on the number of plays, using smart contracts. This service could also provide functionality for investing in musicians.
Users would vote using a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization), and part of the cryptocurrency collected from subscribers would be invested in these musicians. As a blockchain developer, I understand that this project is quite simple to implement. Thanks to it, musicians would receive more money, and therefore, the whole world would receive more great music.
Viktoria Dolzhenko
Team Lead, Itez
Transparent Royalties and NFT Monetization
Blockchain technology has the potential to greatly impact the music and entertainment industry, particularly when it comes to artist rights and royalties.
Back when I was running another company, we faced numerous challenges in accurately dispensing royalties to artists due to the opaque and complex nature of the traditional music distribution system. Blockchain could remedy this by providing a transparent and decentralized platform where artists’ rights for a particular song could be coded into a smart contract and automatically executed when that song is streamed or downloaded, ensuring artists are paid fairly and promptly.
Additionally, blockchain could be used to create unique digital assets called NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). Artists and creatives could leverage NFTs to sell exclusive rights to things like digital artwork, unreleased tracks, or virtual real estate in metaverses—basically any digital commodity that can be authenticated by blockchain. This opens up entirely new avenues for monetization and fan interaction that were previously unavailable in traditional music and entertainment models.
The room for innovation here is massive, and I believe we’re only just scratching the surface of what blockchain and NFTs can bring to these industries. There are certainly legal and copyright issues that need to be ironed out, but as with any technological disruption, the potential benefits far outweigh the growing pains.
Sam Tarantino
Founder, Harmonic Reach
Fractionalized IP Investments for Creators
As an e-commerce founder, I see intriguing blockchain potential for creators. One opportunity is fractionalized intellectual property (IP) investments—selling off digital tokens representing partial ownership.
Fans invest in a song’s success, while artists raise funds and maintain control. Rather than centralized studios, blockchain facilitates crowdsourced projects between fans and artists swiftly and at scale. Along with better tracking, blockchain enables new platform models, too.
Artists could self-release music directly to engaged supporters versus going through labels, while setting policies and pricing via smart contracts. As the intermediaries disappear, this technology landscape shift returns more ownership and income to the creators themselves.
Brian Chen
Founder, Shroom Daddy’s
Digital Ownership Tokens for Creative Works
In my view, blockchain has the potential to disrupt the music and entertainment industries by enabling artists to issue digital ownership tokens for their creative works. These tokens could represent unique digital assets tied to the artist’s creations, allowing for direct engagement with fans, innovative monetization strategies, and a novel way for artists to retain control and profit from their art.
Michael Chen
Head of Growth, Notta
Direct Control Over Intellectual Property
Blockchain technology is progressively making its mark across various sectors, including the music and entertainment industry. This ingenious system stands to redefine how artists and creators manage, profit from, and safeguard their creative assets.
One core advantage blockchain offers artists and content producers is the ability to retain full control over their intellectual property. Traditional distribution channels often necessitate intermediaries like recording companies or streaming services to administer their content and amass royalties. Unfortunately, this can lead to hold-ups, contention over rights, and opacity in the appreciation of earnings.
With blockchain, however, artists can upload their output onto an unalterable, secure database directly. Every time their content is accessed or utilized, a smart contract will automatically be initiated to ensure the creator reaps the appropriate revenue share. This negates the need for intermediaries, offering artists total control and ownership of their work.
Aysu Erkan
Marketing Manager, Character Calculator
Authenticity Assurance and Digital Collectibles
Blockchain technology offers a fair and transparent way to manage royalty payments for all parties involved. It can also be utilized to ensure the authenticity of digital content, such as music and videos, preventing piracy and enabling users to distinguish between original and fake content. Additionally, artists can create unique digital collectibles, like exclusive digital merchandise, which can generate additional revenue for them.
Peter Logo
Cofounder and CTO, KrownPay