Blockchain is being used to revolutionize the music industry by projects that include allowing fans to co-own their favorite artist’s songs, as well as paying musicians fairly.

Music is a difficult business. The music business has its share of issues, from monopolies to the restricted earning potential for budding artists. While Web2 brought a number of beneficial changes, the industry still has a long way to go. As a result, initiatives are attempting to apply blockchain technology to tackle age-old music industry problems.

In recent years, the music business has evolved significantly owing to advancements in the internet and social media. Artists now have additional platforms through which to distribute their songs, while fans now have far more options for interacting with and supporting their favorite musicians.

However, like with most Web2 spheres, a few people control the assets in the field, and large businesses profit far more than consumers and artists. While they are still in their early phases, certain blockchain initiatives are attempting to reshape the sector from within.

Paying musicians fairly

Hedera Hashgraph-based platform Tune.FM claims to be able to give musicians 90% of music streaming revenue, or ten times as much as stream earnings on major platforms. When their work is streamed on the platform, artists are paid in digital tokens.

Andrew Antar, one of the co-founders of Tune.FM mentioned in an announcement that many independent artists were devastated by the epidemic. “With the likes of Spotify not paying them fairly, many were struggling to get by. We are the antidote for the millions of creatives that are not being paid fairly by the big streaming services,” Antar said.

Music fans may now co-own songs

Royal, a music marketplace backed by prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, continues to enable users to have shared ownership of songs from their favorite artists through non-fungible tokens (NFT). The platform has recently introduced NFTs for American DJ and songwriter Diplo following the introduction of NFTs for Nas.

Royal’s co-founder Justin Blau explained that the platform’s objective is to “empower artists to keep control of their work” while also offering fuel for their careers in a blog revealing the Diplo drop. Fans, according to Blau, “establish a more intimate connection” and help them be free with their talents by co-owning music.

NFTs and music collaboration

The Squad of Knights project allows NFT owners to form squads of six people, with each person having their own responsibilities in the music production process. Unlike working with traditional music labels, the platform allows community members to retain 100 percent ownership of the material they create.

Ramón “Illmind” Ibanga Jr., an award-winning record producer, said: “Finding people to work with is tough. Finding the right people to work with is even tougher.” He added that the goal of the initiative is to bring creative individuals together in both the real world and the metaverse.

Providing the metaverse with decentralized audio

Audius is a Solana-based streaming platform that offers a wide range of decentralized audio files to the metaverse. The company collaborates with metaverses including the Portals Metaverse to provide music to its customers. Audius’ decentralization enables anyone to access and utilize content from the platform in their own projects because it is decentralized.

The platform, according to Roneil Rumburg, the CEO and co-founder of Audius, is a “decentralized repository of content with clearly defined rights so third-party developers can pull from the platform’s catalog without any issues.”