A personal analysis of the Music Blockchain

Come to think of it, I came to the world of cryptocurrencies through music. I was part of a community of artists and musicians who exchanged a lot. I'm still part of it, but I haven't really been active lately. We shared our own compositions or the opportunities to seize, to discover, various information on the subject of music. This community was founded to help independent artists: Atom Collector Records. And then I was following these discussions about the possibility of monetizing music with cryptocurrencies with concrete things that were emerging. That was really positive. As I am curious and open. So I started too! It was first necessary to understand how the blockchain and cryptocurrencies in general worked. To discover that each blockchain had its own network, its own wallet for some of them, its own operation, etc.. That some were easier to use than others. A vast universe! Of opportunities... too!

I started by landing on SteemIt in August 2018, then very quickly on Musicoin which had just been launched a few months before. I've said it many times before, but historically Musicoin is the first music streaming site that was launched on the blockchain and paid artists in real time with each listen. They were pioneers. Choon, now Rocki (I'm currently inactive there), and who made "children" (like Emanate for example. I'm also inactive there at the moment.), arrived quickly on the market too, and also paid his artists in "real time". With the difference that on Choon you only collect your royalties for the day the next day, based on an algorithm of fair sharing according to the number of plays of all the artists and a budget allocated daily to do so. Your fans listened to your music and you got paid daily. Without intermediary. A first!

The musical interlude.. This is a demo track called Space Station X. I'm working to build the final track these days as part of Electron Rock. I needed to port the track project from a DAW (EnergyXT, which has not been developed for a few years and has latency and CPU problems as soon as a project becomes heavy in plugins (VST or VSTis), to another one (Samplitude Pro). It was a hard work to do. It's done! Waiting the final version feel free to listen to the demo.

I'm not an expert, so I'll try to develop things from my perspective, and as I understand they work. Feel free to correct me if you think I'm making mistakes.

Take the example of Musicoin which was based on a blockchain derived from Ethereum, and proprietary to Musicoin. Miners were used to pay for any transaction. The miners mined Musicoin with an algorithm that was favorable to them, and in return, they mined all the transactions of the network, but also, in addition to that, a percentage of the mined Musicoin was deposited in a fund called UBI which was used to remunerate streaming royalties to artists, in real time. It works fine! But.. Obviously when the Bear market hit hard, with miners jumping ship for more profitable horizons, the difficulties began to appear. When the last miners left, the network shut down, tried to continue idling with an emergency installed mining system for. Alas, it was a waste of time. The last miner was not enough to complete all transactions daily. That's the situation today, if you think you can help in any way, come forward.

It is difficult to remember how many music projects have already sunk so many have disappeared. I could name a dozen of them, based on many networks, including Bitcoin. They probably all started with the same good intention. Things are not simple.

Then came Audius.. early in 2019. It looks solid, but at this time he doesn't pay for streaming or anything else. I believed in Audius from the start. As soon as I discovered it. And I continue to believe that there is something solid growing with this platform! The future will tell..

From Relics EP (2017)

Where are we today?

It is good to try to understand how this system works to try to solve the problems relating to creating a viable and stable economic model for the future of music on the blockchain. It must be considered that the right model does not seem to have been found yet. Or at least not yet implemented.

The technology is there, which solves many problems related to the remuneration of artists, without a "middle man", and which automates a lot of things, transactions. Including licencing. The Blockchain is a powerful technology. We can think that since the invention of the internet, the blockchain is a major advance in the history of man, and which is here to stay, to develop, to evolve. For my part, I am convinced of it.

This economic model remains to be found. Who pays artists over the long term. How to finance it? Because I think the biggest problem is there. The fans? It should! Ok, then the masterminds at these blockchain-based music sites definitely need to work hard on this all-important topic, as I think it's sadly on the back burner at the moment. Anyway, that's the impression I have. The democratization of cryptocurrencies with each passing day will probably help things to happen naturally. But it's not yet for tomorrow morning.. Another idea, they don't think to implement selling tracks or albums? Basics! In the currency of the network: the Token! Or even any of the crypto-currencies. We're in the crypto-currency world, for crying out loud!

Music NFTs also appear to be a positive earning possibility. I will return to this subject specifically in a future article. I would also explain why for the moment I am no longer active on Rocki or Emanate.

I just discovered Tamago (Tamastream) based on NEAR network. I can't tell you more for now as I just landed and I'm trying it, looking deeper. Check it out if you are curious about it. I'm always curious and I like to plug early. I'm following the development of Bitsong too. & What's about a music based project on Bitcoin Cash? We can dream, nope? :0)

That's all for today folks! :0)

Tomorrow I have a busy schedule, I have hours of music from different sound recordings of the Alchemic Journey tracks being recorded to finish listening to and validating... or not. The next studio session is this Friday.

Thank you all for reading and for your support!

You all Rock the Bitcoin Cash Galaxy! :0)

If you want more music! I will have soon time I hope to work an update my music site.