Blockchain Transforming Industries:Music

Blockchain technology is disrupting industries as well as transforming systems and processes, as it makes deep inroads into various spheres of our lives.

With decentralization and transparency as its core attributes, the wide possibilities that usage of Blockchain technology entails is rightly making Blockchain an attractive proposition for several industries across the world to adopt.

In this series of Blockchain Transforming Industries, we analyse the various ways this cutting edge technology is revolutionizing industry norms and functions, by providing robust and scalable solutions to a plethora of existing problems.

Previously, we had an in-depth look at Blockchain’s applications within the Healthcare domain in Blockchain Transforming Industries:Health-Care.

And we also discussed some real world applications of Blockchain in the Health industry in Blockchain Transforming Industries:Health-Care (Part 2).

Today, we illustrate another Industry that could be enormously benefited from the inclusion of Blockchain.

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Blockchain in Music

Any technology becomes an attractive proposition by providing viable as well as feasible solutions to current problems.

Rights Management, Content Sharing, Licensing are some of the key areas in the music industry that are far from being perfect or ideal in their present form.

The inclusion of Blockchain’s digital public ledger that is capable of handling a multitude of transactions while at the same time offering features like security, ownership and authenticity can produce the perfect solution to the bottlenecks that stymie the Music industry.

What Are The Challenges And How Can They Be Addressed?

The music industry is known to be unfair, with many talented artists struggling to get paid the royalties and recognition they deserve.

Then there is the globally overwhelming problem of piracy, as well as illegal use of content, that gravely affects the revenue of this gigantic industry.

Certain estimates put the loss from illegal downloading of music to about 86% of what an artist actually receives.

Additionally, the music industry deals with a great amount of data, mainly in the form of the actual music as well as attribute information pertaining to the music record.

It is estimated that there is an average of 1.2 billion songs that are streamed every day.

The Blockchain be an ideal technology that can be adapted for the Music industry - offering innovation in the form of Increased Scalability, Reduced Complexity, Ensuring Data Privacy, Security and Offering Authenticity.

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There are so many potential benefits that can be had:

Blockchain can make an artists' dream of earning royalties from their music without going through the vicious cycle of record labels a reality.

Smart contracts can revolutionize the way artists monetize their music.

The data would be openly available, including but not limited to royalty generation and payments data as well as aggregated data of the number of music listeners.

This would ensure a system that is fair and transparent, and would also enable creatives to establish a more direct relationship with their actual consumers.

Licensing and Rights Management can be more streamlined - with clear definitions of who owns the rights to the songs and how the royalties should be split being maintained within immutable digitized ledgers.

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The fact that Blockchains are public, transparent, distributed ledger, they are ideal for tracking the music records across the entire ecosystem from creator to end user, while eliminating the dependence of artists on record labels who don’t give them the recognition and rewards they deserve.

The creatives in the music industry – right from songwriters, to producers and musicians would receive a major boost, allowing them to devote their time and efforts more in the actual creative process rather than needing to waste their time to beat the unfairness of the current system.

Although the ones who might see their pockets shrink in a more transparent system might oppose this change, with notable celebrities like Grammy winning artist Imogen Heap putting their weight being music on the Blockchain, it is only a matter of time before this will go mainstream.

To sum it up, Blockchain technology can immensely improve the current situation in the Music business.

There will be several challenges along the way, yet in the best interests of all involved, Blockchain is a step in the right direction that can completely transform the music industry for the better.

Every industry needs to keep themselves updated with the latest developments at the risk of becoming outdated, and Blockchain based transactions will allow the Music industry to imbibe a system of transparency, authenticity and innovation that will foster growth and advancement of the industry as a whole.

The possibilities and application of Blockchain in various industries are limitless.

We will continue to showcase the various industries that would be benefited from the inclusion of Blockchain technology.

Author: @jznsamuel