My Season 5 assignment post for prof. @wahyunahrul was reviewed and scored but not curated.
Below is the score sheet
1). What do you think about the presence of the Audius platform in the music industry?
Audius is a new music streaming platform that is designed with the artists in mind. They are regarded as the Spotify or SoundCloud version of blockchain technology. They want to use the power of blockchain to give artists especially the new and unheard more control of their work and at the same time, more control of their monies generated. It is pioneering a future where the distribution of music would be direct in the music streaming industry. Its streaming service and downloads are at 320kbps.
It is one of the largest non-financial crypto applications. It has an open-source community that includes artists, fans, and developers. Music developers can build their own applications on top of the Audius blockchain. It is a streaming service application for independent artists and commercial artists. It wants to make the streaming industry a level playing ground for all and sundry.
They plan to use blockchain's decentralization to build a community where artists and fans can interact directly without any third parties or music labels needed. These record labels receive a fat share of the artist's revenue after promotional work has been done for the artists. But that's about to change with Audius and its decentralized network.
It is conventional that record labels and middlemen in the music industry take a big cut from sales of every song or album. It is estimated that a meager 12% of revenues generated is given to artists. For instance:
In 2017 the music industry created 43 billion U.S. dollars and only 12% went to the artist. NFL players captured 47% of the revenue their industry made. Source
Audius has decided to give its artist 90% of music revenue, while the remaining 10% goes to the operators (nodes) who support the Audius platform. They hope to pay artists $0.35 cents per stream.
Because it is run on a blockchain the fees that are incurred by the artist have become fewer. The platform is also democratized as it is controlled by the artists as they have a say and also community members as they become part of the governance through staking. Artists have more control over how they communicate with their fans. There is no banning of songs or censorship on the platform. However, it is at this point developing a novel means by which copyright protection is enforced. It is doing this through the development of an arbitration system where the community would decide on contents to be removed.
Artists can also choose how their musical content can be monetized without needing the help of a record label or middle man. Some of the options presented are free streams, payment options that unlock all contents produced by an artist, or selling their songs as NFTs. The artists maintain sole ownership of their songs through the timestamps that are generated for the song that is uploaded which are immutable and are secured by the node operators on the platform.
With Audius an artist just needs to upload their work and monetize their work. No need to sign with a major record label or have a massive following before the distribution of an artist's music can occur. Artists sign on the platform and upload their music without needing to sign any contract.
It has its native cryptocurrency AUDIO which is an ERC-20 token. This token allows the artists and other members of the platform to be fully integrated by staking the tokens and participating in governance and node operations.
2). With the governance system used by Audius, do you think that system has made Audius a fair and fully decentralized platform? If not, please provide your personal suggestions for the system that Audius uses to make it more fair and decentralized.
The platform is still in its early stages so there's a lot that needs to be considered. But at the core of the platform is the freedom of artists to behave in such a way that benefits them and that's what the Audius platform offers.
It is fair and decentralized with respect to the artists having full control of the music on the platform. Artists can monetize their music directly on the platform without needing a record label or middle man. Also, the artist and the members of the platform are the deciding factors and not the creators of the platform. That means most of the decisions made on the platform are made by the artists and other members of the community that participates on the platform.
Artists are also motivated and encouraged through the incentives where awards in the platform native currency AUDIO are given out weekly. The token can be used for staking and governance purposes as artists can stake the rewards tokens that are received.
I feel since the developers of the platform are not involved with the activities of the platform then it can be said that the platform is decentralized at the core. It is not like the centralized systems where the owners of the platforms are the ones in charge of the decision-making. However, due to the nature of blockchain, it needs a consensus mechanism to operate. This involves the use of nodes to store data and secure the network.
To participate in node operations, you need a minimum of 200,000 AUDIO ($361810.42 at the current market's price) to become a node operator or 5000 AUDIO ($90581.38 at the current market's price) to delegate to a node operator. As we can see it is quite expensive to be a node operator as either an operator or a delegator.
Furthermore to participate in the governance of the network you need to become an operator with sufficient funds. This means that it is only individuals or companies that have such funds that can take part in the voting session. This tends the platform to be "centralized" as it is those with the funds that are allowed to vote.
In the most recent voting session, only five addresses were performed with varying vote weights.
Users can delegate their tokens to these big individuals or companies with as little as 100 AUDIO. Although this is a good thing, I don't see how it helps because it is still the entities with the funds that make the final decisions and not the individuals that delegate.
Another thing to consider is the amount of AUDIO being held. Currently:
The next challenge is how it's going to be decentralized? It claims to be owned and operated by its users but 50% of the total supply of AUDIO is owned by a single wallet. Also, to make a proposal someone needs a few million dollars and MOST people don't have this. Source
3). Explain how to do 2 types of staking on Audius complete with illustrations. (Image Required)
The two types of staking include staking to become a Node Operator or a Delegator. A node operator can be in the form of a content node or discovery node. While a delegator gives a portion of his AUDIO tokens to a node operator. I will be discussing the steps involved to be a node operator and a delegator.
Node Operator
- Go to the platform. There you would see 4 tabs bars at the top. Click on Services.
- A new page will open that would ask you to connect to MetaMask. Click on Open MetaMask
- A prompt from your MetaMask wallet would display, click on Connect.
- Your wallet is now connected as shown by your wallet address at the top of the page. Now to apply as a node operator click on Register New Service.
- A new page would open where you would be shown the minimum and maximum amount you can stake. You can also choose to become a discovery node operator or a content node operator. Then you input the amount you want to stake and your web address then click on Register Service
- A new page would display asking you to Confirm with MetaMask.
Delegator
- Below Register New Service is a list of services already registered. Click on anyone. In this illustration, I clicked on Figment which is the first on the list.
- Then it a new page would display showing details about the operator chosen, in this case, Figment. At the top left corner is the option to Delegate click on it.
- Another page would display showing the minimum and the maximum amount you can delegate to the operator. After you have chosen your amount click on Delegate.
- On the next page click on Confirm with Metamask.
- A prompt showing the transaction costs to be incurred for this process to be initiated. After which you click on Confirm. The confirm button did not highlight because I don't have the funds.
4). Show the steps to create an account on Audius. (Screenshot Required)
- Go to the Audius home page and then click on Sign Up Free.
- A page would display where you input your email address. Put it and click on Continue.
- Then another page would display showing you to input your password. When you do that you click on Continue
- A new page would display asking that you complete your account registration with Instagram or Twitter, it is an option if you wish. Go below and click on I'll rather fill out my profile manually.
- Then on the next page input your Display Name and Handle. Then click on Continue.
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- After that, you are required to choose 3 or more artists to follow. Choose as much as you want and click on Continue.
- A new page asks that you download the app through the scan code given. You can decide to do that if you want to. Click on Continue.
- Finally, your account has been created and you can immediately Upload Track or Start Listening by clicking on either button.
- This is the confirmation of my new account.
5). Explore and explain the features available on the Audius application or website. (Screenshot Required)
At your profile page in Audius, you have the Discover section at the left of your screen. It is through the tabs in there that you can perform so many actions. Also on the top of your screen, you have 3 dots which give some options, the Bell Icon which gives notifications, and the Search Icon which allows you to navigate the platform specifically. I shall be looking at some of them.
Under Discover tap on Feed and a page showing the feed of artists based on the selection of artists you chose during registration would show as Your Feed. At the top right corner, you can see that the option is on All Posts.
You can filter your feed by tapping on Original Post or Reposts if you so wish.
The next tab in the discover section is Trending. When you click on it, it shows you the top trending songs for the week. You can check for the trending songs of the Month and the trending songs of All Time. You also have the option of choosing the trending songs based on the genre by clicking on the options of genre found at the top right corner.
Again on the discover section is Explore. Over here you can explore different features such as Trending Playlists, Underground Trending, Heavy Rotation, Let Them DJ, etc.
When you scroll down more on the explore section, you can see more features like Playlists to Fit Your Mood and Playlists We Love Right Now.
Another section is the Library and over there is Favorites. This is where the tracks and albums that you love are displayed.
Going back to the three dots mentioned previously, when you click on it, it displays different options which are Settings, Artist Dashboard, and $AUDIO & Rewards.
When you click on Settings it displays a page where you can manipulate your account and change things like the Appearance, Notification, or option to Get Our Desktop App. There are other things that you can do too.
When you click on Artist Dashboard it displays the history of the artist. You can see the number of Tracks, number of Playlists, number of Plays, number of Reposts, and number of Followers the artist has.
When you click on $AUDIO & Rewards it takes you to a page where you get to see the number of AUDIO tokens received as rewards for your participation on the platform.
Also, you can click on your profile icon and get to see different metrics concerning your activity on the platform.
6). Explain in detail how the mechanism of uploading music content on Audius.
Audius blockchain protocol has two types of nodes namely:
Content Node - hosts the content that the artist uploads on the platform. It stores data such as artists' profiles, playlists, and followers.
Discovery node - index the contents that are hosted.
Artists, fans, or just about anyone can become a node operator. This can only be achieved by holding and staking AUDIO, the native tokens of Audius.
An artist starts by uploading songs on the Audius platform through the Upload track section provided on their profile. After uploading the track the content node stores the track that has been uploaded by the artist. This uploaded track can be requested at anytime
The content nodes then encode the song and get a code that is sent to two other content nodes on the blockchain network. The reference code makes the uploaded song to be easily identified when searched for. This process is recorded on the Audius blockchain which makes it certain that the song exists on the blockchain. Then the discovery nodes take the transaction ID of the registered song and embed it in a hash and also give it an index number.
Once these processes are finalized, the artist would get a notification through the bell icon to show that the song has been uploaded. And fans of the artist can get to listen to the song at will.
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7). Upload your original music to Audius and show the proof using a block explorer. (Screenshot Required)
- Click on Upload Track at the left side of your page.
- A new page would display where you can upload your music. You can drag your song there or you can Browse to Upload which is what I did.
- It would ask where you want to take the song file from. So I chose the song I want to upload and click on Open.
- Then a new page would show, click on Continue
- Another page would show where you have to complete your track. Fill in the necessary information such as Artwork and Genre then click on Continue.
- The next page that shows is your song being uploaded to the platform.
- Then finally the song has completed its upload.
- Then a congratulatory message would display.
- Finally, your song has been uploaded and can be played or listened to.
8). Conclusion.
The virus of blockchain technology has finally come to the music industry through Audius. The platform is a streaming platform that aims to give artists a larger percentage of their revenue generated through streaming. This is achieved through the direct contact between the artists and their beloved fans. The platform seeks to change the way by which music artist monetize their work.
Through Audius we can see how blockchain technology is solving problems that have been facing mankind in different industries. The music industry is no different as there are many issues being faced by different artists in the industry with the prevalent one being the revenue share from the major record labels. We can see a rise in the new way of doing things because of blockchain technology.
Another aspect of Audius is its ability to store data that are immutable and secured due to its decentralized nature. On the platform, artists have the calmness of mind that their musical effort won't be wasted. Also, there's nothing like censorship or banning of songs, however, this could be an issue as there could be persons uploading the works of different artists and infringing on their copyrights. This is an issue that is being looked into as they develop the novel arbitration system where contents that violate the copyrights of others would be removed.