# Decentralized Music Streaming Services By [Vishva Prasad ](https://paragraph.com/@vishva-prasad) · 2022-10-03 --- INTRODUCTION: ------------- The music industry is one of the biggest industries and it’s generating massive revenue. According to the reports music industry, it **generates more than $43 billion in revenue but only $5.16 billion** is handed over to the artists. This is very low compared to the work and effort put in by them. It is mainly due to the **middlemen** in this business. There are artists, songwriters, label-selling companies, publishers, producers, aggregators, digital service providers (DSPs) and many more people. So to solve this problem we have to cut the middlemen and have a **direct connection with the fans and the artists**. To achieve that we are using blockchain technology. Problems in centralized music streaming services: ------------------------------------------------- * In centralized music streaming services, there can be **artists-biases** like an artist who manipulated/bribed the centralized streaming service so a particular artist chart/songs **will always be shown in the feed to the users** and other artists who could not afford those will not show in the featured list or their songs will not be available frequently. * One of the biggest problems in the music industry is that **it doesn’t have a global fixed database that he/she is the owner of this chart/album**. It is mostly unknown or it is provided to their music label company. * There are some cases in which users subscribe to a **centralized music streaming service but there is a high chance that their streaming platform may not have their favourite song** because its rights will be owned by some **other streaming service** if we want to listen to that song then we have to use that streaming service. * Centralized music streaming services gain a lot of revenue by providing music to the users which the artists generate but **artists do not get paid quickly** some artists received a paycheck after two years after the song was streamed. Solution: --------- Let’s see how blockchain technology can solve these issues. Let’s split up the solution based on three forms. They are: * Using Blockchain! for Music Storage * Using Blockchain! for Artists * Using Blockchain! for User ### Using Blockchain! for Music Storage: * Blockchain technology can help to manage all the **music ownership rights** by having a transparent system through a marketplace just like the Opensea network for NFT’s here we can have it for m**usic ownership where artists can buy, and sell music conten**t rights by paying through cryptocurrencies. * Blockchain can bring a safe, secure and transparent management system by having **a peer-peer database** where if someone alters the data it will not be different for other peers in the network and he would be caught for manipulating/stealing the artist’s work. * The music will be recorded in the ledger based on the **unique ID and it will be timestamped accordingly this will help us to prevent unauthorized access** for other persons downloading their work and just altering their work and publishing it as a remix without their consent. * Music will be uploaded to the blockchain, one of its traits is its **immutability** through which there will be no one claiming that **someone has copied their song or someone claiming ownership of that song as it can be easily tracked** down via the blockchain network. ### Using Blockchain! for Artists: * Artists can own their work instead of other third parties owning their work this will allow them to receive royalties rather than others. **The ownership is transparent** as anyone can see which song is owned by which person. * The streaming revenue of the songs will be directly given to the artists. **Artists receive the payments within minutes** based on the streaming activity, unlike the traditional system which takes so many years. * **NFT’s can be used to create a proof of authenticity** that this work belongs to this artist and it also has a **resale value.** * Smart Contracts are used to **automate payments** rather than meeting a bank manager and informing him about the transaction here it is fully automated by the smart contract. ### Using Blockchain! for Users: * Users will be directly able to connect with artists and interact accordingly i.e they can **tip them if they like their work** or if there is any other contest they can directly get in touch with them. * Users can directly receive any royalties from the artist. If he/she decides to release an NFT then the people **holding their NFT will get special privileges** like their next concert is free for people having them. * We could also initiate **stable coin payments** to improve the no of users in this space. Audius: A decentralized music streaming service ----------------------------------------------- * It is a **decentralized** music streaming service where the music data lies in the **blockchain network rather than the centralized server.** * It allows artists to upload songs and immediately receive payments for them. * Audius has chosen Solana blockchain to scale the network with nearly 5M unique users per month. It uses Proof of Authority consensus. Audius Architecture: -------------------- ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/355d174b329fdd7830355d1554216742b2b4b72e5aef1367cbf92bce3abdc8d2.png) * The **artist uploads music or asks someone else to upload music for them**. The person who is **uploading music is called the content node**. * It also gets published in the **Audius content ledger** to check who uploaded the music. * Then the discovery nodes take the content and index the metadata so that it will **be easy for users to query the data**. It will be indexed in simple terms so that the users don’t need to struggle. * Then the fans get to listen to the music. ### Content Nodes: * It is operated by **either the artists or someone who the artists want to upload the music.** * Content nodes maintain the **availability of content and the metadata in the Audius Storage protocol(AuSP).** ### Content Ledger: * Content Ledgers are the ones **which hold all the data in Audius Network**. * Content ledgers act as a **source of truth between all fan/artist engagements** which is happening within the audius network. ### Discovery Nodes: * Discovery nodes are operated by the users and they **index the metadata in an efficient manne**r which is simple enough to understand for all the other users. * The network ensures this process is decentralized. ### AUDIO token: * Audio tokens help the network achieve its goals like security and network governance. * Fans can send their audio token to artists as a source of appreciation for their work and artists can also leverage their audio tokens as collateral for any tools they wish to use. * Artists can also gift their audio tokens to their top fans for their support. How AUDIUS reward artists? -------------------------- * Audius works on **90/10 rule** where 90% of the earning from the stream goes directly to the artists and 10% goes to the network where nodes participate for securing the network. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a5dd671105850a0dbf08ecea6106a37b5e8f8c2f027f6b2bda52a20cf37facc5.png) * Audius is **not a profit generating company** rather tries to maintain a system which is self-sustaining, self-governing and serves the community better. * Score = (0.75\*least(streams\_on\_your\_content,2500)/2500) + (0.1\*least(followers,1000)/1000) + (0.05\*least(favorites\_on\_your\_playlists, 100)/100) + (0.05\*least(favorites, 100)/100) + (0.05\*least(reposts,100)/100) * Streams 75% , followers 10% , favorite playlists(which the user has made favourite) 5%, songs favourite(no fo songs users has favourites) 5%, no of songs reposted 5%. * They are paid through **AUDIO token**. Challenges in implementing Blockchain: -------------------------------------- * There is difficulty in **accepting and establishing blockchain technology** over the old user-friendly and well know service which has been running for several years. THere is less awareness about blockchain technology. * Blockchain-based solutions will work in the upcoming music copyrights issue but there is great difficulty in finding the **music artist’s owners prior to these blockchain solutions.** * Most people **don’t want to pay gas fees** (which is a way to secure the blockchain network from spamming) in the network as it charges money for a transaction. As the users are getting a service for free why do they need to pay money for the service? * When the artists are getting directly paid they are paid in cryptocurrencies. There is no legislation or law about cryptocurrencies and **some countries have still banned them.** * The music industry in Europe must all be registered and have to accept the terms of the **EU General data protection authority.** --- *Originally published on [Vishva Prasad ](https://paragraph.com/@vishva-prasad/decentralized-music-streaming-services)*