Is Blockchain Going to Be the Saviour of The Music Industry?

Blockchain technology has become the latest “thing”. It initially started off as the technology that facilitated cryptocurrency transactions, and then progressed onto every other sector imaginable. From medicine to education to agriculture, blockchain became unstoppable. Of all these industries, it seemed the music industry was the most in need of a major rescuing. Was blockchain able to be the knight in shining armour that the murky depths of the music industry needed? Let us find out.

Tackling Piracy: One of the biggest factors that caused the downfall of the music industry over the past couple of decades is the abundance of music piracy online pirated music is so prevalent now that it has become the normal way for most people to access their music, and has ended up causing major losses. . It cost the US economy around $2.7 billion in earnings (in the sound recording and retail industries) and threw almost 71,060 people out of jobs. Blockchain technology can help stop this menace in many ways. Firstly, they can to establish who owns the intellectual property rights of creative items by using a distributed ledger which will hold all information regarding rights and can be used in the court, if necessary. It can also help other studios purchase rights to the music in a smooth manner and trace back the history, in case of any discrepancies. With the help of “smart contracts” (pieces of code that hold the complex agreements that are made on a blockchain and fulfilled when certain conditions are met) which are very hard to manipulate, blockchain can even help international transfer of music rights be done smoothly and transparently.

Payment of artists: A lack of fair and transparent payment for artists is the other major reason the music industry has seen a massive decline recently. Usually the music made published and sold on numerous platforms and because of this, there is usually no complete consensus over how much money was made and how much the artist gets out of it. This causes dissent amongst them. According to some statistics, that musicians only received as little as 12% of the revenue made in the music industry in 2017. Blockchain can help resolve this issue by keeping complete data at one place regarding how much sale was made on which platforms, giving clarity on the total amount of money. This transparency will be great for all stakeholders to resolve issues, special the artists themselves. Even the co-writers and collaborators, technicians etc will be able to claim their fair share. Smart contract can enable instant payment transfer, reducing time lag and further confusion.

Blockchain may not be the magical remedy to all the music industry’s ailments, but it can definitely go a long way to help tackle some of the biggest issues that are plaguing the industry today.