AudioCoin — Powering A Transparent Music Ecosystem

DailyPriyab
CRYPT BYTES TECH
Published in
9 min readJan 15, 2018

AudioCoin has been an innovative initiative on part of Aurovine who being one of the earlier pioneers of Digital music industry created a native cryptocurrency for Music Industry and also robust Blockchain platform that helps in “Powering A Transparent Music Ecosystem”.

Music Industry and Blockchain

Although streaming revenue has outstripped downloads there is less revenue going to artists. Based on a Harvard Business School report, our sector suffers from the so called blockbuster effect (Prof. Anita Elbersee). As a result, the total income generated in the industry/sector is distributed to even less people on the very top of the food chain (executives and corporations) and everyone else is making less. Major labels see the threat from disruptive new technology start ups.

Labels and publishers are then investing into technology start ups, understanding we are heading to a platform economy and a gig economy and only technology will produce enough scale and profits. These start ups are then picked up by let’s say Apple in the case of Beats music for $ 3billion.

If you are an artist, a music producer or just a huge music fan like me, you
are probably wondering how Blockchain, the technology behind the digital
currency Bitcoin, will revolutionise the music industry. Why the music
industry needs Blockchain? While music lovers have hailed digitisation as the
democracy of the music industry, the 15.7 billion global music industry has
paradoxically remained the same. Music piracy through illegally downloaded,
copied and shared content eats into the artist’s royalties and music labels
revenue. While there is still a lot to be explored on how Blockchain can
revolutionise the music and media industry, it is clear that Blockchain
technology is something that the industry is in dire need of.

It may be time for another disruption in the music industry. Music streaming
has further complicated accounting and resulted in minuscule earnings for
artists. As music streaming becomes the preferred mode for listening to music
and releasing albums, smart contracts could cut out significant numbers of
inefficient middlemen from the process and increase eventual payouts to
artists. The second popular application of Blockchain within the music
industry is digital rights management. Some streaming music companies have
already taken notice.

The music industry is in crisis, outpaced by the digital revolution and unwilling to innovate and adapt. SoundCloud is emblematic of a music industry that is, as it has been since the advent of Napster, in a quiet existential crisis. Most people know about blockchain because of Bitcoin, the press-friendly but notoriously volatile cryptocurrency that runs on the technology, but the two don’t necessarily come together: while Bitcoin needs the blockchain, you can have a blockchain without Bitcoin. And as a technology that promotes immutability, transparency, community participation and is a god fit for transparent payments Blockchain could solve some of the industry’s most pressing problems. The blockchain technology also offers the opportunity to conduct transactions virtually in real time, circumventing an industry that still routinely conducts its business on paper.

What is AudioCoin?

AudioCoin was developed after its founding team looked at the problems facing the Music Industry and by thinking laterally to include the financial eco-system surrounding the business, they were able to come up with a model that is both truly revolutionary and perhaps more importantly, ethical and fair. Their remit was to empower and engage music lovers all over the world and to break down any barriers that prevent music consumption even in third world countries. It needed to unshackle the need for young music lovers to borrow their parents credit cards to use iTunes or Spotify. Most of all it needed to create a global and ethical music ecosystem that was robust, exciting and open to everyone.

AudioCoin builds on the Peercoin and (by association) Bitcoin protocol to provide a new way to consume music. It breaks down the barriers of traditional e-commerce systems and provides a super cool way for music fans and artists to engage in viral marketing. The main gain is that artists
(producers) and music fans (consumers) are rewarded tangibly and thereby
rendering the current streaming model both archaic and redundant.

As a solution for a particular vertical (The Music Industry) the coin has been developed so that the core software and applications can be ported to any other online music related platform. The main feature consists of the way we have applied open source software into a bespoke solution that can be plugged in to any other site.

AudioCoin & Aurovine

As the creators behind AudioCoin, the music streaming platform Aurovine was the first platform that integrated AudioCoin and the below section explains how it all worked and also how future music streaming platforms can incorporate AudioCoin into their websites to engage music lovers and creators with their own true cryptocurrency for Music industry.

Aurovine is a direct-to-fan music delivery platform and distributor. Streaming, Downloads, Artist Profiles, Fan Profiles and Social interaction are core features of the platform. AudioCoin has been integrated into the system
as follows:

  • Artists and Fans who register on the system are provided with an
    online (or virtual) mobile compatible wallet. The wallets are also available
    as standalone downloads that can be run on any users computer. The wallets are used to store their credits (AudioCoins).
  • Coins are automatically added to the wallet as soon as the user registers.Users get coins for joining the platform and further coins for engaging with and sharing the content via their chosen social media channels.
  • Artists are rewarded in the same way when their music is streamed, downloaded and shared. Artists Each Artist who is registered on
    Aurovine and has uploaded tracks gets 250 coins. Limited to the first 50,000 artists. Earns further coins from sales/streaming/shares (see below)
  • Artist at top of charts every week gets share in bonus bounty Users (Fans) On joining they get 50 coins — When account activated and first share completed.
  • For purchases/streams coins are also distributed. The requirement to claim coins is that the track must be at least 50% streamed and then shared using our listen/rate/share feature. In addition there will be 0.1 coins transferred to the bonus wallet for each verified stream.
  • There is no requirement to share for a paid download although the option to share for bonus coins as above will be presented at checkout/confirmation page. For every paid download (track) 2.5
    coins will be transferred to fan wallet and 2.5 coins will be transferred to
    artist wallet. In addition 0.5 coins will be transferred to the bonus wallet.
  • For album/ep downloads (3 tracks or more): 10 coins will be transferred to artist wallet and 10 coins will be transferred to user (fan) wallet. In
    addition 1 coin will be transferred to the bonus wallet.
  • Same requirements and rewards as streaming. The ‘bank’ or bonus coins are to reward power users and artists. The top 50 artists and users each month will share the contents of the bonus wallet.
  • Top User 5% of bonus Wallet, Top Artist 5% of bonus wallet. 2nd 4.5% etc on a declining scale until contents of bonus wallet are empty.

Note: Again the above case is subject to change and the best place to know more about how AudioCoin works with Aurovine please visit the Aurovine website.

Technical Details

  • Algo: Scrypt POW/POS
  • Name of Coin : Audiocoin
  • Abbreviation of Coin : ADC (see gihub.com/aurovine)
  • Max number of coins ( Including POS phase) : 10.5 billion total
  • Timings of block (in seconds) : 60 seconds
  • Coins per Block (during pow phase) : 4000 coins per block reduce 5% every week
  • Block number when POW ends : 2.1 billion coins POW — Block number 525000 POW will stop (2.1 billion/4000 ) . This is approx 20%
  • POS interest per year : 18% per year (1.5% per month)
  • Premine in number of coins : 5% or 525 million(Premine is exclusively for Aurovine Eco- system, 3rd party platform incentives, Dev/Bug Bounties, Rewards, Marketing and Faucets)

Note: These specifications may change or the founders may amend these specifications at any time if it is in the best interests of the coin’s sustainability and longevity. Soon ADC is preparing to become a sidechain of BPL.

About Aurovine

Aurovine were the first music industry company to build a tangible system to deliver smart contracts. The system was a major success from a technical point of view but had limited exposure due it being a beta project. We are now building a substantial Proof Of Concept involving worldwide artists and the backing of music industry stakeholders. It requires substantial resources in terms of development and marketing but the framework is already in place and work has commenced on the UI and blockchain adaptation.

SAAS projects — Aurovine have been approached by several large companies both inside and outside the music industry with a requirement to develop data and blockchain solutions for legacy frameworks. So that we can scale our development effectively we have entered into an agreement with BigchainDB (a Berlin based technology company) to provide a robust framework.

Their key business model included:

  • Licensing of technology (transaction fee based)
  • Listen/Rate/Share (creative applications)
  • DHT (Peer to Peer) network & verification
  • Smart contracts

Roadmap

Blockpool announced their 2018 roadmap for AudioCoin. As can be clearly seen a lot has already happened. The Bjork partnership, a proof of concept of what ADC can do when combined with Blockpool’s BiT, has brought so much attention to both Blockpool, BPL and ADC.

Anyone can go to her store (click here to visit) and purchase items using
ADC, BTC, DASH or LTC. We achieved this by developing a Magento Payment Plugin which integrated with her existing systems, including warehouse fulfillment, and allowed her to easily and painlessly take advantage of the crypto boom without having to change her legacy systems. This is the power of the blockchain, but in your day to day lives.

Originally ADC was closely associated with Aurovine, a ground breaking
website that allows content creators and their consumers to earn ADC while
creating and consuming music. This is still central to the purpose of ADC and
so for the past several months we have been working hard to integrate Aurovine with the refreshed ADC chain, managed again via BiT (the same technology that Bjork took advantage of). This project is nearing completion so watch this space for more news soon.

From a Blockpool perspective this is exciting as it will be making use of the awesome Claims path via BiT that signposts towards BPL Sidechains. But more on that in another post. What you are reading here is evidence of the third item on the “what are we doing now?” list; they are going to be much more active in updating this website, and the one at https://www.blockpool.io.

A full pipeline of partnership announcements, some imminent and some a bit further away, which will all appear on their Discord, via the BitCoinTalk ANN channel and on Reddit. Further into the future Blockpool will be undergoing a re-branding process which will include Audiocoin. ADC will become a sidechain of BPL and we are always looking to get BPL and ADC listed on additional exchanges.

Finally, as a teaser, one of the opportunities they are working towards is partnerships with festival organisers. There is so much there that
Blockpool and ADC can help with. So, there you have it. A roadmap for the
future, a roadmap for success.

Source: http://www.audiocoin.eu/?p=65527

Conclusion

Thanks to a friend I started exploring ADC few days ago and after doing a deep dive I wanted to share my thoughts and why I think it has some serious potential. First off they have a pretty good track record with real world usage cases. Number one being the partnership deal with Bjork:

https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/6/16611822/bjork-album-utopia-cryptocurrency-audiocoin

This deal has definitely opened the door for Audiocoin and brought it some serious attention from the music/entertainment industry. As well as that they also worked with Feargal Sharkey the former Undertones singer recently with Salute Music Makers on this: http://www.audiocoin.eu/?p=65470

Again giving ADC another real world use case already. Well it’s obvious to anyone at this point that ADC has already got some tried and tested real world use cases and has many more on the horizon which is a great thing for investors.

Reference

Disclaimer: This is not investment or trading advice, always do your own independent research.

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DailyPriyab
CRYPT BYTES TECH

Data Engineering | Data Governance | Azure | Spark | Python | Manager