Audius. What’s it going to do for artists?
“Giving everyone the freedom to distribute, monetize, and stream unstoppable audio”
Here is the reference article:
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/audius-has-raised-nearly-10m-for-its-spotify-rival-can-its-model-change-the-game-for-artist-payments/
Audius sounds like it was created by a group of artists who are trying to raise the standard of music to an elitist level.
This article uses very extreme scenarios that sound unrealistic, and there are also so many unanswered questions, or answers that create more questions. Half way through I felt I needed an infographic to understand the model. I see quotes like “people see that Audius is decentralised and operated by a community of people” and “Audius is fully open source and is operated by the community” and “Every aspect of Audius is governable, creating a truly community-owned and operated streaming service” — What does this actually mean? I understand the words but where is the instruction manual or mandate?
There’s also a developer website.
https://audius.org/developers/
I can see that code is available on Github for protocol and client and multiple dapps: https://github.com/AudiusProject
If I create a “node” am I creating a revenue stream? Am I getting paid in tokens? Are the tokens worth anything? How do they fit into the crypto currency landscape? I see you can build “on” to Audius. Maybe I need to see the bigger picture but I don’t see any answers to these questions. Am I not searching hard enough? It’s been at least 2–3 hours now.
I really love the basic concept and actually signed up and created an Audius account so I could experience first hand. Even through exploration and genre specific search, the lines were blurred and most of the content sounds the same — nothing unique. I couldn’t find any music played by a person using real instruments. It’s all EDM, House-ish, Techno stuff. The platform attracts tech type music creators who are betting on Crypto. I understand the platform attracts a certain profile so maybe over time it will grow in variety.
As a listener, it’s straight-forward and I understand because it’s a conventional UI that plays music. As mentioned above, content is still thin and it’s not pulling me in to listen. Especially if I have to work hard to find music I like.
As an musician/artist, I have a lot of questions and I shouldn’t have to search to find them. The FAQ doesn’t answer much.
How is my track monetized now?
Is there any conflict if I upload a track that I’ve already uploaded to my Distributor?
How does the Cryto part work specific to Audius?
When I signed up it took me 5 tries as it would not work with my Instagram login. I was prompted to connect using MetaMask but below it also said “not recommended”? Conflicting messages are not allowed by UI/UX or most developers. Also, how many of you artists have a Crypto wallet?
https://audius.org/token/
https://dashboard.audius.org/
It may be too late to escalate and create music that is truly valued (elitist) because it has already been commoditized and devalued by Spotify and Apple Music and other streaming platforms. We’re overloaded with music. So how exactly do you think “multiple payment rates on user experience” is going to work? We as a mass society have enabled it through capitalistic ideals and greed. Interesting how the music industry sounds a lot like politics.
As a seasoned marketing professional, trained designer/front end developer and musical artist, I am no slouch in the technical area of web apps, blockchain concepts or the changing music industry. I really love this concept — if I could totally grasp all of it. I think the Audius team’s heart is in the right place but all the content is very light and all the components to get the full picture are so disjointed that it takes a lot of effort, knowledge and research to make any sense of it.
Any business should be able to explain their service in 2–3 sentences. I am a firm believer in focusing on one thing and doing it right. The obvious missing link in Audius’ plan is marketing. Who’s the target? Who is it really for? The listener of the artist? If you are trying to leverage the “open framework” then are you targeting developers who like music? After visiting the developer site I joined the discord conversation — crickets. Are we too early to adopt this? Where’s the crowd fighting for artist rights and fair play? I’m ready! I am in! Just need some help understanding how to do it. Knowledge is power.
PS Cool logo, Audius.
