The Musiconomi (MCI) Token Utility — A Closer Look
As Musiconomi builds and expands the web and mobile applications, the MCI token will gain new functionality. This article describes several uses of the token that we have earmarked for early development.
Sharing Tracks and Playlists
What will it enable? Users will be able to generate a “sharing” URL for a track that they can use to post on social media websites (or use with an embedded player or playlist). If another user uses their link to play the track, the sharer gets a percentage. If the sharer withdraws the locked up tokens, the link will still work, but the sharer will not get a reward.
Why will users like it? Users will like being able to earn some reward for sharing music on social media. An embedded player will also be available (similar to Sound Cloud) that will allow listeners to play directly from sites that support embedded content.
How does it align incentives between the user and the platform? The more tracks a user wants to share, the more tokens the user will need to lock up. This should prevent users from simply spamming Facebook/Twitter with many different songs and force them to be more selective.
How would it work from a user’s perspective? On a track page, there will be a “Share” link. When the user clicks it, if they have enough unused tokens, they will be given the option to lock up some tokens and earn a reward when people use their track referral link to listen. Artists will be able to adjust the the amount of the reward depending on their preference for earnings vs growth.
Track Boosters
What will it enable? The Boosters feature will allow users to “boost” or support tracks explicitly by locking up MCI tokens. The more boosting an artist has, the more likely they are to be promoted prominently on the website or on external sites through ads and promotional content. Artists can reward boosters with access to exclusive content. Additionally, users may be able to earn other rewards from the platform by finding and boosting new content.
Why will users like it? Listeners will enjoy having a more direct impact on the ranking and promotion of artists on the platform and will have an opportunity to earn rewards through their selection. Artists will enjoy a built-in option to gather support from the community.
How does it align incentives between the user and the platform? Finding high-quality content is difficult. Even great recommendation systems struggle with new content. Users would be motivated to recommend content that (a) they like, (b) they think other people will like, and/or (c) is new and therefore does not have any boosters, which means they get a bigger reward.
How would it work from a user’s perspective? The process of selecting and boosting artists will be about as simple as managing a playlist, so even casual users will have fun getting involved in the new music economy. More entrepreneurial users will also have access to tools and reports that will allow them to find new artists to boost and determine how well their tracks are doing.
Dynamic Embedded Player
What will it enable? 3rd party websites could create an account on Musiconomi and then embed a player (similar to Soundcloud) that automatically selects a track or playlist based on some parameters (like the genre). The tracks selected by Musiconomi to be displayed on the third party sites will be randomly selected from designated subset with probability proportional to the amount of boosting MCI.
Why will users like it? Web sites are constantly seeking sources of revenue and generally end up using generic ad services that might not select ads that the website owner would necessarily want. Having a specific type of content (music) potentially focused on a certain genre, would allow websites to have more control over the 3rd party content on their site. Would be especially relevant to music oriented sites.
How does it align incentives between the user and the platform? The dynamic selection algorithm will be more likely to select quality content to show on 3rd party websites because boosting tokens represent some non-negligible stake users have locked up.
How would it work from a user’s perspective? 3rd party websites would create an account with Musiconomi and generate a snippet of code to embed on their website. The website would receive the “Sharer” portion of the reward for each track played, just as if they had selected and shared the tracks.
Embeddable Fundraising Widget
What will it enable? Artists will be able to embed a widget on their own website or social site that allows them to collect funds (tips). Each campaign would require XX tokens to be locked up for YY days and would also require that the artist is verified, where the amount and duration may be related to the amount to be raised as well as the length of the campaign.
Why will users like it? Artists will have an easy way to use their existing social media platforms to raise funds for a new album, a tour, etc. Users that want to contribute would enjoy the seamless transactions as long as the have a Musiconomi account and some Musicoin to contribute.
How does it align incentives between the user and the platform? Artists will have a built-in tool that can be used to raise funds with minimal setup, and thus have all current content as well as future content accessible in the same place. In return, campaigns effectively become a free promotion for Musiconomi and may encourage more users to join so they can donate. Additionally, requiring the artists to lock up MCI tokens for longer than the duration of the campaign (e.g. 2x the duration) will discourage long running campaigns that don’t serve a particular purpose.
How would it work from a user’s perspective? Artists can manage “campaigns” from within the Musiconomi app and customize the style of the widget (color scheme, title, wording, images), then generate either (a) some script that could be embedded on their site, or (b) a URL that could be shared with social media that would render a card with details about the campaign, progress so far, and a call to action that triggers a popup window with a login option, followed by a confirmation to send funds to the artist. Active campaigns will also show on the artist’s Musiconomi profile page.
Users that donate will be given a badge to that could be displayed on their profile page which will demonstrate their support for the artist’s campaign.
Online Music Magazine/Blog
Why will users like it? There are lots of music sites, blogs, magazines that review music and probably make their money from advertising. We could host this type of site directly on musiconomi.com, allow them to earn by collecting the sharing fee and even rent out a sidebar with content populated by other users (e.g. from the dynamic “ads” database mentioned above).
How does it align incentives between the user and the platform? The platform would benefit from having music commentary, especially if we can bring some established commentators, who would encourage existing users to find their content on musiconomi. An extended token lock-up would prevent the creation of an endless number of low-quality pages.
How would it work from a user’s perspective? Users will see an option to register as a written content provider by locking up some amount of MCI. The total number of tokens they need to lock up might depend on the features they want to enable, e.g. offering a subscription model to readers my require a larger commitment from the blogger.
Once enabled, the user will have access to tools that would be similar (although initially not as advanced) as Medium. Each article would include: title, description (free for all to read), a body (possibly paid access), and a set of tracks to share. The tracks could be embedded into the article at particular locations, either with a WYSIWYG editor or a simple script (“Check out DanP’s latest track {player: @DanP/SomeTrack}” or “The first and last tracks on this album have a nice symmetry: {player: @DanP/FirstTrack, @DanP/LastTrack}”)
Other users would be able to search and browse these blogs, filtering on metadata such as genre, country, and language. New articles would show a description and “click to read more” button would appear for articles that have paid access enabled.
In Closing…
Pretty cool, huh? Case studies and tutorial videos will be shared upon release of the Musiconomi web app later in the year. Oh, one more thing…the above uses of the MCI token are just the first handful on the development roadmap. As we continue to progress and align with strategic partners on the blockchain, there will be dozens of more uses for the MCI token in the months and years ahead.
