Polystarter Research Report: MODA DAO

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Polystarter

7 min readNov 16, 2021

The Problem

The music industry has always been flawed, crooked, and predatory. In reality, the industry’s word for monetizing music is ‘exploitation.’ Beyond the well-known bottlenecks and intermediaries, there are several less-publicized issues, such as multi-billion dollar royalty black boxes and a worldwide collections system that takes years to disperse cash.

In today’s streaming landscape, the giant platforms have a firm grip over the passage between the studio and the ears of listeners. With all of the music and hundreds of millions of paying customers, these platforms’ purpose is to lower the number of royalties paid to rights holders. This tells us that traditional corporate organizations have one primary goal, and that is to earn money between their suppliers and customers that will, in return, benefit the shareholders of the company.

Similarly, the industry is plagued by a slew of difficulties, including:

Need for an intermediary

The music industry has evolved such that musicians now rely on labels, distributors, and promoters. However, with this approach, artists are sometimes confronted with convoluted revenue distribution networks in which each mediator takes a portion of the profits. This is why music distribution remains a problem for musicians.

Royalty issues

According to the IFPI’s global music report, streaming income has risen nearly 20% during the pandemic year to $13.4 billion. However, to post music on any traditional platform, musicians require distributors. Given their mechanism for distributing royalties, this distributor frequently earns a sizable portion of the revenue. Furthermore, depending on the terms of their contract with their label, artists’ earnings may differ. Even the largest music streaming services have been accused of underpayment on occasion throughout the years. Some well-known performers, such as Taylor Swift and Adele, have withdrawn their albums off streaming sites.

Copyright issues

To utilize someone else’s work of art, you must first obtain permission from the rights holder. This may appear to be a straightforward operation, but it is more intricate and time-consuming than anticipated. Furthermore, licensing and collecting performance royalties frequently includes publishing corporations and organizations that safeguard musical copyrights, such as BMI and ASCAP. It might be difficult to figure out who you need to pay to utilize copyrighted music.

Solution: MODA DAO

MODA DAO is a blockchain-based non-profit foundation with the express goal of propelling Web3 music and providing a more sustainable future for audio composers. Its fundamental goal is to create a platform where the middleman cut is reduced, automated, enhanced, and simplified, distributing the value produced to token holders and the ecosystem.

It offers a balanced model of free and open-source music tools along with value-creating features that aim to fuel the industry’s long-term growth. It aims to speed up the general use of Web3 technology as a method of allowing musicians and their fans, as well as other industry partners, to participate in the music economy directly.

The platform helps artists to build direct contact with their audience and gives them complete control over their music rights.

Product Market Fit: Market and Competition Analysis

Music has been an everyday part of our lives. According to the IFPI’s global music report, the music industry will reach $131 billion by 2030. But, the industry has changed dramatically in recent decades. According to a study by the French trade group SNEP with Ernest & Young, the labels take 73% of the payout, distributing 16% to the writers and publishers, and a mere 11% to the artist.

MODA DAO was established to halt these unethical practices while also offering a secure environment for people. Powered by blockchain, MODA DAO’s sole purpose is to push Web3 music forward and establish a more sustainable future for audio creators. The platform with its creative tools and Web3 technologies aims to make the music industry more fair and transparent over time.

The music industry has been around for a long time. Many blockchain music platforms have emerged and are taking the industry by storm. This includes DAO’s, NFT platforms, and many others.

Some of the competitors of MODA DAO include:

Audius

Audius is a social media-enabled decentralized music streaming service. It allows musicians to post their songs to the app and links fans with artists and exclusive new music. On a technical level, it’s a blockchain technology that allows artists to create immutable and timestamped records for their creative works while being protected by a decentralized network of node operators.

Opulous

Opulous is a decentralized peer-to-peer DeFi loan platform that offers musicians a more direct and accessible method to acquire finance while allowing anybody to participate in one of the world’s fastest-growing and most lucrative industries: music. They were the first to launch music copyright NFTs, entirely based on the Algorand blockchain.

BitSong

BitSong is a blockchain-based ecosystem designed to empower the music industry. It brings together artists, fans, and distributors in an atmosphere where music, products, and fan loyalty are valuable commodities. BitSong’s decentralized network of services, backed by the BTSG token, provides the worldwide music community with a trustless marketplace for music streaming, Fan Tokens, and NFTs.

These are some of the close competitors for MODA DAO in the industry. But, with innovations like music genesis NFTs, tokenized micro licensing, and on-chain provenance, MODA DAO stands apart from its competitors.

Go-to-Market Strategy

#1 Creator Tools and Publishing Ecosystem for Music3

The prime feature offered by MODA DAO is the creator tools to reward the music industry fairly and openly for the value they offer to the world by utilizing Web3 technologies. These tools are focused on creating value for the artists and the community.

It also has a (dPub) publishing DAO structure aimed to maximize the monetization prospects for each song’s musical creativity and songwriting in MODA Publishing. The goal here is to build a worldwide, digital, autonomous, and decentralized licensing and collections agency for Web3, NFTs, and virtual performances on the planet, in the metaverse, and beyond.

#2 Music Genesis NFTs and Tokenized Micro Licensing

With its innovation lab, MODA DAO is creating Genesis NFTs to capture the music before it is released. The MODA members will be able to stake into new tracks to generate new NFTs, burn NFTs to recoup their MODA stake, or export them to other markets.

Furthermore, MODA DAO, with the power of Web 3, makes music monetization open to anyone, therefore, creating a legitimate licensing method. This will include transparent monitoring, proven ledgering for accounting purposes, and strong anti-piracy features.

Recent Developments

The recent months have been great for MODA DAO as the firm has raised $5 million through a private sale along with world-famous artists like Joel Zimmerman (deadmau5) and Richie Hawtin joining the DAO among important VCs.

The platform has also partnered with Holon investments and Filecoin IPFS to host the Holon Innovate 2021 hackathon. The event is focused on looking for innovators to create user experiences and/or functionality that use these new decentralized verified data possibilities.

Upcoming Announcements

Over the next few months, MODA DAO is set to make several major announcements starting with its launch on November 25. This will be followed by the rollout of the on-chain audio fingerprinting and a cross-chain Audio NFT aggregator tool. A TGE will also be held on the platform, followed by a fair auction or IDO. The next phase would be the development of a staking and rewards dashboard, followed by the establishment of a publishing firm and an innovation hub. All of this is set to happen by the end of 2021.

Investors

Investors and supporters make a vital contribution to the success of any business by providing a wide range of support. MODA DAO has been funded by some of the most significant VCs in the industry, assuring the platform’s entire development and effective launch.

Implementation Plan: Roadmap

MODA DAO recently raised funds through a private sale and is set to roll out the on-chain audio fingerprinting and a cross-chain Audio NFT aggregator tool.

The platform has plans to introduce an Audio NFT launchpad and NFT aggregator. This would be followed by a DDEX review along with ISRC / ISRW on-chain proposal, Meta-data proposal, and Media Storage proposal.

Furthermore, the platform intends to construct fractionalized ownership structures and launch a music rights fund over the next five years, with the ultimate objective of building a completely autonomous DAO.

Team & Advisors

MODA DAO has swiftly earned substantial public attention in the NFT industry, and the credit for such efficient growth surely belongs to its professional & senior team members and consultants.

A team of talented and experienced individuals always produces the greatest results; the same is true for MODA DAO. Every team member comes from a different professional background, and each is a master in their field, which has greatly aided the project’s progress.

Audit Report

CertiK — Audit Report

Token Economics

MODA DAO’s basic token metrics are as follows:

Value Drivers

Members must stake MODA and sign the constitution
Partners must meet the MODA holding requirement
Board members must stake and hold at least 1% of supply (TBC)
Every song on-chain must be backed by at least 1 MODA (TBC)
MODA Labs project should utilize the MODA token to align incentives with the foundation
Ongoing buy-back to support the Web3 Sustainability Loop and ongoing growth

About MODA DAO

MODA DAO is a decentralized technology network and community designed for the metaverse and the play-to-earn era. MODA is dedicated to the adoption of Web3 in the music industry and aims to redefine the future of music ownership, distribution, and publishing via NFT standards, decentralized governance, and automated finance.

About Polystarter

Polystarter is the native Decentralized Launchpad for projects building on Polygon, with a strong emphasis on providing equitable opportunities to the community without the constraints of centralized platforms or high transaction costs.