Rebooting the music industry — Part 2
Registration — Release and Licensing.
It’s time…
The music industry continues to grapple with the world of digital commerce and appears to be struggling to make sense of it. …. It is extremely difficult for composers and songwriters to make a living.
Old industry conventions, based on the monetising of performing and mechanical rights have remained unchanged for many decades. In the online world, there is a massive creative workforce writing and producing pop recordings for the new global audience for whom these old business models simply DO NOT WORK.
INTERNET MUSIC can provide a simple and direct route to the online market thereby maximising the income due to music right owners.
By eliminating the middlemen and collecting societies in addition to reducing transaction fees payments to right owners will increase several times and time to payment decrease from up to 3 years to maximum of 30 days.
Securing more money, faster — for the owners of copyright.
The clearing of copyrights can be divided into 2 parts
1) All new registrations and 100% owned copyrights,
2) Massive back catalogues that basically are “all over the place”.
This article will deal with new registrations.
When (back in 2006) I first started mulling over the complexity and opacity in all matters related to royalties and copyright, I was struck by the similarities between music copyright registration and handling of shares in a company on the stock market. (At the time we were a fast growing music distribution company with music on the mobile phone (launched 4 June 2004 with partners SonyMusic and Microsoft)
Why can’t this principle be implemented in the world of music copyright?
In 2006 the technology was not there to handle these questions, so the project was deferred.
Fast forward to 2014, the technology that brought all of my visions back to life was bitcoin and the underlying technology — blockchain.
Long story — short: Over the last 20 months we have put together a system that can be divided into 3 major services.
1) Registration
2) Release
3) Licensing and payments
Registration.
Adapting the principles of an IPO (Initial Public Offering) on the stock market, you register copyright musical works uniquely with shares according to agreed royalty distribution. When that musical work is recorded the same principle applies, — a registration on the Internet Music Exchange is done. All parties involved will register their agreed shares.
Release.
When the song is released to the digital retailers (i.e. Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, YouTube etc.) the digital clearing kicks in. It’s released into Internet Music own digital cloud, that uses technology (based upon blockchain) that redefines all we presently know about Internet — makes it safer and more efficient. It’s basically Music as a Service (MaaS) and “everybody” has access to it (as long as they pay). It’s digital distribution and DRM (Digital Rights Managment) in one.
Simply put: If it’s not in the Internet Music MaaS — it’s illegal and pirated.
Licensing and payments
For Spotify to release the music to their subscriber they have to clear the licensing with the Internet Music MaaS.
That is done by “buying” a token valued in Internet Music own digital currency imCoin and ThorBits (I have to get something out of this ) there is 1 000 000 ThorBits in 1 imCoin. And almost immediately transferred to a Digital Wallet according to registries shares on the Internet Music Exchange (both in musical works and recordings).
Digital wallets on the mobile phone can be used to pay for goods or services immediately. Or transferred into a bank account within a day or two.
Bob’s your uncle…
The following video might give you a better understanding.
