3 ways to listen music in Web 3.0 | ¿Still using Youtube Music?
The rise of Web3 and the increasing popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have led to a massive change in marketing models in recent years.. And it’s about time. The music industry generates about $43 billion in revenue; however, only 12 percent of that goes to artists. Begging for new business models that serve the artists more.
Although many people still use Spotify or Youtube Music for many of their audio needs, a few incredibly powerful Web3 streaming platforms and NFT marketplaces have arisen in recent years and taken the world by storm. These platforms are especially useful for independent artists, as they offer powerful new ways to create community, share music, and even get paid in crypto on the blockchain.
The decentralized infrastructure of Web3 streaming services and NFTs, in particular, increases peer-to-peer (P2P) interactions. In doing so, these technologies help independent artists regain control of their art — and their compensation — by removing middlemen who currently have all the control, like Spotify and Youtube Music. If you need proof that the music industry is in dire need of new models, see an overview of how Web 2.0 streaming services compensate artists in the table below.
Web3 streaming services and music NFTs are increasing in popularity, and early adopters stand to have significant gain. Active producers, musicians, and vocalists should be open to investigate these options now.
Here’s a look at some of the Web3 streaming services to start your web 3 music streaming journey
Web3 streaming services
OPUS
OPUS is a decentralized music hosting, discovery, and listening platform. The platform uses the Ethereum blockchain, and tracks are stored on the Interplanetary File System (IPFS). Using the IPFS, the platform is able to deliver thousands of tracks per second in a way that’s fully decentralized. Ultimately, users listen to music through smart contracts, which the company notes contain the decryption keys and file hashes. And the smart contracts also provide a way for users to compensate creators for their music.
According to the company, OPUS enables artists to receive 90% of the money they take in. “By basing the OPUS Player [on] the Ethereum blockchain and storing all the tracks on IPFS, there is no central server and so the storage costs are drastically reduced. This allows for more of the revenue to go directly to the artist, in a more secure, transparent way than ever before,” in their words.
Fans can also receive a financial benefit from the platform. As users receive a share of royalties in exchange for creating playlists that help spread music throughout the platform. An interesting concept if you are a music aficionado.
Audius music
Launched at the end of 2019, Audius has one vision: To put power back into the hands of content creators. The platform consists of a fully decentralized music streaming protocol that was built with a public blockchain infrastructure. This is intended to give artists better insights into who is streaming their music and better control over their tracks and how they are distributed.
Artists are able to distribute their music free of charge, and the team states that it will always be free for artists. And unlike most other music streaming services, Audius doesn’t take any cut of artists’ revenue. In their whitepaper, the team outlined the mechanics of Audius. It consists of:
- A token economy that’s powered by the Audius platform token ($AUDIO), 3rd-party stablecoins, and artist tokens
- A decentralized storage solution and ledger for sharing audio and metadata
- A track encryption scheme that’s paired with a programmable mechanism to unlock user-specific proxy re-encryption keys for content
- A discovery protocol for users to efficiently query metadata
- A decentralized governance protocol, whereby artists, node operators, and fans are individually and collectively enfranchised in decision making about protocol changes and upgrades
The platform has a rewards system that pays artists in $AUDIO for placing on the Audius charts. Musicians are able to receive 90 percent of the revenue in AUDIO, and the other ten percent goes to stakers that support the Audius network. It’s free to create an account, and you can start uploading music immediately.
While the platform doesn’t allow artists to mint music NFTs, Audius is one of the main places the Web3 and NFT communities listen to music. As a bonus, you can even display NFTs you own after collecting 100+ $AUDIO.
Emanate
Similar to Audius, Emanate is a blockchain-powered music streaming platform. It’s built on EOSIO and uses its $EMT token for payments. Both the EMT token and the internal stable token run on the EOS mainnet, and anyone can track payments via EOS mainnet block explorers, such as Bloks.io and EOSX.io.
One major difference between Emanate and Audius is that Emanate pays artists in its native token per stream, while Audius only currently employs the rewards system for artists to earn crypto. Emanate also has the Emanate Music Lovers group, which is 6€ per month. From every 6€ the company gets, 5€ is passed on to the artists.
Musicians can either go the DIY route to upload and promote tracks themselves, or they can use Emanate Distro. With this, artists who upload music on Emanate have the option to push audio and data to services like Spotify and Soundcloud. All revenue flows back into the Emanate ecosystem, where all revenue and payments can be tracked, turning it into a platform for artists to track all their revenue streams in one place.
Check these platforms out as you begin your web 3.0 music streaming experience and don’t forget to support artists in their creative journey!
If you are interested in decentralized finance and investing in a greater pool of options like cultural events or NFTs, you may want to check out Staxe to find out more. You can join our Discord channel here to get updated about the new investment opportunities for cultural production.
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