TL;DR - Watch the video at the end of this article!
In this article we are gonna talk about Audius, one of the most exciting projects for musicians and music fans out there. A project that has the potential to disrupt music streaming as we know it today, and even start a movement that could change the way we consume music forever! In this article:
We are gonna find out what exactly Audius is;
We are gonna dig into its governance token $AUDIO;
Analyse what the future holds for Audius;
And also check out a possible downside.
The centralization of power in the music industry is something that has kept many musicians from being able to fairly monetize their work since...always. I’ve been covering this and other issues within the creative industries and how developments within blockchain technology could eventually solve them in the “Beyond the Hype” series. So check it out if you still didn’t do so! Web3.0 innovations could disrupt the entire music industry as much as Napster did in the past. And Audius could be a major part of this disruption!
What is Audius?
Now, what exactly is Audius? Audius is a fully decentralized music streaming protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain. It promises a fairer way for artists to monetize their music. The Audius platform went fully live in October 2020, after running its beta version since 2019. It currently sees over 4M active monthly users according to recent data, and has been growing reaaaally fast for the past few months. What sets Audius apart from other streaming platforms, is that it’s committed to distributing 90% of the streaming revenue between artists. With the other 10% going to the network operators. As we will discuss later in this video, this is much more beneficial to artists, when compared to the business model of the streaming platforms we have today
To access the Audius platform, you can go to audius.co and sign in for free. You can use it through the website or download the app either for desktop or mobile devices. Once you do that and start exploring all the music on there, you’ll realise that the GREAT majority of the content uploaded is either electronic or hip-hop music. Artists and fans of other music styles still haven’t started to actively use this platform, which could only mean one thing...we are early!
In Audius, anyone can upload content and curate playlists. Unlike Spotify, for example, artists don’t have to go through a distributor in order to upload their music. The platform is run by nodes (which are basically a set of computers distributed all over the world), that keep the platform up and running in a decentralized way.
Audius Token
Audius has its own governance token called $AUDIO. Right now, the token can be used to unlock new features in the platform, depending on how much of it you have. It could also be used to participate in the governance of the network.
To get the $AUDIO token and start unlocking new features, you have to buy it from an exchange company. Or you could exchange some BTC or other cryptocurrencies in one of these exchange companies that support the $AUDIO token. After doing that, you have to transfer the tokens to one of the wallets supported by the platform, like Metamask for example. You connect your wallet to your Audius account and that’s it!
One of the coolest features you can unlock is the recently added collectibles tab, which is a new way to showcase the NFTs that you’ve created or collected directly on your Audius profile.
But there are more things you can do with your tokens! You can also earn rewards by delegating them to a service operator. To do that, you can go to dashboard.audius.org, connect your Metamask wallet, go to the service tab, and choose a service operator to delegate your tokens to. Right now, the estimated annual reward rate is 26%, but bear in mind this number is not definitive and that it could change in time.
At this time, it’s also possible to earn $AUDIO tokens by winning weekly contests or completing certain tasks, like being on the top 5 trending tracks, or curating one of the top 5 trending playlists, for instance.
The Future of Audius
The future of Audius looks incredibly bright and it is possible that it WILL change music streaming as we know today! Unfortunately, developing a decentralized platform is an extensive process, which means it will take some time to unlock Audius’ full range of features.
A full Spotify type monetization, where artists get paid per stream, is still not live, but it’s on the roadmap. As it was said earlier, creators will get a very large piece of the pie. For comparison, Spotify is estimated to have only ~40% of the streaming revenue allocated to the artist, as opposed to the 90% proposed by Audius.
In the future, fans may also be able to delegate tokens to specific artists and playlist curators to share in their growth on the platform.
The most exciting part about Audius is the amount of flexibility it’s going to give to artists in terms of monetization and community creation!
Artists will be able to choose how they interact with their fans and consumers. For instance, if the artist is going to release an album, he/she could decide to give early access to its content to his/her top 10 listeners or for a certain fee.
Audius will also support the creation and distribution of unique artist tokens. With these specific tokens, fans could also have the ability of accessing exclusive content from that artist, generating even more engagement and a sense of community.
Besides, Audius could eventually start supporting stablecoins. Stablecoins are also tokens, but with a stable price pegged to a common currency like the USD, or a commodity. In this way, you wouldn’t have to worry about price volatility, very much characteristic of crypto tokens in general.
Possible Caveat
Up until now, things look pretty great, but there’s a major possible caveat that could be a problem later on. And that is Copyright infringement.
On Audius, no content can be censored or deleted by the platform, only the person who uploaded that music could do so. If a copyright claim system is not put in place, major issues could be created with record labels or songwriters. As per an article written on Audius’ help page, a plan to launch such a system is on the radar. Unlike other streaming platforms, in order to avoid censorship, a decentralized arbitration system will be put in place. In this system, “Audius will have a network of neutral third party arbitrators made up of community members voting on the outcomes of moderation cases.”
Given the level of innovation this system proposes, we’ll keep checking to see how it plays out for Audius and future developments within the platform to mitigate copyright infringement risks.
Final Thoughts
Audius certainly has the potential to be a great disruptor on the music streaming game, and it could possibly be the trigger that will change this business forever! But as you can see, its full potential is still to be unlocked.
The platform as it is today, is already great! I’ve been talking to some artists who have been using this platform and they all say that the level of traction and engagement they’ve been having on Audius, is already much greater than what they have on Soundcloud or even Spotify.
If you make music or love music, you should definitely check it out and start using this platform. New features will continue to be unlocked and the early adopters are usually the ones who are able to reap the most benefits later on.
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