The most exciting blockchain project I’ve seen so far
“Blockchain” is probably the most used buzzword of 2017. Blockchain promises us more privacy and transparency. Last week, a popular Dutch tech website hosted an event where people could learn about the latest developments. Apart from the usual applications such as Bitcoin, ethereum and FinTech, there was also a company that showcased an interesting use case for blockchain technology.
The organization is called RightsShare and they want to change the way music recording rights are handled. RightsShare wants to utilize the blockchain as a single source of truth for recording rights. Also they want to use smart contracts to simplify payouts. Let’s first look a the current situation.
The practices of the recording industry are currently very messy and outdated. For one track, often multiple artists collaborate. For example, a singer, a songwriter and a music producer. These artists each have their own recording label, agent and rights organization. All this information has to be shared with streaming services such as Spotify. When someone listens to a particular track, Spotify has to make all sorts of complex calculations for dividing the royalties.
To make matters worse, all companies in the distribution chain use different API and file formats and demand a transaction fee. This leads to a plethora of problems such as outdated data, incorrect data or invalid claims. Furthermore, no one in the music industry has enough leverage, for enforcing standards.
RightsShare aims to tackle these problems by using blockchain technology as a single source of truth. Currently, all the companies have separate databases. RightsShare want’s, after all stakeholders of a track agree on the data, to add the data of tracks into an immutable blockchain. This way, all relevant parties will always have the most up to date and correct data. In this model, there can be no disputes about track ownership, because everything is cemented in a centralized database where all parties agree on.
Another important blockchain technology that RightsShare want’s to utilize, is the smart contract. For those who don’t know, a smart contract is a piece of software that lives on the blockchain and does automated transactions. RightsShare want’s to create a chain of smart contracts, where when an end user plays a track, the smart contract automatically looks up in the blockchain who the tracks belongs to and pays the artist instantly.
This also removes an another problem in the music industry. Often recording companies won’t pay artists until they hit a certain threshold, due to bureaucratic costs. This means that small artists often have to wait long to get their money, because they haven’t earned enough yet to qualify for a payout. The smart contracts solve this, because everything is automated and no middle mans are needed.
I think that RightsShare is a great attempt at modernizing and democratizing the music industry. Last year, the popular Dutch DJ Hardwell started to use blockchain for his payouts. I hope that other artists will follow along and RightsShare will create the blueprint for modern music rights management. I will follow their work with a great interest in the coming years and recommend you to do the same.
If you liked this article, be sure to like and share it :) If you want more content or would like to discuss, please follow me on Twitter:
