Online content streaming is dead — Long live the music NFTs
The music industry has undergone a massive transformation in recent years. We have seen the advent of the internet leave its mark on music, and most notably, 1999 spelled the coming of Napster. This then-revolutionary peer-to-peer online streaming service defined a whole generation and enabled musicians to share their creations with the world.
Streaming has become the dominant format for music today, through Apple, Amazon, Tencent Music and the clear category winner — Spotify. The goal of distribution services and platforms like Spotify is to enable and empower artists to create more without worrying about anything besides honing their craft.
The economics of streaming are tough. Platforms like Spotify operate under a business model where the platform operator takes a cut for each stream. That makes sense as Spotify offers better-than-nothing distribution, but there is still a huge problem. Ultimately, it is roughly 70% that ends up with the music rights holders, and the discovery feature tends to put lesser-known artists at a disadvantage vis-a-vis the household names. The result is a top-heavy distribution funnel benefitting the already-made-it musicians.
Ushering in a new era of music
NFT MUSIC STREAMING and the underlying technology are introducing a whole new ball game and a level-playing field that will enable and empower artists. What NFTs do is unlock value by making digital scarcity real and assetized. At the same time, they allow musicians, designers and everyone in between to exercise control over their work, effectively making them masters of distribution.