What is Musicoin? Who Should Buy It?
The music industry is one that has undergone its fair share of technology-driven shakeups in the last century. From the advent of radio turning local artists into world-renowned superstars to the now-commonplace streaming industry that shortchanges artists for exposure, musicians are rightly wary of change.
Musicoin is yet another industry disruption, but it is one based on equitability and fairness on all accounts – a win-win situation for listeners and artists. Music listeners purchase the coin and use it to pay for music.
How Does Musicoin Work?
One of the primary benefits cryptocurrencies offer is the ability to turn money – a mutually standard of value – into a digital smart contract system. Instead of deciding to pay for intellectual property if it suits them, simply using intellectual property fulfills the user's end of the contract, and payment happens automatically.
This is the basis of Musicoin. Instead of forcing artists to accept arbitrarily competitive streaming rates set by record labels and music distribution services, they can set their own contracts directly with listeners.
Under the Musicoin system, listeners who appreciate music pay the artists who recorded that music immediately and securely. Importantly, there is no middleman involved in the process – the space usually occupied by giant corporations whose primary incentive is to give the artist as little as possible, padding their own profits.
Comparison to Current Models
As of 2017, there are two fundamental music industry economic models:
- The Torrent Model, in which musicians' work is totally disregarded. Nobody pays for recorded music and artists hope to get recompensed through touring, live concerts, sponsorship, etc.
- The Subscription Model, through which third-party intermediaries pay musicians a tiny sum of money for streaming their music to listeners. Problematically, both musicians and those intermediaries tend to lose money – but at least listeners are paying something.
The Musicoin system allows for equitable payment to each artist according to the work they put into a piece of music.
Thanks for reading.
chris