FULL DISCLOSURE here before we get started. I'm am signed up as a beta artist on Choon, however as of writing this post, I don't have any financial investment into the platform. I also have not receive any financial reward to promote them. I have only added some of my music to there database for the beta period of this project.
Cool now that we have that out of the way let's get started.
I'm not sure exactly where I first heard about Choon, I think it may have been Forbes. Anyway I was looking for new places to put out my music mainly to gain exposure. Ironically this is also how I first learned about Steemit, so yeah. Cryptocurrency interest me, and also growing a fanbase for my music interest me. So, as an independent music producer, I'm always looking for ways I can grow and also earn income.
The idea of "the starving artist" is not a myth. Just an hour ago I was on the phone with my car loan company trying to defer payment because I'm behind on my payments at the moment due to a long depressive episode I recently had. I'm type 1 bipolar, I'm only telling you this because it's relevant to this article.
You see I'm the most creative when I'm manic, and I'm the least productive when I'm depressed. Makes sense really. However both of these are extremes and neither of them lend themselves to being able to maintain a stable income in the traditional avenues of work. I figure it is in my best interest to find alternative ways to earn a living, that will provide me the flexibility I need when I'm sick.
It's a driving force in why I work so hard on my music, and it's a driving force in why I'm working so hard here on steemit to grow into something stable. I so far have been fairly consistent trying to put out 1 post a day that is quality and brings value to the community.
I also work on my music everyday, problem with this the rewards of doing so are slow to show themselves. Much of this is because I don't have the financial resources to market in the traditional distribution paths effectively at the moment. Because of this I'm always looking into untapped resources, Choon is one of those I'm hoping will pay off.
What's interesting about Choon is they are building a music distribution platform similar to something like Spotify or iTunes, except built on the Ethereum Blockchain. They plan to have a currency called "NOTES" which will be the tokens used to pay for services. On top of this they are using what they call "Smart Record Contracts" These contracts bypasses the traditional avenues of payout and disperses the earnings directly to the artists with no middleman involved. If you have multiple people who with different percentage earnings It's all handles by the contract.
Here is a video explaining it
I'm not sure if Choon will be a Spotify killer, but it does seem like it will at the very least create more opportunity for independent artist like myself.
I do have some questions that I at the moment I've not figured out, but I'm sure will be answered once the beta is released.
Since they are a streaming service, how do they plan on the price structure? I mean with Spotify it's unlimited streaming without ads for 1 price. But with Choon since they are using a cryptocurrency are they even going to be able to offer unlimited streaming? If so how is that going to work? Or, will it be allow listeners to stream and do credit deductions from their account? If it's the credit option, I don't see that as being able to kill Spotify at all.
Do end users really care about how the artist get paid? I would guess that most don't, most probably don't even know how the payout structure works. I went into more detail about this in my post You Don't Need a Record Label to Get on Beatport, iTunes or Spotify.
My current conclusion is simple really. No I don't think Choon will kill Spotify or any other music distribution service. I just think it's another avenue to get my music out to the world. It's a known fact that if you can get in early on a platform you have a much better chance of gaining exposure or being discovered, without the need for gimmicks or clickbaiting, or piggybacking on trends.
If you are a musician and trying to grow, maybe this is a good thing to look at only time will tell. And if you are a crypto investor maybe it's also something to consider.
That's just my thoughts, we'll have to wait and see.
Oh and if there was a patreon type service built on STEEM that would be freaking cool. If it did exist, I would offer rewards like early access to new releases and also access to stems of songs, for remixes, and such. But until that exist, if you'd like to support my work please feel free to check out my music on your desired streaming service. Also if you would like to donate in support here on Steemit please feel free to add a memo stating you would like early access to my new releases and email me at djfugly1@gmail.com with your steemit username so I can have a way to seen send you those tracks when they are due.
-dj FUGLY
Electronic Music Producer
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