There is no question that the music industry has been completely transformed over the last 15 years, much of that change can be attributed to the rise of the internet and the new music sharing capabilities that came along with it. The peer-to-peer sharing of music first came about in 1999 and the music industry has not been the same since. Websites such as Napster and Bearshare were breakthroughs that would change the way people get their music, as well as how artists are compensated for their music in the years to come. Over the last 20 years the power has shifted from the record labels and more into the hands of the artists through current music streaming services such as, Spotify, Apple Music, You tube, ect. The hard reality of the music industry currently is that (most) artists can no longer rely on album and song purchases as their main stream of revenue from their music.
Chance The Rapper is an American Hip-Hop artist who became a sensation in 2013 after the release of his album, "Acid Rap". He has released several albums since, the latest of which, "Coloring Book", has become the first stream only album to make it onto the Billboard chart. Chance The Rapper also had an impact on the Grammy award show rules, leading to a change in the Grammy rules to allow artists without a record label to be eligible for the Grammys. He is nominated for 7 different awards at the upcoming Grammy Awards in February, which is considered a tremendous feat for any artist, but for an artist without a record label it shows how much influence an individual artist can have.
Whether you personally like his music or even the Hip-Hop genre in general is irrelevant in the context of the possibilities artists like this could bring to Steemit. Chance has started a new trend of musicians that are tired of the constraints placed onto them by record companies and music labels. This trend is expected to continue to grow among other artists and that is where Steemit could be a very valuable platform. If an artist had the capacity to release their music on their terms and get paid directly by those that listen to the music, without the listeners having to necessarily pay directly out of pocket for the music. The freedom from restrictions and constants placed on his music is evident in many of the songs he has released and his popularity shows that technology has granted access for many artists to gain fame and revenue on their own terms. Steemit could be seen as a platform that gives the power back to the people and could gain serious traction within the music community if properly integrated. There is a strong movement of putting the hands back into the people and taking it away from centralized institutions and I believe that the next logical step within the music industry is to have a more decentralized system. Artists like Chance the Rapper, are unable to get what they believe to be a fair deal, so they take no deal at all. The influx of new users that changes like this would bring are what could really make Steemit a much more diverse platform and has the potential to expand the Steemit community to users who wouldn't have come into contact with Steemit otherwise.
I have been on Steemit for about 2 weeks and have been very impressed with the content so far and wanted to finally make my first post. I have really enjoyed my time on Steemit so far and looking forward to what the future has to bring! I hope you enjoyed and please consider Following, Up voting, And Re-Steeming if you liked this post! More to come shortly. Thanks!
