Meet Audius: the new blockchain-based alternative to major DSPs

by: Chris Stack Aug 14, 2018

After reports that artists made only 12 percent of music industry revenue in 2017, blockchain music startup, Audius, comes in with timely news. The company that just raised $5.5 million in series A funding is building a blockchain-based alternative to Spotify or SoundCloud with the purpose of cutting out the middlemen so artists get their fair share.

The goal is for users to purchase Audius tokens or earn them by listening to ads. Their wallet will transfer a fraction of a cent per song from decentralized storage across the network, estimating 85 percent back to the artist, compared to around 70 percent from today’s leading streamers.

Audius plans their beta launch later this year, but they’ve already found investors that have spotted a weakness in SoundCloud to the cryptocurrency uprising. Their proposed value comes from their tokens, as they grow in value with the company, being able to sell tokens to earn revenue instead of charging the artists.

CEO and Billboard-charting artist/entrepreneur Ranidu Lankage told TechCrunch: “The biggest problem in the music industry is that streaming is taking off and artists aren’t necessarily earning a lot of money. And it can take three months, or up to 18 months for unsigned artists, to get paid for streams. That’s what crypto really solves. You can pay artists in near real-time and make it fully transparent.”

Can Audius use cryptocurrency move masses to its platform that might be less functional and robust than their competitors? Musicians want more, and although decentralization has a lot of moving parts, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Audius might pay artists more per steam; however, if other streaming services are able to offer more plays in the long-run, the blockchain music startup will find a tough road ahead of them.

Audius’ focus is on signing up independent musicians, telling sources they plan on incentivizing unsigned artists with tokens. Learn more here.