Starting out as a new music producer or musician was never exactly easy at the best of times. So recent events since the Covid-19 global pandemic have not helped, especially if you are reliant on any live performance or gigs to promote your music, right?
Well, yes and no. If you are a live performer, whether as a DJ or a singer in a band, then it’s going to be even tougher than usual, for sure. But as far as Promotion of your music is concerned then no, it can actually be an opportunity! And you could even start to make a bit of money.
By promoting your music I mean getting your music heard and recognition for your work with the aim of actually getting paid for it in the long-run. Online gigs and performances have had more of an audience than at any time before in history, downloading of music tracks has gone through the roof!
And sharing videos? There’s never been more sharing of video than at the present time. Even as the world slowly gets back to some sort of normality the trends set during the pandemic will become more hardwired into people’s behavior than they were before.
The Tried and Tested Way
So the traditional way of getting work goes something like this: You produce your own music, copyright it, look for a deal to distribute it or do it yourself, share your work via Social Media and perform or play your music at live venues, where you can also sell merchandise, if you have any. Or it would certainly be something along those lines.
Copyrighting can still be done by simply making a copy of your song, beats, or your music onto an old cassette tape, CD or memory stick and sending it to your-self through the post! However, it must be sent by recorded delivery, dated & registered. And more importantly you must NOT open the package you have sent yourself as this would invalidate the copyright.
Once you had patented the copyright for the music you made, you would then start to promote your work by sending them to other more well known producers and to record labels, etc, as well as performing live. Most bands, DJ’s or music producers still find that the best way to secure a recording deal is to get your own contacts in the music industry.
Promote Your Music in the Gig Economy
Even without any recording deal, you can still sell and promote your beats for use on adverts and other areas where producers need background music or beats, like film tracks for example.
One way that was always very effective for promoting your work and getting it noticed was, and still is, to use YouTube. Also, there have always been a variety of websites or apps that allow musicians, artists and bands to upload their songs, beats or music for supporters to hear, buy and download. Several of these sites offer completely free access for users, while others are free of charge for the music artists themselves. They sometimes have free samples for users to hear, or they can purchase and download whole tracks.
A New Way of Working
But now, there are new and better ways to share, sell or promote your music, without any problems of copyright, and without necessarily any need for signing contracts with record labels or distributors.
Of course, offline ‘physical’ copies of artists work, such as CD’s or Vinyl for promotion at gigs, etc, can effectively still be covered by the same music rights or copyrights as well.
In a 2017 article for the Harvard Business Review, Imogen Heap — an English singer-songwriter, record producer and audio engineer — recalls when a visual artist had all of his videos taken down from Vimeo. This was because he had used a 30-second clip of one of Impogen Heap’s songs. According to her, blockchain technology could help, and already is helping, to resolve these kinds of issues.
“I’d personally like to avoid these types of situations in the future, which means providing an easy way for others to license and collaborate with my music. A blockchain-empowered rights and payments layer could provide the means to do so.”
Changing the Music Industry
Indeed, block-chain-based music apps could change the music industry completely
Universal Music Group — the biggest of the three major music-label conglomerates — went public at a valuation close to $53 billion. This demonstrates how much the big music-biz giants have profited from the streaming era.
But for music artists, the picture is a lot less rosy. According to Audius — a blockchain-based streaming platform — just 12% of the $43 billion in revenue generated by the music industry in 2017 went to it’s artists. Audius and a crop of other crypto music platforms aim to change that paradigm. Here’s how:
Imagine a streaming service that isn’t owned by a for-profit company, but instead by the artists who share their music there and the fans who listen to it. Imagine if each of those artists could choose exactly how they want to monetize their music. Instead of being forced to accept a one-size-fits-all model that sees them earning fractions of a penny per stream. And imagine if, instead of having to pay a distributor to upload their music for them, they could do it themselves, for free. While it’s still in its early stages, that streaming service exists. It’s called Audius, and it was built on the block-chain.
Free, User-Friendly And Democratic!
Audius is a free, decentralized streaming service and one of the most popular non-finance block-chain applications. It has around six million users who use a token called AUDIO for a variety of purposes. This includes rewarding music artists based on the engagement of their fans. Holders of the token can also get access to exclusive content and vote on protocol upgrades on the platform. Eventually, 90% of all AUDIO tokens will be distributed to the artists.
Audius recently made a deal with TikTok, allowing its roughly 100,000 artists to upload music to the social network with one click — popular Audius acts include Disclosure, Skrillex, and Steve Aoki. The vast majority of TikTok’s billion users say the video platform is the primary way they discover new music. And this explains its ability to showcase previously unknown artists like Lil Nas X into viral mega-fame.
Audius isn’t the only decentralized music app gaining traction. Catalog, bills itself as a blockchain-based version of Bandcamp. And Songcamp, an experimental blockchain-based “songwriting camp”, allows for collective online collaboration, including tools to help acts fund their projects and to distribute them across the internet.
Promote Your Music with Blockchain!
There are other potential applications of block-chain technology that could be just as helpful for lesser-known artists. One involves a forum, like a Discord room, that requires anyone who wants to enter to pay a certain amount of crypto-currency to a communal kitty. The members of the forum could then deliberate on what the money in that kitty should be used for. Like for example providing the funds that their favorite musician needs to make an album. In return, that musician could issue each member of the forum a unique cryptocurrency token that grants them a financial stake in the album, allowing them to communally reap whatever money it generates. Communities are already experimenting with that kind of arrangement through a blockchain-based platform called Collab.Land.
It’s like a label agreement, but with thousands of people that like you, instead of with one central authority.
Many of block-chain’s most popular evolutions, like DeFi, have related directly to finance. But Audius users don’t even need to know what a block-chain is to use the app, which is available via Apple’s App Store and Google Play. This points to the potential for crypto-powered, community-governed protocols to transform the entertainment industry by giving both artists and fans a stake.
Independent and upcoming artists are often on the receiving end of a strong sense of community, which translates into a constant stream of financial support from fans. It’s a sort of “support local artists” mentality. This may explain why 32% of the market share in revenue for both physical and digital music sales is held by independent labels. Concerts and merchandise are also known to represent a large portion of revenue, but blockchain technology now provides new ways to explore this even further and promote your music.
Nathan Detroit
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Although most musicians have been hit hard by the pandemic, there are still many artists working. The world needs music! And, for those who are producing, there is always going to be a demand for fresh samples, beats, instrumentals, vocals and other musical accompaniments. Websites such as 
