An Experiment For Web3 Media Monetization

We’re kicking off a crowdfund to enable artists to get paid off of streams from our new web app tunes.wtf

This is an experiment to demonstrate how artists can be paid per stream. The amount raised will be redistributed back to artists as a percentage of the total number of streams they accumulate over the course of this week. Fully transparent, with no take rate.

We need your help. Supporting our crowdfund will enable artists to experiment with a new form of content monetization.

Mechanisms of the crowdfund:

  • All proceeds raised from the crowdfund will go directly back to the artists’ wallet addresses.
  • Artists will be paid out based on a % of the total streaming volume after 1 week is complete - between 6/12 at 12:00am ET and 6/18 at 11:59 PM ET
  • Ex. if we raise 3 ETH from the crowdfund and an artist received 5% of all the total streams they would receive 0.15 ETH
  • Our smart contract registers 1 stream as 30 cumulative seconds of listen time.

Start streaming now:

Fans and collectors can directly get involved by streaming their favorite artists’ music at tunes.wtf

  • Artists will be able to see who is streaming their music & how often.
  • Artists will also have the option to split proceeds back with their biggest fans or collectors.

Why did we decide to build this?

In web2, music streaming platforms own all the data and payment flows. This is bad for artists for 2 reasons:

  1. Artists have no insight into who their fans really are
  2. Payment is opaque. The platforms get to choose when they pay out artists and have large take rates, making it harder for artists to make a meaningful amount just off the consumption of their music.

We’re excited to enable new ways for creators to monetize their work beyond just NFT sales.

Read below for more details on the crowdfund and what else this unlocks. This is just the start - we will reveal our full protocol and platform soon. Stay tuned for updates at twitter.com/the402HQ

Backers

The Crowdfund

What is the money used for?

Contributing to this crowdfund enables artists to get paid per listen, opening up a new form of monetization for them.

All funds from the raise are deposited into a pool that gets passed back directly to artists, with no take rate. In other words, entering this crowdfund allows you to become a direct patron of the web3 music community.

Our funding goal is 3 ETH, and we have 3 tiers of NFTs: Gold, Platinum, and Diamond

3 Editions
Collectable NFTs available exclusively for backers.

Gold (0.1 ETH, 10 editions) - Access to private community channels and early access to our mobile app

Platinum (0.2 ETH, 5 editions) - All perks of gold tier and whitelist access for an upcoming drop

Diamond (1 ETH, 1/1) - All perks of platinum and gold tiers, full product & protocol sneak peek with the team, the opportunity to work with the team to conceptualize a new feature, and a curated playlist featured on the app

How to Get Involved?

Fans

  • Can begin streaming their favorite artist’s music at tunes.wtf. Every stream counts.
  • All you need is a wallet and an internet connection to support your favorite artists!

Artists

  • Will start earning streaming revenue.
    • All proceeds raised from the crowdfund here will go directly back to the artists’ wallet addresses.
    • Artists will be paid out based on a % of the total streaming volume after 1 week is complete - between 6/12 at 12:00am ET and 6/18 at 11:59 PM ET
    • Ex. if we raise 3 ETH from the crowdfund and an artist received 5% of all the total streams they would receive 0.15 ETH
    • To ensure that the bulk of the funds make it to creators and aren’t spent on gas, we’ll perform the payouts on a side-chain or rollup instead of Ethereum mainnet. We’ll share more details on this later.
  • BONUS: option for artists to split proceeds back with their biggest fans/collectors

How Tunes Works

On the front-end, we’ve built a simple user interface where you can browse and stream your favorite web3 artists after you connect your wallet. Tunes works on both desktop and mobile browsers.

In the background, after you connect your wallet and start listening to music on Tunes, our smart contract registers every song that you listen to and how many times you’ve listened to it, all with no gas fees for you.

Features:

The “heart” button:

Every time you “heart” a song, that is also registered on-chain. And all of this data is associated with your personal wallet address.

Retro mode + sharing music:

Retro mode is an alternative browsing experience - provided to give you early 2000’s nostalgia. This mode also has a “share” button. Sharing a link can help an artist or fan drive listens - a clear opportunity for built-in organic marketing.

Light mode / dark mode:

Our Smart Contract Explained

Our smart contract can be thought of as a building block for a streaming ecosystem where data is cross-platform and fully transparent.

For each song’s unique IPFS content identifier, we store

  • The total number of hearts received
  • The total stream counts and stream counts broken down by month and week
  • Whether a specific user “hearted” a song
  • Stream counts by a user in total, and for a given month or week

This data is indexed onto the Graph protocol to deliver a fast user experience for apps built on top of the contract. The contract lives on Mumbai testnet currently, and the goal is to move it to mainnet in the future.

What Else This Unlocks

Proof of fandom:

“A decentralized fan graph”

  • Artists now have access to wallet addresses for everyone streaming their music, which can help them figure out who their top fans are beyond just their NFT collectors
  • Artists can get more insights into who their largest fans are by looking at what assets they own
    • Has this person collected NFTs before?
    • Can I reach out to this person who streams my music often, but has never purchased my NFT?
    • What is in my biggest fans' wallets?
    • Who are my biggest fans that I can reward?
  • Fans can see where they stack up against other fans

Below is an example of a query from our subgraph showing data for one song:

Were you actually early?

  • The majority of fans cannot afford to purchase a music NFT at current price points
  • Being early goes beyond just owning a music NFT
  • What if you could actually prove that you were the first to listen to a new song or discover a new artist?

Tracking this data is a big deal because it can unlock so many new ways for artists to interact with fans. For example, artists could reward their biggest fans with discounted concert tickets, NFT whitelists, or Soulbound NFTs, etc.

Community curation & discovery

Tracking streaming data also enables community curation and discovery.

Ex. One of our drops - The Metaverse Hot 100 (thehot100.xyz)

Whether you’d like to admit it or not, most music listeners want to be told what to listen to. There are already thousands of web3 songs, and it can be tough to filter through.

Fans have relied on charts since 1958 when The Billboard Hot 100 came out & making the chart X amount of times has traditionally been a status symbol.

Collectors and potential collectors can turn to a visualization like The Metaverse Hot 100 to see where their favorite artists stack up.

Transparent community-curated charts can not only enable fans to discover new music but also convert these fans to NFT collectors. The potential to build custom curation is unlimited.

Stay tuned:

We’re excited to unveil our full protocol and platform soon, further building on our philosophy to help creators monetize transparently while delivering a high-quality user experience for fans. Follow us at https://twitter.com/the402HQ to stay updated!