If you’re just joining in on this stream of thoughts and feels, start here…
…Where we determined “Decentralized Music Streaming Tools” to be DMSTs for short and timestamped the term Economy of Sound “coined” (no pun intended) by PROPHETA in this conversation during our studio sesh for an ambient meditation track a couple years back. (What do you get when two Pisces start swimming in interplanetary conversation together? A glimpse into universal consciousness and the collective future…)
What is an Economy of Sound? I believe we are smack-dab in the middle of defining this. The focus here is not just on the audio/visual art of NFTs but the simple necessity for sharing music and the protocols we are building in #web3 to do so. The nature of sound/audio itself as a fluid and valuable currency (read: energy current) that passes between listeners in an unseen way, this is the Economy of Sound.
“We are the source of value.” ~ Niran Babalola,
Why DMST and not DMSS (Decentralized Music Streaming Service)? Personally I am seeing various technologies as tools in the space right now for collecting, organizing, playing and getting compensated for music. The service being provided is by the artists and musicians. The software or app is a tool to gain access to the services they’re providing. Is this arguable? Yes, but we’re gonna rock with it for simplicity sake. It is also worth noting that not all platforms being reviewed are for streaming, some have features that would be cool to integrate into a streaming tool but as I do more research I realize I am patch working some very specific features together here and not one project has combined it all in the ways I am looking for on web3. And in this process I am discovering that one does not need to. The need is more so the capability to easily curate (aesthetically customizable) environments with plugged-in features for ourselves.
“Even if we do not yet grasp the full applications and implications, the sheer number of ideas and initiatives sparked by the core idea itself is encouraging, and gives us a glimpse at the limitless potential of our minds - we are architecting and co-creating our own future ‘reality’.” ~ KERNEL
“Stop thinking of computers as a screen into which you type things from a keyboard. Start seeing the world itself as an infinitely programmable playground, access to which only requires a few magical words anyone, anywhere can create when they learn the basics of a new order of language.” ~ Intro to KERNEL
The quote above is pulled from a crypto course that allows us to expand our minds to the potentials and infinite possibilities of this new language from a programming perspective. Below, the quote from Vitalik regarding the thinking behind the genesis of Ethereum protocol, lays the foundation for how to best approach these reviews. There is no navigating the terrain of web3 without knowing what’s up with Ethereum first...
"Instead of having a protocol that is designed around one very small set of use cases, you just create a general-purpose operating system and you let people build whatever they want as applications on top of it."
These reviews are a snapshot of my current observations of this landscape at this very moment. The technologies, communities, current platforms, protocols and potentials for reconfigurations to come together in modular and unique ways is exciting and will surely be evolving quickly as more and more artists and developers recognize the capabilities of tracking value for art in alternative manners.
Check out this Fireside chat from KERNEL with Niran Babalola, founder of Panvala, with regards to how communities can come together to diversify the directions in which we utilize the web3 technologies and channel our energies more efficiently while moving away from the narratives that the technology is determining how we direct our communities.
Below I give a brief summary, little bit on tech, pros and cons and my closing thoughts/notes for each that I have come across or have been recommended to check out thus far. These are NOT exhaustive reviews, they are my surface level observations of the UX/UI, features and the little bit I know about each brand. I’ve kept in my thoughts/notes as I went through each platform some of the questions that initially came to mind. Some of these questions were then later answered by another project, 2.0 development or integration. This is my raw process as I start to swim through the sound waves of web3. I’ve also learned a ton through this process and the evolution of thought, vocabulary and possibilities naturally grows and adapts to this throughout these reviews. I was just getting my feet wet in web3 at the beginning of this process. I am now fully immersed.
In this post I’ll be reviewing Audius, Sound, YouSound, Catalog, Opus, Rug Radio and BPM 2.0.
Special shout out @feelosopher777 for sparking the inspiration for this on my original Tweet. I don’t know you, but I appreciate you!
Summary: “Giving everyone the freedom to distribute, monetize, and stream unstoppable audio.”
Summary: “SOUND GIVES ARTISTS THE CHANCE TO DEBUT NEW MUSIC AS A SET OF NFTS. EACH EDITION OF THE NFT IS NUMBERED UNIQUELY, SO LISTENERS CAN SHOWCASE THEIR EARLY SUPPORT. SINCE EARLY EDITIONS ARE CONSIDERED MORE VALUABLE THAN LATER EDITIONS, BACKERS ARE INCENTIVIZED TO DISCOVER NEW MUSIC EARLY.”
Side note inspired by the above: I wonder if there is a way to create a tool that allows listeners to stream in a playlist without buying and those that have bought the music along with the artist can then be rewarded by # of streams/popularity from those utilizing the platform as a DMST?
Summary: “All for you.”
Summary: “One of one digital records. Owned by you. Free from platforms. A blank canvas for a new world of music ownership. Catalog exists to prove the inherent value of music and music discovery. We believe artists should be able to make a living from their music on their own terms. We’re a music platform for artists to press and sell one-of-one digital records, and for listeners to discover, listen to, and collect music from incredible independent artists.”
Summary: “Help artists generate the revenue they deserve.”
Summary: “Rug Radioᴳᴹ is the first fully decentralized media platform. What does this mean? It means that our community, our hosts, and you own the platform you participate in. Why is it important? Because we need to own the memes, the conversations and the narrative. Ownership means we each get to decide what we consume, how it's delivered, and we all benefit from the abundance we create through it.”
Summary: I am — first and foremost — a bot. The BPM Bot. Your favourite Music NFT discord bot. That’s correct. I stream Music NFTs into Discord calls. And I’ve been doing so ever since the month of September 2021, when my makers first made me. You can read all about my birth here and here. BPM 2.0 now supports Music NFTs from Catalog, Zora and Sound…”
Worth mentioning here is HiFi Labs which is going to be a go-to for the artists and artist development in getting onboarded to the various web3 spaces that are on the rise and on the horizon in an attempt to close the tech barrier to entry…
The above tools, brands and services offer unique insight into the areas in which we are evolving as music lovers and makers. In this research I have clarified the dynamic features I am particularly looking for in a dashboard or localized app tool that offers:
To “own” or back a portion of the audio as a fan, in streaming, is where this space is exciting. To back an artist early and continue to drive their success, while also getting supported in doing so to reinvest in future projects or reinvest in other artists feels like a really incredible possibility here.
I am unsure how the math or smart contracts will look for this or if there needs to be a cap for how many supporters/sponsors the audio should/could have but this returns the agency back to the artists to determine this for themselves upon upload.
Copyright, ASCAP, BMI, all of this publishing is up for reinterpretation. As creators and music makers we must keep these new possibilities in mind. Innovations are ripe and it is not a race. We are not competing in this space. The environments that are being cultivated across the board in web3 are collaborative and complementary. Let’s keep it that way by contributing our unique ideas to the greater good of all involved and build off the things that currently work.
Access to a robust database of music, remixes, mixes and podcasts is personally the most important to me. In this web3 world I want to trust that the files I am streaming are being tracked and paying back all involved as set up in their smart contract. A, dare I say, centralized space or hub that all NFT collections are indexed or searchable to add to a playlist interface for listening.
There are systems and protocols that do work in the current designs. I don’t see the future of streaming as a central “platform” anymore. Languaging is slowly shifting to represent what this next evolution will be. I am most curious to see modularity and customizable capabilities to integrate into a sort of blank canvas space. Each team of devs contributing new plug-ins, protocols and features that can be adopted into your own personal environment via drop and drop while being able to access the music or audio NFT databases of your choice. Something The Graph is a helpful resource for. For design and organization, an interface created with a sort of customized builder along the conceptual lines of the Universe Web Builder App for creating our own app/landing pages for listening.
A mixing and meshing, a fluidity of digital music loving communities.
Music is the uniting force. Let’s see what we can create with open-source.
What ideas or wishlist features do you have for a DMST?
@ me on Twitter, let’s jam on it and circle back for round 2 of reviews coming soOn…
((( 💗 )))