Riding the wave of transitioning the music industry to a digital realm, Sound, an innovative Web3 music platform, has drawn in $20 million in Series A funding, marking a significant milestone in blockchain adoption in entertainment. The funding round was spearheaded by venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and American rap icon Snoop Dogg. Notably, the Sound Ventures firm, led by Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher, and artist-producer Ryan Tedder played significant roles in the funding process.
Sound’s progressive blueprint aims at remolding the music industry by bridging the gap between artists and fans through Blockchain technology. With Sound, music creators can mint their songs as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on-chain and sell them directly to their fans. Impressively, it claims to have generated approximately $5.5 million since its beta launch in 2022, speaking volumes about the potential blockchain holds for artists.
The active involvement of acclaimed artists like Snoop Dogg injects a new layer of credibility into this venture. These artists, having critically scrutinized the prevalent music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, voice the concern that substantial earnings never reach the artists despite the popularity of their tracks. At this juncture, the leading figures of the music industry are backing the blockchain-driven wave that pushes these intermediary platforms out of the equation, promising fair earnings for artists.
Sound’s co-founder David Greenstein highlighted that traditional music streaming platforms, while providing global access to songs, have concurrently been diminishing artists’ earnings. Citing Spotify, where artists roughly receive $0.003 per stream, Greenstein underscores the value of Web3 – a vehicle for direct payments, disintermediation, and retention of 100% revenue by artists.
Tailored for technologically savvy creators, the platform allows artists to use Ethereum and layer 2 scaling solutions like Optimism to mint and sell their music for ETH. Surprisingly, fans are not required to own a crypto wallet to participate, as fiat payments are also accepted.
The shifting paradigm is gaining traction, with many artists releasing their songs as NFTs. Earlier this year, Web3 music platform Anotherblock made headlines by turning one of Rihanna’s songs into a fractionalized NFT. While promising, the question remains, how will this democratization impact traditional streaming giants and music consumers in the long run? Only time will unravel the intricate code.
Source: Cryptonews
