March, 2016

The Accidental Blockchain Evangelist

benji.rogersPledgeMusic founder and CEO Benji Rogers did not set out to become the leader of a movement when he posted his now-famous essay last November describing how the blockchain — the technological underpinning of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin — could be used to untangle the notoriously Byzantine world of music licensing and payments.

It was more a thought experiment than a business plan.

But his ideas struck such a chord in the industry that Rogers has been thrust into the unwonted role of leading spokesman for the use of blockchain in the music business.

“I could never have imagined that the article I wrote would have the impact that it has,” Rogers would write a few months later in a follow up post. “In the short time since it came out, I have been overwhelmed by offers to speak publicly, offers of help and even offers to fund ‘what you are building.’ So I need to be clear here before we begin: this is not something that I am building.”

There are many in and around the music industry who would like to try, however.

A New Chapter in Artist Revenue

This week my company, OpenAura, made an announcement that signals the beginning of a new era for the music industry: previously artists got paid for their music, now we are helping them get paid for their images.

Our first customer products have launched, the first royalty checks have been issued, and a new revenue stream is coming alive. I’ve been working towards this goal for years, so I wanted to share why I started the company, and where I think the industry is heading. I’ve been lucky to spend a large part of my life doing something very important to me: helping artists (and those that support them) make a living by helping them reach their audiences.

Source: Medium

David Lowery Talks Lawsuits, Licensing and Free Streaming

David Lowery is feeling positive, three months after he flung the cat into the music-streaming pigeons with his role as the example plaintiff in a proposed class-action lawsuit against Spotify over its publishing licensing.

The $150m lawsuit over the mechanicals element of songwriter royalties was soon joined by a second – a $200m lawsuit – from fellow artist Melissa Ferrick. More followed for other streaming services from musician John Emanuele and his publisher Yesh Music. Meanwhile, Spotify has announced a settlement with the US National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) to license songs and pay songwriters their missing royalties; and journalists have been hastily brushing up on their knowledge of the ins and outs of US copyright law.

Source: MusicAlly

Cooking Vinyl Australia Launches Music Publishing Division, Matthew Donlevy to Lead

Australia’s music publishing sector has a new indie player. Less than three years after opening for business Down Under, Cooking Vinyl Australia, the Australasian division of Martin Goldschmidt’s Cooking Vinyl Group, is launching a music publishing division.

Matthew Donlevy will oversee Cooking Vinyl Publishing Australia, and is tasked with signing and nurturing songwriters from Australia and New Zealand for development both domestically and abroad.

Source: Billboard

Soundstripe Simplifies Music Licensing for Visual Creatives

1457843258331Soundstripe is changing the way visual creatives (filmmakers, marketers, agencies, churches, etc.) access and obtain stock music, sourcing affordable high-quality video production music via their new platform, Soundstripe.com.

Music licensing has been a very complicated matter for many years. From multiple pricing tiers based on usage, to intimidating contracts and publishing agreements, Soundstripe aims to fix all of that.

“We want filmmakers to get in, get their music, and get back to creating,” says Travis Terrell, Co-CEO.

Microsoft Adds Ethereum to Windows Platform For Over 3 Million Developers

Millions of Microsoft developers are now able to build decentralized applications using the Ethereum blockchain thanks to a collaboration between the software giant and ConsenSys, announced today.

By building Ethereum’s Solidity programming language for writing smart contracts directly into Mircosoft’s Visual Studio platform, developers will be able to build, test and deploy decentralized applications, or dapps, within an integrated environment they already know how to use.But don’t think this is a money play for either ConsenSys, or Microsoft, at least not yet.

Source: CoinDesk

Songwriters Strike a Discordant Note Over Control of Their Music

Knowledge@Wharton: Set the backdrop as to how this decree came into play and why the U.S. Justice Department is looking to make this change.

Lawrence Gelburd: Let’s start with copyright. When you’re part of a team that writes a song, or maybe you’re the sole songwriter, you initially have a set of copyrights and there are multiple rights. One is to have the song performed on the radio. There are mechanical license rights. So you own the right to say, “You can make a physical copy,” like a CD or an LP, and sell it. You also have sync license.

So you have the right as the copyright owner to give someone who’s making a film or a motion picture access to use your song legally in conjunction with that picture.

There are also grand rights for theatrical performances and print rights.This copyright that you own is a set of rights, one of which is the right for performing rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. They collect money, for example, from terrestrial radio, so that’s their focus. And they have strength in numbers. ASCAP has almost a half-million members, and BMI is quite large as well.

Source: Knowledge@Wharton

Stratumn is Building a Sort of Heroku for Blockchain Applications

Meet Stratumn, a Paris-based startup that wants to create a platform-as-a-service for developers interested in the blockchain. With Stratumn, you can build, deploy and run applications on the company’s platform, and these applications can communicate with the bitcoin blockchain.

It’s like Heroku, but for blockchain developers.The company just raised $670,000 (€600,000) from Otium Venture and business angels, such as Ledger Wallet CEO Eric Larchevêque.

Source: TechCrunch

PwC Report: Blockchain a ‘Once in a Generation’ Opportunity for Financial Services

Blockchain marks the next “jump” in business process/optimization technology, according to a newly-released PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report on fintech.

The report, “Blurred lines: How FinTech is shaping Financial Services,” compares blockchain to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software that allowed entities and functions within a business to optimize processes by sharing logic and data within the enterprise.

Blockchain, according to the 36-page report, will enable entire industries to optimize business processes by sharing data among organizations that have separate or competing economic objectives. It notes that blockchain combines a number of cryptographic, mathematical and economic principles to maintain a database of market participants without requiring a third party reconciliator or validator.

Source: CCN

Will the Blockchain Expedite the IoT Revolution?

Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency in the world, but the currency might be overshadowed by a decentralized ledger system called “the blockchain,” which is starting to make its way into the Internet of Things (IoT) market.

The blockchain in IoT could solve the trust issues various developers, engineering firms, and businesses face when building smart devices that can communicate and operate autonomously. According to Pulse’s online editor, Sena Quashie, it might be the biggest innovation of the decade.

Source: ReadWrite

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