April, 2016

What a Blockchain for Music Really Means

music_splitsBlockchain technology is what enables Bitcoin to allow financial exchange without a middleman. It is effectively a decentralized database where participants follow a protocol to record the ownership of tokens of value and their exchange, without the need for a central entity like a bank to provide trust.

An imaginative person will jump to extend the metaphors of such a system to other domains, and of course to the music industry. A music blockchain would be a single place to publish all information about who made what song, without having to trust a third-party organization.

However, before contemplating such a solution, it is important to distinguish between two distinct but often conflated problems in the music industry—because one must be solved before the other.

Source: Mine Labs

Tagsmart’s CERTIFY: ‘DNA Fingerprinting’ Technology Offers Security for Art Market

Tagsmart CERTIFY is a unique, technology-driven platform that delivers a secure and verified solution to artwork security for the global art market.

Developed by leading framer Mark Darbyshire and product designer Steve Cooke, Tagsmart meets the needs of the art world in the digital age. Over the 20 years spent in the framing and art fabrication business, it became clear to Mark that there was a real demand for increased accountability within the art market. Mark and Steve, along with a team of industry experts*, spent 18 months developing CERTIFY as a unique solution to artwork security issues.

Source: ArtDaily

This Company Says It Can Help Musicians Find the Money the Web Owes Them

It’s hard to make any money at all on the web. But if you do make money, we can help you make sure you get your hands on it.

That’s the pitch from Stem, a startup that promises to help content-makers collect money they’re owed when their songs and videos are played online.

The Los Angeles-based company, which started last year, has raised $4.5 million in a round led by Upfront Ventures, along with backing from angels including Mark Cuban, Vayner Capital and Justin Bieber manager Scooter Braun.

Source: Re/code

Blue Raincoat Songs Inks Kobalt Deal

KOBALT-logoThe long-term worldwide administration deal will mean that Kobalt will provide a variety of publishing services to Blue Raincoat including copyright administration and royalty tracking.

Jeremy Lascelles said “Blue Raincoat Songs will be a very creatively driven operation, but we know how important it is to have really efficient registration and collection systems in place.

“Kobalt’s reputation in this area is second to none and they will provide a global resource and infrastructure that should be a perfect complement to our creative endeavours. Plus it will be nice having them on our team rather than as a competitor!”

Source: MBW

Future Of Music Coalition CEO Casey Rae On The Value Of Universal Data Standards 

Data, data, data. That’s one of the many drums Casey Rae is beating these days. For good reason — it’s bad (or missing) metadata that’s caused a number of the problems the music industry has dealt with lately; most notably the fireworks involving Spotify, its competitors, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), and the artists who feel they’ve been exploited by those digital service providers.

These data issues are the sort that Rae and his cohorts at the Future of Music Coalition have thoroughly detailed in a handful of articles; the two part series, “Where’s My Mechanicals?”; “Transparency: Why it Matters in the Digital Marketplace”; and, most recently, “It’s (Block Chain) Party and You’re Invited.” Rae is the CEO of the FMC, a Washington D.C. nonprofit that pushes for a “musical ecosystem where artists flourish and are compensated fairly and transparently for their work.”

Source: hypebot

For Digital Art, Watermarks Aim To Bring More Aura—And A Hotter Market

Thanks in no small part to the Internet, digital art is having a moment, and it’s attracting collectors too. An auction last year of GIFs, digital paintings, and printouts at Phillips in London raised over $113,000, including $3,500 paid for a website by the Dutch-Brazilian Internet artist Rafael Rozendaal.

Along with money, the budding market has also raised some interesting questions: If digital art is built on a medium prone toward reproduction, how do you make a one-of-a-kind edition? You might hang digital art on your wall, but how do you prove who made it, or that you bought it?

“Sharing art online is a double-edged sword,” says Shambhavi Kadam, a cofounder of Depict, a San Francisco-based startup that is building a physical, 4K Ultra HD picture frame, along with “watermarking” software to protect works bought and sold on its platform.

Source: Fast Company

Copyright Management: What If Instagram Used The Blockchain?

Nowadays the market for art is increasing its power thanks to social networks and platforms that allow anyone to express and publish their artistic creations on the web. Omitting the fact that we cannot always define those creations as ART, the democracy of self expression is growing up.But on the other hand – with this system, on the web – anyone can save or copy content, cheating the real author.

Source: Coin Telegraph

Nikki Sixx Launches Campaign to get YouTube to ‘Do the Right Thing’ over Music Royalties

Mötley Crüe co-founder Nikki Sixx is the latest musician to criticise YouTube over the royalties it pays out for music video streams. Sixx’s call for the video site to pay more to musicians for using their videos is part of a campaign by a coalition of prominent musicians launching this week, with pressure to be put first on YouTube, then on US legislators.

Sixx and James Michael – partner in his current band Sixx:AM – are calling for more artists to speak out and put pressure on YouTube to match the royalty payouts of music streaming rivals. A number of big names are expected to speak out this week.

Source: The Guardian

Hooper to step down as chairman of Copyright Hub Foundation 

Richard HooperRichard Hooper is to stand down as chairman of the Copyright Hub Foundation at the beginning of May.

After nearly five years in the job, Hooper will hand over the role to Mark Bide who is currently an adviser to the Foundation’s Board.

The move will mark the transition of the Copyright Hub Foundation to the next phase of its development, in which its principal focus will be on building trust in the market place and effective self-regulation; as well as continuing to facilitate the roll-out of applications and sister hubs. Bide has previously led the governance work strand on behalf of the Foundation’s board.

Source: The Bookseller

Bitstamp Becomes First Nationally Licensed Bitcoin Exchange; License Applies In 28 EU Countries 

On Monday, Bitstamp announced that Luxembourg has granted it a payment institution license, making the company the first nationally licensed Bitcoin exchange in the world.

Under the European Union’s “passport” program, which allows financial services providers legally established in one member state to operate in others, Bitstamp, the third-largest Bitcoin exchange, will also be licensed across all 28 European Union countries. The license goes into effect July 1, when Bitstamp will be operational in Luxembourg.

Bitstamp also announced the launch of euro-Bitcoin trading. Now, consumers in all EU countries wanting to exchange euros for Bitcoin and vice versa will be able to do so on a fully licensed Bitcoin exchange.

Source: Forbes

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