In the final episode of Chainlinked Season One, I explore how the digital revolution in music changed the game for recording artists and how they’re compensated. I talk with Rakan Aown from UREEQA, which is leveraging relationships in the recording industry to build a new Web3 model of compensation for artists with NFTs.
In the early days of Napster, the user experience of getting free music was simply easier than physically going somewhere to buy music. Once the downloading landscape changed and paying for music, via buying individual tracks or streaming, became just as easy as pirating music, people were happy to pay for music at a market rate.
I think it remains to be seen where the user experience for music IP goes, and while much of the music landscape remains on streaming and social platforms, the distribution and compensation side of the music industry may see the next big change. Web3 is in a unique position right now; smart contracts offer unparalleled transparency and efficiency for creating payment flows, but much of Web3’s actual point-and-click interface is still in an early phase for early adopters.
Regardless, this is an interesting conversation about the problem space in the recording industry and its perspective on crypto, NFTs, and Web3. I think it’s a perfect way to wrap up a prolific Season One of Chainlinked.
UREEQA: https://www.ureeqa.com/
Rakan Aown: https://twitter.com/rakanaown
Chainlink Labs: chainlinklabs.com
Chainlink Today: twitter.com/ChainlinkToday
Andy Boyan: twitter.com/andyboyan