Audius tunes up blockchain-to-wallet music-streaming service

The Future. Blockchain-backed music streaming service Audius has raised a new round of funding from various musicians and tastemakers in the industry. They were all wooed by the ability to receive payments in real-time, while also setting the stage for a crypto-powered fan economy. If the platform takes off, Audius could show that music-listening is only one aspect of the future of streaming.

Celebrity notes
Musicians are pouring money into a streamer that will get them paid quicker.

• Three-year-old San Francisco-based Audius raised $5 million in strategic funding raised by a laundry list of the who’s who of the music world.
• Investors include Katy Perry, Mike Shinoda, Steve Aoki, Disclosure, former Sony/ATV Music Publishing CEO Martin Bandier, and U2 manager Guy Oseary.

So what attracted the heavy hitters? Audius pays artists practically in real-time since the streaming service is connected to the blockchain. Imagine watching the pennies rolling in with each listen… or at least 90% of the pennies. The other 10% goes to a community pool that keeps the service running.

Encore economy
Rolling Stone points out that there hasn’t been such a collection of talent behind a single service since the rise of Jay-Z’s Tidal, which has since been sold to payments-services company Square (Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey are in all sorts of business together). That service has yet to live up to its hype. But, veteran exec Bandier said he invested in Audius because it’s “not simply a Spotify 2.0.″

Bandier continues: “Streaming is just one small, albeit meaningful, part of its business model. The blockchain is enabling entirely new revenue streams for artists and creators, like NFTs, social currency, and curation. Audius is not only using the blockchain to add potentially significant revenue streams for artists, but it also allows them to cooperatively own the platform itself.”

And to make sure that musicians and fans don’t have to know the ins and outs of blockchain tech to use the platform, Audius immediately creates a crypto wallet upon signup.

Audius currently has six million users, and recently became the first streaming service to officially partner with TikTok.