Audius is a decentralized music streaming platform built on blockchain technology that is designed to empower artists and curators. By uploading their music to Audius, artists can create immutable records that are secured by a network of decentralized nodes. This helps artists take more control over their work and streamline the traditional music industry by connecting them directly to their fans.
Artists can monetize their music on the platform in various ways. They can choose to distribute their music for free or set custom fees to unlock exclusive content. Unlike other music streaming platforms, Audius does not take a percentage of artists' revenue. Instead, 90% of the revenue in AUDIO, Audius' native cryptocurrency, goes to music curators, while the remaining 10% is distributed among stakers who support the Audius network.
AUDIO is an ERC-20 token that also acts as the governance token on Audius. Holders of AUDIO can participate in the governance of Audius, stake their tokens to help secure the network and gain access to exclusive content. Stakers can also earn AUDIO rewards for their contributions to the platform.
Basics
The advent of music streaming services has significantly increased accessibility to music. Nonetheless, artists continue to encounter issues such as low revenue, lack of transparency, and little control over their distribution channels. To address these obstacles, Audius seeks to enable music creators by utilizing its unique cryptocurrency, AUDIO, to facilitate the monetization of their content.
Co-founded in 2018 by Roneil Rumburg and Forrest Browning, Audius is a music streaming platform that leverages its native cryptocurrency, AUDIO, to support artists directly. By cutting out the traditional record label barriers, Audius grants artists exclusive ownership of their work and complete control over monetization.
Unlike other platforms that determine artists' revenue based on the number of song plays, Audius curators receive 90% of the revenue in AUDIO tokens, while the remaining 10% is given to stakers supporting the Audius network. To enhance its performance due to increased demand, Audius migrated its content management system to the Solana blockchain in 2020, although AUDIO remains an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain.
Audius operates as a fully decentralized layer 2 blockchain protocol built on the POA Network Ethereum sidechain. AUDIO tokens, which are ERC-20 governance tokens, enable stakers to vote on proposals concerning network changes and upgrades. Holders can also stake AUDIO tokens to access exclusive features.
How Does Audius Work?
Audius offers a decentralized music streaming platform that aims to solve the music industry's challenges by allowing artists to distribute, monetize, and stream music with freedom. The platform provides a direct interaction between artists and their audiences, which eliminates intermediaries.
Unlike traditional channels, Audius doesn't only pay artists based on the number of track plays but also considers their platform activity, interactions with fans, and user engagement. Artists can upload their songs via the decentralized nodes and earn revenue from their content without giving up ownership.
Audius offers artist tokens for artists to engage with their community. Holders of artist tokens gain exclusive access to token-restricted content, such as unreleased tracks, remix competitions, etc. Additionally, Audius plans to airdrop AUDIO tokens occasionally to artists based on their level of social engagement with fans and the number of listens. In the future, Audius plans to add support for USDT and other stablecoins, allowing fans to unlock paid content.
What Is an AUDIO Token?
Audius protocol is powered by its native cryptocurrency, the AUDIO token, which performs three essential roles in the platform's ecosystem. The token is an ERC-20 token, and it has a total supply of 1 billion with no maximum supply limit.
The AUDIO token plays a significant role in securing the Audius network, serving as a governance token, and granting access to exclusive content and features. Token holders can use their AUDIO tokens to vote on critical proposals regarding network upgrades, changes, and feature updates. Moreover, they can stake their AUDIO coins to unlock exclusive features such as airdrops, limited edition NFTs, and exclusive artist tokens.
Network Security
Audius is a decentralized network that uses nodes to secure its platform. Anyone can become a node operator by staking AUDIO tokens. By running the protocol operations, node operators can earn AUDIO from the ongoing token issuance and aggregated fee pools. The higher the stake, the higher the chance their nodes are used by fans to discover music content.
The Audius network has two types of nodes: content nodes and discovery nodes. Content nodes manage content on behalf of the artists, and artists can also choose to run their own content nodes. Meanwhile, discovery nodes index metadata and music uploaded to the Audius content ledger for fans to quickly search for artists or songs.
Nodes on the network will take snapshots of the artists' work and submit them to the blockchain. This creates immutable time-stamped records for the content.
Governance
Participating in Audius operations as a content node or discovery node is not the only use case for the AUDIO token. The token also serves as a governance token, providing holders with voting power. To earn governance power, users must continuously create value for the network.
Stakers on Audius don't need to run a node to share their opinions on the network. The community is encouraged to give feedback on the protocol. Each AUDIO token provides one vote. AUDIO rewards are structured to align with the interests of artists, fans, and node operators, enabling a more decentralized and rewarding music streaming experience.
Feature Access
Audius allows for the use of the AUDIO token to provide exclusive features for fans and artists. Artists can use the token to better engage with their fans and grow their audience. By staking their AUDIO, artists gain access to content distribution tools to distribute artist tokens to fans. These tokens give fans exclusive access to the artist's content and experiences, such as listening to unreleased tracks or remix competitions.
Audius users can unlock four VIP tiers by holding a certain amount of AUDIO in their wallet. The higher the amount of AUDIO, the higher the VIP tier. After reaching the minimum threshold, users earn a profile badge, granting them access to new features as soon as they are released. The community can alter the requirements and benefits of each tier through governance.
What Is the Main Audius Difference?
Audius sets itself apart from other streaming platforms like Spotify by utilizing blockchain technology, which allows artists and creators to share their music with greater control over their content. Co-founders have stated that 90% of the platform's revenue goes directly to the artists, compared to the traditional industry standard of just 12%.
Additionally, Audius involves AUDIO token holders, whether they are fans or artists, in the decision-making process for the network. Holding one AUDIO token gives them one vote to participate in the governance of the protocol. This is a unique feature not found on other music streaming services.
Audius has also partnered with TikTok, making it the first music streaming platform to do so. This collaboration allows TikTok users to directly add songs from the Audius platform to their videos. Audius has also integrated with DeFi Land, a blockchain game, in the form of an FM radio tower in the metaverse, which could help promote artists.
Conclusion
Audius is more than just another music streaming service. It has the potential to revolutionize the music industry and change the way artists share their music with the world. What sets Audius apart is its innovative use of blockchain technology, which enables it to function in a decentralized manner. This not only gives artists more control over their content but also allows them to earn a more reasonable pay. Furthermore, Audius demonstrates how blockchain applications can be applied in various aspects of our daily lives, both in the real world and the metaverse.