In 1931, two British companies, Columbia Gramaphone and HMV merged to form Electric and Musical Industries, known as EMI. The legendary music company spawned the careers of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, The Beach Boys and Coldplay, to name a few. EMI, like every music recording or publishing company, is a music catalogue business. Their model is to acquire catalogues, bring them to the masses and earn from the music usage.
Over the years, EMI has embraced any new technology that came about to drive music discovery and adoption. This is because tech has always driven music and, in a loop, music has driven tech. Arguably, every single musical instrument - from a primitive flute, through the violin and the Moog synth, to Abelton Live - has inspired and facilitated music creatives to take their ideas to incredible places, motivating them to search and discover new technology to produce or deliver the sounds in our heads.
In order to travel, sheet music morphed into vinyl, which morphed into the cassette, then CD, until finally becoming digital. Our capacity to innovate music and music technology is restricted only by our imagination. Music makes tech sexy and TokenTraxx is taking this concept to the next exciting level.
TokenTraxx is a music platform that develops Web3 tools which innovate the way we all engage with music.
Music3
Music1 - Listen
Music2 - Listen + Share
Music3 - Listen + Share + Own
Music3, or Music 3.0, accompanied the emergence of Web3 ideas and is based on the same principles which are shaping the new iteration of the Internet - decentralization, blockchain technology and the token-based economy.
The new concept expands on earlier environments and engagement possibilities. In short, Music 1.0 enabled listening, Music 2.0 listening and sharing and, finally, Music 3.0 is introducing a new variable to the mix - owning your input to the listening and sharing experience.
I've been a professional music creative for 30 years, working as a music producer, songwriter, DJ and artist - signed to major labels and publishers, worked with big and small music creators and sold and streamed billions along the way. I've seen the pitfalls, the traps and the sharks, but I've also seen the incredible power and beauty of music and how it can transform lives. I am lucky enough to say I know you because I have been every type of you, from struggling, banging on the door, desperate to get my music heard, feeling totally unloved you, to award-winning multi-platinum, the flavour of the month and bashing away the superstars because I just don't have the time you.
It's always a slog and it never gets easier, but above all, the power of music to beguile and mesmerise all of us never ceases to amaze and just about makes it all worthwhile. I know that when the right tools are available to anyone, everyone gets a chance.
But right now the system is lopsided, weighted towards the very few, culminating in one of the best periods of music discovery for fans but one of the worst for a music Creator's income. 65% of pro musicians in the UK earn less than $20K a year and 95% of artists on Spotify make less than $1K a year. Today, it's extremely hard to be a full-time music creative making a living. There's a wealth of amazing music out there, it's just not getting the exposure or funding it deserves. We're determined to change all that with TokenTraxx.
The TokenTraxx mission
The TokenTraxx mission is to bring the concept of value back to music - something that has been sadly lacking over the last 10 years.
TokenTraxx takes a 360 approach, providing innovative tech to reward all members of the music ecosystem. We call them The 3C's - Creators, Curators and Collectors. They complete the world of music making, discovery and engagement and now, with Music3 - trading and owning.
(Photo : TokenTraxx co-founder TommyD in the studio)
Tokentraxx is a team of music and crypto specialists whose sole aim is to help you develop your music, find and engage with your true fans and then build bespoke Music3 packages to securely manage that relationship.
Your fans win because they get closer to you and to support on every level, and for the first time have the ability to trade that support. You win, as your music will be recognised and your art will be supported for the beautiful and incredible talent which it embodies.
1000 true fans become 100 true partners
In 2008 the founder of Wired magazine, Kevin Kelly, wrote a piece which highlighted that in a world obsessed with millions of social media likes and views, those numbers, in regard to real engagement and more importantly actual funding, meant nothing in the long run for creators. He pointed out that if you could actually focus on 1000 'true fans', capable of each paying you $100 over the course of a year, you would end up with $100K a year, which is a living wage. This puts food on the table and clothes on your kids' backs and all from your creative output.
These 'true fans' are the ones at the front of the queue, the ones that buy the coloured vinyl album, that meet and greet just so they can get a selfie with you and all while sporting your merch, which of course they own every piece of! The main driver of these true fans is the fact that they believe in you as a person - defined by your creativity and everything you stand for. You're living their dream life and fighting their fight for them. They want to be closer than everyone else, they love the status that brings and they'll pay for it. Kelly was actually ahead of the curve and arguably, could have been gazing into a crystal ball to where the creator economy is today.
Now, with blockchain and NFTs, I believe you don't need 1000 true fans. You only need 100! Not the one-sided remuneration affair fans - you need partners. A partner is someone who has skin in the game - in creating and nurturing your success.
An idea starts with its creator and as the creator, your IP is yours to trade. With Music3 the concept of music ownership is front and centre. When you own something you have the right to trade that ownership. This ownership could be wrapped up in a rare version of a track, an exclusive piece of merch, or an ongoing VIP pass that allows access to all your gigs.
You can do this in two ways: the first is the traditional way, using emails for connection and credit cards for payment. We've seen a huge increase in platforms like Patreon and Only Fans who use this model.
However, this model relies on a trusted, yet old system that is too broad and has many limitations - once again supporting a one-sided trade, with the fan not really controlling the situation.
NFTs and Blockchain are the answer
NFTs and blockchain tech elevate this concept to new heights, with the structure of providence, transparency and security at the centre. Everybody can digitally prove transactions between wallet addresses, as well as any contracts that are written since all the information is readily available and securely stored on the blockchain.
NFTs aren't a product as such, they are a bag of rules - if X happens then Y happens. This can be interpreted as a digital certificate of authentication for proving not only that the thing or art the NFT is attached to generates back to the original creator but also the subsequent journey that NFT goes on through trades and transfers.
(Photo : TokenTraxx forthcoming drop: Graffiti6 Revolution)
So for example, imagine a music creator creates a collection of 100 1/ 1 NFTs around their forthcoming single. Each one of these NFTs is unique, easily traced back to the creator and authenticated. Because of this rarity, each individual NFT has a higher starting price - let's say $500. Within the NFT itself, attached to the music, is exclusive never before seen artwork. If the creator can ramp up the interest and value in the project within their own fan base and the wider NFT community, then there's a good chance they may sell out. In this scenario, their forthcoming single instantly granted $50K.
How Ed Sheeran could have supported his first single with an NFT
But here's why creators only need 100 invested partners and where NFTs triumph over the more traditional subscription route.
Let's say those 1/1 NFTs increase in value as the creator adds some extra utility - perhaps the opportunity to claim a free T-shirt or a backstage pass for their next gig. Perhaps the artist is a young Ed Sheeran and his currency just naturally rises due to his popularity. Now let's imagine that 50 people who originally bought those NFTs decided to sell them on the secondary market for $1000 a pop. 10% of those sales go back to the creator, that's another $5K. If their value continues to go up and they eventually start changing hands at $5000, that would generate another $25K for the artist, and so on and so on. Suddenly, true fans became true partners.
This involved only one single release. What about an album? Gigs? Merchandise? Meet and greets? Their baseball camp? Even a portion of their overall income? All of that could have an NFT structure included.
Perhaps the Creator could do a tiered VIP membership scheme as well, like Amex, or Airmiles, for the real hardcore, whereby ongoing exclusive access to them - either offered as a one-off purchase or through a combination of NFT sales that when grouped together open doors.
The more your fans engage, the more you can give them. This is digital and enshrined on the blockchain, so very easy to manage and target on every level. What is fascinating about this model is that it runs in tandem with the current system and of course, adds to whatever income you've been generating up to now, through streams, sales, syncs, touring and merch.
Your stream is your calling card, NFTs are the products you sell
Ironically, the current system of easy discovery through streaming actually benefits the Music3 concept. People find you through streaming, fall in love with your music, see its potential and then head over to TokenTraxx to buy whatever NFT drop is available. If they can't find something directly from you, they can give it a shot and search the secondary market.
Your stream is your calling card, NFTs are the products you sell.
Of course, this isn't a get-out-of-jail card for the likes of Spotify or Apple Music, or the worst of them all - YouTube. Music3 provides a credible alternative system, which in time will put pressure on the rest of the music discovery and engagement companies to up their game and find ways to keep themselves relevant.
As you can see, there is a very strong chance that you could generate a living wage of around $100K a year. Of course, your music still has to be good, your concept engaging and your ability to offer consistently great engaging products to your core community is essential. Not to forget straight-up hard work promoting! Hours in the back of a van travelling to play a gig to a handful of people has been replaced with hours on Twitter Spaces promoting your drops.
But you're a music creator and that's what you do anyway right? You want your music to be heard and loved by as many people as possible and with streaming, you have that potential. Financially, you just need it to be loved by 100 true fans, fans that become your true partners in making your music a success.
100 True partners - they enjoy everything you do, appreciate all your talent and now, for the first time, can be financially rewarded for that love and support.
TommyD is the Originator and Founder of TokenTraxx and an award winning, multi-platinum music producer and DJ. Worked with Kanye West, JayZ, Beyonce, Kylie, Rita Ora and Frank Ocean. 60m units sold. Over 1BN streams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommyd-danvers-993b1b1b/
@TommyDanvers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TommyD
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of musictimes.com
