en
Back to the list

Katy Perry, The Chainsmokers Lead 5M Strategic Investment in Blockchain Music Streaming Platform Audius – BlockTribune

source-logo  blocktribune.com 17 September 2021 01:40, UTC

br>

Audius, the blockchain-enabled music platform with more than 6 million monthly users, has announced a new $5 million round of strategic funding from several of the biggest names in the music industry, including Katy Perry, The Chainsmokers Nas, Steve Aoki, Jason Derulo, and many more. Other industry supporters currently include Maverick Founder Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures, John Josephson of SESAC, and Martin Bandier, former CEO of Sony Music.

Audius connects fans directly with artists and exclusive new music. It does this by being fully decentralized: Audius is owned and run by a vibrant, open-source community of artists, fans, and developers all around the world. Artists such as Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, Russ, Diplo, Skrillex, MadeinTyo, Deadmau5, and over one hundred thousand other artists have all uploaded music to the site, which serves as a boundless creative music community rather than a competitor to traditional online music platforms. While the network has catered favorably to independent artists in the past, this news reflects Audius’ first step toward integrating with the existing industry in a cooperative and exciting way.

The latest funding investment was originated by Blockchange Ventures, an early stage blockchain venture fund that has made over eighty investments in the space and manages over $1 billion in assets.

Some of the biggest artists in the world see the need for alternatives to the current business model. The Chainsmokers, for example, are excited to revisit the roots of their initial success, specifically the ability to share new content with fans more directly:

“We got our start sharing music directly with fans and so we are really aligned with the way Audius uses the blockchain to enhance the artist-fan relationship. We plan to upload the stuff we play live, which we wouldn’t typically share on traditional music platforms. It’s a purer alternative to the more polished album rollouts that we will continue to deliver. As an artist it’s empowering to share different creative choices and to test stuff out in a lower-stakes environment. Additionally, for us the role of developing a community around our music has always allowed us to grow and motivated us to take risks. Audius continues to empower the artists and their community to seek freedom in all aspects of their art as the music business hopefully shifts more in favor of the artists fueling the economy.”

blocktribune.com