We are very proud to introduce Rikki Blu, a highly gifted rapper from Dallas, who’s impressive career has resulted in features with Isaiah Rashad and sharing the stage with Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky. You can read more about him below in our newest artist announcement.

Here are this week’s questions for the Q&A. We are positively overwhelmed by the amount of questions we get each time, so don’t forget to send us more on our form, Discord, Telegram, or via e-mail at info@opus-foundation.org.

1. Where did the name ‘Opus’ come from? Did you choose it because it sounded good or is there a story behind it?

The idea of Opus came to be from discussions and thoughts on the music industry and the problems it faces. Part of the discussions were about how, ironically, music as an art form (also sometimes called the artist’s magnum opus, in Latin) is often disregarded by the music industry, which is why musicians frequently receive a shockingly small fraction of the revenues they generate. What started as a few interesting conversations over some cups of coffee soon turned into Opus.

The founders decided to create something more fair, more transparent. They wanted to give the artist’s magnum opus back to the artist, and so the name Opus was born.

2. What do you project as the maximum file storage of Opus?

Let’s do a few calculations Assuming we have 10 million tracks, of average size 10MB (about 4 minutes long) each, and the mp3 bitrate of 320kbps corresponds to 2.4MB/min, we will need approximately 100TB of disk space.

We will be establishing our own IPFS nodes on different continents to ensure that the platform works seamlessly and files can be accessed without any significant delay. We are also looking into using systems such as Filecoin, where users are rewarded for sharing their storage.

3. Will Opus be a fully decentralized system, or there will be centralized points to store, for example, decryption keys and information about the music (artist, album, cover image)?

The first version of the Opus player will not be entirely decentralized, but it will be as decentralized as we can make it. There are a lot of factors to consider to ensure that the platform is of the highest quality and easy to use, and that will allow us to continuously develop it. Holding off fully decentralizing the platform is, presently, the best course of action.

Blockchain technology is relatively new and most startups operating in this area are still experimenting and trying out new ways to solve problems. As such, having the first version of the player be fully decentralized would entail various risks, including the possibility of piracy and copyright infringement without a system to verify tracks uploaded to the platform, which we intend to build.

We constantly have our mission in mind and therefore, following the launch of the player and the development of technology, we will strive to make Opus as decentralized as possible. The approach we are taking at the moment will guarantee that the platform is fully functional and will not be put at risk in any way, which full decentralization at this time cannot promise.

From a technological point of view, a proof-of-work type blockchain is not suitable for transaction systems because of the high frequency of saving data. We will be using the tested and scalable solution provided by PostgreSQL and the server giving access to the API. We are also researching side-chain systems like Raidos and Ethereum sharding technologies for alternatives.

4. Do you plan to make the project open source after some time so that it could become truly decentralized?

For now, we are not developing in the open because of the increasing competition in this market. As described in the previous question, the first version of the Opus player will not be fully decentralized to ensure the long-term sustainability of the platform; however, with its continued development and the growth of blockchain technologies, we will certainly consider taking this approach and developing in the open.

5. What is Raiden and why could it be implemented?

Raiden is a side-chain used to group microtransactions and sending their results to the Ethereum main-net. This uses state-channels technology, which groups the transactions before sending them to the main-net. Raiden thereby reduces the time and cost of completing transactions on the main-net and would potentially allow for the scaling of the platform to help a great number of users adopt the Opus player.

We are considering using the next generation of Raiden, called Raidos, which would enable better smart contract scaling, not only for transactions with ERC20 tokens.

We are still closely observing the development of Raiden and will update you in due time to let you know if we will be using this technology.

6. How will piracy be handled on your platform?

This is a very important issue which we take very seriously. There will be a system to verify the authors of every track. There are two options we are considering: a team that would check that every track is what the person uploading it says it is and that the person uploading it has the rights to the file; the second option is integrating the platform with DRM.

7. Have you considered also adding other physical music-related content to the platform, such as trading concert tickets?

This will not be possible in the first version of the player, but we are considering adding more content in the future.

8. Will anyone be able to upload content to the platform?

Yes, following the necessary verification, anyone will be able to upload content to the Opus player.

9. With the initial userbase, do you think 5% of the revenue will be enough to sustain the maintaining of the Opus player?

According to our initial calculations, 5% should be sufficient to maintain the platform; however, we are flexible and ready to adapt to changing situations.

10. How is the network held up on IPFS? Are there miners specific to Opus?

When an artist uploads a file to the platform, it is uploaded to our IPFS node which then syncs it with the other nodes connected to our own. This process is automatic. Following the sync, the file will be available in the gateways of all the connected nodes, which should be done almost in real time. In practice, however, the delay usually takes a few minutes.

Rikki Blu

The vision and experiences of Dallas-born artist Rikki Blu are far beyond his 24 years of life. His ability to take an instrumental canvas and create within it a moving and tangible world for the listener, through slick wordplay and street wisdom, is one that is rivaled by very few of his occupation — both past and present.

A nomad of sorts, Rikki has been spending time developing creative relationships and making music in Tennessee, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. His previous projects, “XXXIII,” (a 15-track opus dedicated to his late mother) and the “Pleasant Grove EP,” have received due praise from 2DOPEBOYZ, The Source, XXL, AllHipHop and other distinguished media outlets.

Rikki’s to-be-released album, “You Can’t Make Me,” proves to build on previous releases, with each track being sharper and harder than the last. He has shared the stage with Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, and Sza, among others, and has features with artists like Isaiah Rashad and OG Maco.

His skill is matched only by his hunger, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world catches wind. And when that happens, it’ll be more than well-deserved.

We are very excited to be working with Rikki Blu! You will be able to listen to Rikki’s music when we launch the Opus player. You can also follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Soundcloud.

Development update coming on Monday!

Please remember to send us more questions on our form, Discord, Telegram, or via e-mail at info@opus-foundation.org. You can also track our progress on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to watch out for the development update coming out on Monday!