Musiconomi

These are my summary notes on the podcast interview done by Descrypto with the Legendary Brian Byrne of https://musiconomi.com/

To listen to the original podcast (highly recommended) check out the link below:

Before we begin, I found this interesting side story of how Brian met Elio Di Iorio (Co-founder, Chief Organizer and Spokesperson). Following chat conversion was shared by Elio Di Iorio on musiconomi slack channel:

My brother (also one of our advisors) and I were always fans of those bands going way back to the early 90's…very cool to have them here doing this.

My brother and I used to travel around Ontario, even into the USA back then to watch shows…we met Brian after the band got back together a few years back and that’s sort of how we ended up here doing this. We went to the first reunion show at Sound Academy in 2012 when they released “We Got The Love”, but then we got to know Brian when they had a couple shows at The Phoenix in 2015, and we were in the pre-show VIP ‘hang with the band’ event. So in 2015 they did and intimate friends/family show, then they did the whole venue to the public after that. So Brian started hanging out with my brother in 2015 in Toronto — my brother had one of the first Bitcoin ATMs in the world at his office, so Brian was there with him a lot and learning about blockchain stuff from him…then Brian and I re-connected early this year with Musicoin and the rest is history :)

Source: https://musiconomi.slack.com/archives/C5NES162G/p1500947817837871

Podcast summary notes:

Brian joined a Canadian band in ‘97 (I Mother Earth). He was a fan of that band at that time. The lead singer of that band left creating an opportunity for Brian to jump in. Brian had to go through a rigorous audition process (the good old way to get an entry into a band — before reality shows was even a thing!).

Sadly, he couldn’t make enough money through music because of the way the industry is so broken. During his 20yrs or so in the Industry, he had to do multiple jobs to support the family, ranging from hanging cables, instructing martial arts etc etc — you name it!

His passion for Musiconomi is because of all the hardships he had to face, in the industry. He really wanted to solve this plague.

When he would propose this solution of Musiconomi he would always hear the same argument of — “Why do we need such a platform, I get my music for free!” It’s because the industry is super broken. And we need a totally new way to fix this.

Musiconomi is not a Spotify, iTunes — the problem is way deeper then that which the platform is trying to solve. Its developing a full music economy!

Musiconomi — It is more than just listeners play a song & the artists get paid. You can back the artist with your tokens. You love a band and you wanna help them become popular! In the traditional model there wasn’t much you could do besides buying their songs to support them!

Instead, the platform will help the artists become popular. There are several features built into the platform that will help the artists reach out to their audience. Every time an artist that you have backed and their songs are played you’ll get a share of the reward (Check the link below for a detailed description of such features).

There are many listeners who are not only into music but also have imagination of an entrepreneur who have ideas on how to promote a certain artist in a way. The platform will help them do that by providing features like music magazines, artist backing, education tutorial platform for DJs etc

Artists will be able to find such people who are good at this and can reach out to them to also help them build a brand.

Most artists get into deals with these “big labels” who literally own their music/work and when they want to buy it back they can’t get out of that deal (Brian gave his own example of how something similar happened to him as well). These artists when they get into these deals have no idea what they are getting into. They can’t think through what they are really getting into. They feel this is the big ticket and they just have to sign the deal to make it big.

In the 70s-80s there were very few bands out their. They didn’t need these labels to help them reach out. But things have changed now. There are so many awesome artists/bands out there with so much competition, they need a platform to make it work for them. And the industry needs to adapt to a new model — which is what musiconomi is trying to bring in. To allow artists to take charge of their music and actually get paid. To get away from the legacy music industry model.

Brian feels that everyone in the chain should be getting compensated not just the labels. Be it the managers, labels, artists etc. Artists should always own their work. Blockchain will bring in this transparency to the industry.

What blockchain brings to the music industry is — Transparency to transactions, Borderless payment, Global availability, Visibility into who gets what share of the payment etc.

Musiconomi’s vision + Blockchain Technology + Teams expertise = A Music Industry Revolution in the making!

Most people won’t go beyond listening to their favourite music. But if you had the ability to go beyond that and still get paid for that in return. That is a much bigger picture musiconomi is trying to bring in.

Let’s say you back a singer with a new song. Every time that song is played you also get a small percentage of tokens.

How does a new artist get visibility in the platform and how do they interact with the audience? — There will be a social aspect built into the platform. There will also be a social currency, so if they like a listener or a fan they can tip that person. Visibility will based off the community. Community will help in visibility. Blockchain will help in bringing visibility into the governance.

In the traditional scenario when a record label signs you, there is a certain person/group whose focused on you. But the day either your song is not popping the charts (at least for them) or that person moved up the chain or left the company you fall out of focus and you are left in hanging.

But with the Musiconomi platform, it is the community of listeners and backers who are backing you and promoting you, not out of just charity but also with the incentive of making part of the money they feel the band would make because they truly believe in the band. They can make money by speculating which bands will make it big at the early stage.

Musiconomi will never limit artists from sharing their work on other platforms like Amazon, iTunes, Spotify etc. They want the artists to have that freedom, always!

Brian made it very clear that — Artists will own their music, always! This is refreshing to hear when you think of other services which forces you to go exclusive with them or own the rights to artists work.

This is refreshing to hear when you think of other services which forces you to go exclusive with them or own the rights to artists work. Education part of Musiconomi is going to be massive & daunting — Brian will help artists/bands understand what issues they might face with the traditional model and compare it to the new model Musiconomi is trying to bring in. This is where Brian’s experience of the hardships he has gone through over last 20yrs+ will come into the picture. He’ll help them understand how the traditional model is actually robbing them off of their hard work and how musiconomi is trying to change that.

This was an awesome hear! I recommend you talk to these guys on their slack channel. They are super open and are all ears listening to people what they think and what they would like to see from the project.

PS: I have skimmed some parts and rewritten what I heard in my own words. If something is incorrect feel free to reach out to me and i’ll fix it.

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