What would make the music industry better? Consumers already have unprecedented access to music whenever they like and wherever they go, but the industry itself needs help. To keep the music playing, artists need to get paid — and that is challenging in the post-broadcast world of streaming and YouTube. For everyone to be paid what they are owed, billions of songs need to be tracked and logged — and until now, that was impossible because there weren’t enough listeners in the world.

Until now.

At Utopia Music, we have created the technology to monitor and track the music playing around the world, and log each and every play using blockchain technology. This data can then be used to calculate what music is consumed, where and when it is consumed, and ensure that all the relevant rights holders are paid what they are owed, quickly and in full.

One play, one pay

Ultimately, the Utopia vision can be summed up in the phrase — one play, one pay. It’s a simple idea, but one that’s proven to be very challenging. Music has never really been fully quantified — usage numbers were derived from smaller samples, which were in turn harvested from spot checks as well professional organizations and broadcasters reporting on consumption. This worked reasonably well in the world of physical music sales and licensed broadcasters, but falls well short in today’s landscape of infinite accessibility and barrierless content creation.

The Performance Rights Organizations (PROs) that handled the tracking and licensing processes were never able to monitor everything — there were just too many venues and channels playing too many songs. Broadcasters would voluntarily share playlists, but ultimately checking real-world usage relied on small armies of paid listeners (often university students) armed with notebooks going out and… well, listening to things. As an artist, it must have been a bit daunting to know that your future revenues might depend on a student’s need for beer money.

By automating the music monitoring process, Utopia does the hard work upfront, giving all the interested stakeholders easy access to an unprecedented level of aggregate data, compellingly presented and legally admissible. Rights holders can track exactly what is happening with their catalog, and ensure that they are getting the compensation they are owed — without relying on potentially hungover ears for hire.

Big data, big benefits

The benefits of accurate data don’t stop with money, however (although getting paid is a strong motivator!) — Utopia’s data can be used for far more than just accounting. For the first time ever, it’s possible to see an accurate, real-time, data-driven visualization of the world’s music consumption. From what song is playing where, to who’s playing it, to what else they play — all the interconnections can be visualized.

This can yield some unexpected results. In one test visualization, the Utopia data team in Stockholm discovered that Swedish indie rockers the Weeping Willows were remarkably popular in Australia. Until that point, they’d assumed that the band was popular only in Sweden, and wouldn’t have been heard half the world away, let alone get significant airtime.

Obviously, the potential benefits are enormous. Like the Weeping Willows, artists can find out who their listeners are, and where they live — meaning more successful, profitable tours. Publishers can monitor trends and new artists, to better judge who’s on their way up, who’s on their way out, and where they should be looking for new talent. Music catalog investors can see what portfolios offer the best value, and better monitor the market. Independent artists and labels can target their outreach and prove their popularity. Taken together, it’s a broader, more transparent music ecosystem for everyone.

Oh yeah. It’s also much, much faster.

Making bank

Real-time data is good for more than just visualizing usage — it can also get artists paid much faster. By implementing native crypto payment functionality into the Utopia platform, and verifying all play data on a blockchain, payments can be processed in near-real time. Previously, payments would take months at best, and years at worst (if they ever came at all), due to the number of players, the time it took to aggregate data, and the many, many potential points of procedural failure.

Currently, payments are allocated on the basis of incomplete data — licensing fees are pooled and distributed according to projected play rates, not actual consumption.

Utopia doesn’t face these issues, as it is one, integrated platform — from play to pay. Once a play is registered, the payment is locked in — the contractual details are in the system, the play happened, so the stakeholders are paid. It’s a simple enough idea, that in most industries would be taken for granted — pay for the product consumed. Unfortunately, the muddled modus operandi in the music business has been “eventually pay for the product consumed, if anyone noticed the consumption”.

Where music lives

We at Utopia Music are dedicated to creating a better world for the music industry and its consumers — artists, publishers, consumers, and even entertainment rights lawyers. There’s a world of music to be enjoyed and experienced, and it’s only fair that work is paid for. As we’ve seen in this series, as the industry has evolved and grown, compromises have been made and processes have been bolted on as needed. Each change made sense at the time, and moved music forward another step — but now it’s time to stop compromising.

Music can have Utopia.

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