Digital music store eMusic announced Tuesday (July 31) plans to raise $70 million to build a decentralized music distribution and royalty management system. The company will hold a public presale for its eMusic utility digital-token in September.

The blockchain platform will allow artists to publish and distribute music and also manage their rights and royalties. Once a song is played or sold, it gets split fairly between service provider and rights holders with full visibility to plays and payouts. Artists can then withdraw their earnings whenever they want, eMusic said.

"For two decades, eMusic has been a champion of independent artists and their fans. However, today's supply chain for music is broken. While streaming has made it possible for anyone to listen to virtually any song ever recorded at any time, its underlying economics are financially crippling to the most vital piece of the music ecosystem -- artists," said Tamir Koch, CEO, eMusic. "And on the other side of the supply chain, service providers are losing billions and struggling to stay alive. Most fans don't realize that this is an unsustainable future with fewer artists and fewer providers."

In 20 years, eMusic has sold nearly 1 billion downloads from a catalog of over 26 million tracks, and has catered to more than 47 million fans. It also has plans to launch a crowdfunding platform to further engage fans and raise money for music projects.