Blockchain tech set to help alleviate music industry pain points

BLOCKCHAIN

Anyone who works or has worked in the music industry knows how frustrating things like licensing, ownership rights and copyright infringements can be.

Blockchain is already famous for its strong identity management chops, and Immutable Music, a think tank on how blockchain technology will fit into the music business, is looking to help solve some music industry pain points.

“As I was sort of progressing my career as a music producer, I saw so many issues with the industry,” said Lauren Bissell (pictured), founder and chief executive officer of Immutable Music. “The way capital came in, the way that it was distributed. I mean, these things are still happening today, but I was just constantly looking around for better solutions and how to make this work in a better way.”

Bissell spoke with theCUBE industry analyst John Furrier at Monaco Crypto Summit, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed Bissell’s musical background, how it eventually confluences with tech, and how it all ties into Immutable Music’s mission. (* Disclosure below.)

Bringing an age-old industry into the Web3 era

One would think that with cutting-edge musical technology like Auto-Tune, sophisticated synthesizers, and true-to-life acoustic equipment, music management would be quick to adapt to tech like blockchain. That isn’t quite the case, according to Bissell.

“In general, the music industry is kind of behind. We live a little bit in the Wild West, not in a futuristic way, but kind of in the old way,” Bissell said.

Publishing and royalties stand as one of the industry’s major headaches for producers and executives. Smart contracts could ease the payments systems that record labels already have in place.

“So we can kind of move into smart contracts for the payment systems, and eventually we can move into AI to actually detect what music is being played where,” Bissell stated.

Eventually, most of the intermediary actors that make the music creation process more difficult, from a rights/ownership perspective, will be rendered redundant, Bissell concluded.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Monaco Crypto Summit event:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Monaco Crypto Summit event. Neither DigitalBits, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE