Tag Archives: Musicoin

World’s First Blockchained DJ Mix Released by Deadly Buda on Musicoin

When DJ Deadly Buda’s “Rock the Blockchain” DJ mix is played on Musicoin.org, fifteen separate electronic dance music tracks and their artists get paid automatically, within seconds.

The system that makes this possible was made public at about 2:00 AM, on August 13, 2017, when Deadly Buda finalized the integration of 19 “smart contracts” on the Musicoin blockchain and attached them to his DJ mix on Musicoin.org. “This will completely change the dance music landscape,” said DJ Deadly Buda, “it’s a

Click here to visit Deadly Buda's Musicoin profile.
Click here to visit Deadly Buda’s Musicoin profile.

development on par with the introduction of the 12” single or the crossfader. It will change the way we do things creatively and the listener will be the winner.”

The DJ mix contains 15 EDM tracks of various genres, hard electronic, dubstep, hardstyle, hard bass, jungle, drum and bass, hardcore techno, shamancore,  tekno, and ambient, by artists Counterstrike, Satroniq & DJ Delirium, Teknoaidi, Subterranean, Cap, M27, Harhor, and Deadly Buda.

The DJ mix format was popularized in the 1970’s and since then has existed in a quasi-legal state. A recorded DJ mix is a continuous blend of several separate songs or “tracks”. To be traditionally legally compliant, this requires numerous permissions, paperwork, and licenses. By the time the paperwork is done, the audience generally considers the music in the mix old, and has moved on to the latest sound in fashion. Consequently, most DJs over the decades haven’t bothered to get the permissions, and have released the mixes “illegally” on cassettes, CDs, and now, SoundCloud and YouTube. Generally, the artists in these mixes aren’t receiving any compensation for their music and oftentimes aren’t even credited as part of the mix.  Many DJs don’t supply playlists due to avoiding scrutiny, time constraints, lack of proper labeling on dance records, or at worst, just wanting all the attention for themselves.

Rock the Blockchain's flyer graphic is from the 1993 Turbo-Zen party in Pittsburgh, PA, High Voltage! The graphics would later be mentioned by Dan Mross in the movie "The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin" for its slogan, Technology Must Be Used to Liberate the Indvidual."
Rock the Blockchain’s flyer graphic is from the 1993 Turbo-Zen party in Pittsburgh, PA, High Voltage! The graphics would later be mentioned by Daniel Mross in the movie “The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin” for its slogan, “Technology Must Be Used to Liberate the Indvidual.”

Ironically, dance music producers make their music specifically so that it can be mixed by DJs, and clamor for popular DJs to use their songs. DJ mixes, though often technically illegal, are the main channel of publicity for smaller dance music scenes or up-and-coming talent. So for the last few decades, the music industry has generally not enforced their copyrights against DJ mixes while retaining their right to do so. Consequently, the DJs, still fearing potential incrimination, can rarely publicize their mixes on a grand scale or derive much more income than money they spent purchasing the records or Mp3s used in the mix. The cumulative effect of this quasi-legality has been that DJ mixes are still considered “underground” even though it is the audience’s preferred manner of listening to dance music.

“The more I understood blockchain technology, the more I realized that the legal problems with the DJ mix were about to be a thing of the past,” stated DJ Deadly Buda. “All the permissions, paperwork, and payments could be done in an instant.”

Blockchain technology is basically a decentralized ledger system maintained by multiple computers. The most popular blockchain in the world is Bitcoin, and it has inspired other blockchains to target specific areas of the world economy. Musicoin, as the name suggests, is geared towards music, musicians, and fans.  When a user plays a song on musicoin.org the artist of the song gets paid one Musicoin (currently worth about $0.01-0.04 USD)—usually in a matter of seconds. This is significantly higher than average artists get paid per play on Spotify or iTunes.

You can sign up to Musicoin here.
You can sign up to Musicoin here.

Furthermore, the Musicoin blockchain system allows an artist to upload a song and attach what is called a “smart contract” that can distribute payments to multiple parties if needed. For example, the smart contract could be programmed so that every time the song is played, the drummer, singer, guitarist, and bassist in a band all split the payment.

“When I realized every song on the Musicoin system had its own payment address, I got as many people I knew that made great music to upload. Then, I asked their permission if I could use their music in my mix,” revealed Deadly Buda. After conferring with some of the artists, realizing they were helping to establish a new paradigm, the following formula was decided: 40% of the mix revenue goes to the DJ, and the remaining 60% is split evenly between each of the songs in the mix. “A DJ spends a lot of time sifting through a lot of bad music to find the gems he or she plays for the public, so I wanted to honor that time and money expenditure while at the same time leaving a fair amount of room for each song to make money as well.”

A new paradigm for how DJ mixes can be made and monetized is now officially live thanks to DJ Deadly Buda and Musicoin, but there is still work to be done says Deadly Buda, “In the very near future, there will probably be just a checkbox an artist can use that gives anyone on the system the right to mix their music so long as they get paid via a smart contract. As soon as that happens, the system will be unstoppable and will benefit the established music industry and new artists alike.”

You can sign up to Musicoin here.

Musicoin Snags Top Hard EDM Artists

Musicoin just increased its lead in the music-blockchain race, as several well-known artists on the harder side of the electronic dance music world made their music available on musicoin.org. Most notably, famed South African drum and bass producers, Counterstrike, made available three of their high-energy, metal-infused epics of rolling percussion.

Click the photo to visit Counterstrike's Musicoin profile.
Click the photo to visit Counterstrike’s Musicoin profile.
Click here to visit Satroniq's Musicoin profile.
Click here to visit Satroniq’s Musicoin profile.

Not far behind in the upload race was Satroniq, aka Satronica, one of America’s top hardcore techno DJs, whose hard EDM label, Kontaminated Recordings, submitted their hardstyle infused “Egyptian Cougar” track by Satroniq and DJ Delirium.

Musicoin.org’s hard bass catalog got a nice upgrade courtesy of Pittsburgh, PA’s rising young talent, Subterranean. His four tracks of glitchy trap and dubstep are just the sounds that have been crushing the EDM festivals this summer, and anyone on the lookout for fresh ear-candy should take note.

Click the photo to visit Subterranean's Musicoin profile.
Click the photo to visit Subterranean’s Musicoin profile.
Click here to visit Deadly Buda's Musicoin profile.
Click here to visit Deadly Buda’s Musicoin profile.

Hardcore techno luminaries Deadly Buda and Cap also verified their profiles on the Musicoin system. Included in Deadly Buda’s upload pack was an alternative version of “King of Style”, his track that famously samples the world’s first hip-hop documentary Style Wars, and released by the world’s first hardcore techno record label, Industrial Strength Records.  In addition, his “Congress of the Kickdrum” (the official anthem for America’s annual meetup for the harder styles, American Gabberfest) successfully utilizes Musicoin’s royalty pay-out function, automatically issuing payments to the vocalist and scratch-DJ featured on the track, The Gabber Cowboy and DJ Mindcontroller.

Click the photo to visit Cap's Musicoin profile.
Click the photo to visit Cap’s Musicoin profile.

A spot for the Industrial Hardcore genre was blasted into existence on Musicoin by none other than Cap, best known for his work with the Arizona Hardcore Junkies, Industrial Strength Records, Important Corestyle, Hard Kryptic Records, Dark Like Hell Records, Six Feet Underground Records, and No Sleep Till Bedtime. Now throttling the Musicoin catalog is his classic “The Plan” as well as the anthem for Phoenix’s annual festival of the harder styles, Hard Asylum.

The recent sign-ups on musicoin.org came hot on the heels of the August 1st announcement of the Musicoin Alliance, which brought together The Hard Data magazine, Hear For You mixing & mastering studio, Jumpsuit Records, Knock Knock Recording Studio, mobile app maker MiQ, direct music distributor Noisehive, & OPUS Foundation’s decentralized music platform.

Musicoin’s brisk development pace shows no signs of slowing, either. Besides a plethora of new artist sign-ups, the platform is gearing up to implement the next significant stop on its development roadmap, “Universal Basic Income”. Touted as a new concept in cryptoeconomics, the system promises to guarantee a fair and steady source of revenue for musicians while make streaming content on the platform free for listeners. Universal Basic Income implementation is slated to commence in Quarter Three of 2017.

You can sign-up for Musicoin here.

Introducing Musicoin to the Music-Producing Friends and Family of The HARD DATA

Recently, The HARD DATA just got a new sponsor, Musicoin. Musicoin is a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin aimed at music producers. Essentially, producers make a profile and upload their tracks to musicoin.org. When listeners play the track, the producer receives 1 Musicoin. Payouts are instant, and the uploader can split the profits between several collaborators if they wish. Though the system is still in beta, it is functional and pays out. Musicoins fluctuate in value but are currently around $00.01-00.02 USD. So, it’s like getting paid 2-4 times compared to Spotify for each play of your track or tracks.

Deadly Buda recently wrote an article for the LA Weekly about music crypto-currencys and blockchains. He mentions Musicoin in the article. The article can give you a good background on the importance of music-focused blockchain systems, and how Musicoin is actually ahead-of-the-curve compared to the other music-focused projects underway.

http://www.laweekly.com/music/blockchain-to-the-rescue-how-bitcoin-technology-could-save-streaming-music-revenue-8383424

The Hard Data wants to get as many of our friends and associates uploading their music to the platform as we can, as it could be really beneficial to us all. If certain things play out right, Musicoin could help eliminate a lot of roadblocks between the artist and a living wage.

So far, Deadly Buda, CAP, Mindcontroller, Lostboy, The Gabber Cowboy, How Hard, D3tour, and Nikolai from Audio Science have already joined up.

Here is the sign-up: https://musicoin.org/accept/bd71b3b7

Do not upload mixes or anything with content you do not own, though. Music blockchains are permanent records of transactions. The same system that helps you get paid quickly, can also easily identify dodgy content. So, only upload your original work that you have the copyright authority to upload.

We have been investigating various cryptocurrencies and how they might interact with the electronic music world for a few years and thought Musicoin would be a good candidate. They are interested in serving new producers as well as the established music industry.

Impressed with the strides Musicoin had quickly made, we sought out their sponsorship and came to terms regarding a pilot program where the magazine would pay our contributors such as writers, photographers, artists, etc. in Musicoin in the hopes of getting the cryptocurrency used outside of just music listening. This is critical for the currency to succeed. You can read more about that program here: http://www.theharddata.com/2017/07/28/the-hard-data-musicoin-pilot-program/ . If you want to get involved in any way with this initiative also, let us know. Depending on how things play out, this could be big news. Hit us up if you have any questions!

Also if you want to check out some of the music uploaded so far, Deadly Buda and Cap have some tracks up already. Play the heck out of them!

Deadly Buda’s Musicoin Page

Cap’s Musicoin Page

Once again, here is the sign-up for Musicoin:

https://musicoin.org/accept/bd71b3b7

Make sure to alert us that you signed up by following our profile on Musicoin and leaving a comment on our info track. Click Here For That. Once we see you did we’ll send you a little Musicoin surprise! 🙂

The Musicoin Alliance

The Musicoin Project announces the Musicoin Alliance.

Musicoin Alliance Logo

The primary goal of the Musicoin Alliance (also known as the $MUSIC Alliance) is to push forward decentralized technology for the music industry regardless of platform. The seven strategic partners include The Hard Data magazine, producer & audio engineer Hank Kalleen, The Polish Ambassador’s Jumpsuit Records, San Francisco’s Knock Knock Recording Studio, mobile music app maker MiQ, direct license music distributor Noisehive, & decentralized music platform OPUS Foundation, with more to come.

The Hard Data Logo

The Hard Data – America’s leading online and print magazine dedicated to hard electronic dance music, now uses Musicoin for contributor payments and accepts Musicoin for its printed magazine subscriptions. “Musicon has the potential to create a music ecosystem that producers have only dreamed of, and if realized, might trigger a new, worldwide, creative Renaissance,” said Joel Bevacqua, The Hard Data’s editor and head writer.

Hank Keller Logo

Hank Kalleen Audio Production – Gold record producing audio engineer based in Hollywood, California. Hank has worked with Paul Oakenfold, Ceelo, Eve, The Knocks, Miguel, Frenship, and more. Hank now takes Musicoin for music production services and said “This project is doing something brand new and different for the music industry. I’m excited to start taking Musicoin for production services to see where this rabbit hole goes.”

Knock Knock Studios logoKnock Knock Recording Studio – An analog 24 track to 2” tape studio in San Francisco, California, specializing in hip-hop and smooth analog sounds is now open for booking recording time with Musicoin. “Now with the ability to use what you’ve earned on Musicoin to record a brand new record, it changes the game. Musicoin now closes the loop on what we see as a new Musicoin economy. We’re glad to be a part of that,” said Ari Sandoval, Knock Knock Audio Engineer.

Jumpsuit Recordings Logo

Jumpsuit Records – Record label and music curation project of The Polish Ambassador and his cohort of scientists, spirit animals and vibe consultants, is releasing their entire 450 song catalog on Musicoin. Jumpsuit aims to offer a steady supply of nutritious auditory vitamins in digital music format.  “What Musicoin is doing is very cool. Jumpsuit Records plans on uploading a track a day, so we can wrap our minds around how it all works.” said The Polish Ambassador, Jumpsuit Records.

Noisehive Logo
Noisehive – An independent, worldwide music distributor out of Melbourne, Australia offering premium digital distribution to all major platforms including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Beatport, Deezer, Google Play, iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, and Tidal. Noisehive will add Musicoin as a standard release channel for independent artists doing direct licensing. “Noisehive is very interested to work together to help with the growth of Musicoin, and bring our roster of independent artists to play,” said Ashley Gay, Founder at Noisehive.

MiQ LogoMiQ – will leverage the Musicoin library and offer free plays in a new mobile streaming app. “Musicoin and its creator Isaac Mao have truly brought something valuable to the world. Thanks to blockchain and cryptocurrency  technology  we  have  arrived  at  the  new  Internet  age  –  now  any  form  of  content  shared  on  the Internet  can  be  recognized  as  having  a  tangible  monetary  value;  while  intrinsically  connecting  everyone  in  that social network. MiQ’s highly dedicated and international team sees joining with Musicoin as a great opportunity to play a contributing role in shaping the next generation of music Apps.” Said Johnny Quattro, Founder CEO of MiQ Group.

Opus Foundation Logo
OPUS Foundation – The streaming music platform being built on Ethereum & IPFS has grand plans for a completely decentralized music streaming service. Musicoin will work with OPUS to test lower transaction costs and different scaling methods than Ethereum can offer. “There are still some things to overcome before going mainstream, including scaling gas costs associated with millions of track purchases per day on Ethereum. We’re open to every possibility of potential for partnership with Musicoin to help solve these issues.” said Mateusz Mach, COO at OPUS Foundation.

Musicoin Alliance strengthens the long-term effort to build a worldwide Musicoin economy. Musicoin has grown a community of thousands of musicians, fans, and miners with the music streaming platform at Musicoin.org. The Musicoin Alliance builds even more avenues for them to connect and share.

Musicoin (MUSIC) is a smart cryptocurrency & music licensing platform built upon the Musicoin blockchain. Artists, industry associates, and music listeners worldwide are encouraged to visit Musicoin’s official website at www.musicoin.org

For all media, interview and other inquiries, please contact:

Dylan Tarre, Chief Evangelist, Musicoin Project
E: press@musicoin.org

The Hard Data and Musicoin Pilot Program

The Hard Data readers may have recently noticed the addition of banners and price trackers for “Musicoin – The World’s first smart cryptocurrency for music” on theharddata.com. Recently, The Hard Data and the Musicoin Foundation agreed to conduct an experiment to see how Musicoin might interact with The Hard Data’s readers and contributors, in essence: to see how its cryptocurrency would be used by real people, in a real market. Most cryptocurrencies are pure speculation at this point, but Musicoin has the distinction of being the first operating blockchain platform for music streaming. Think of it as Spotify combined with Bitcoin.

The Hard Data Wizard and Musicoin
The Hard Data Wizard and Musicoin

At the heart of the Musicoin system, each time someone plays a track on its platform the artist receives (almost instantly), 1 Musicoin, which he or she can split with other people that contributed to the track’s production. As of my writing of this article, 1 Musicoin or “MC” is worth about $00.02. Artists can opt to hold on to the Musicoin, or sell it on a cryptocurrency exchange should they want to sell the MC in exchange for US Dollars.

For the Musicoin system to work, it is thought that perhaps MC should be used for other purposes in the music world, such as event tickets, t-shirts, and other goods and services. So, a plan was drawn up where The Hard Data would catalyze this agenda item by trading MC to its work-for-hire contractors such as writers, photographers, social media experts and artists for their services. As online contributors to websites are often paid nothing at all, it is thought that the MC contributors receive would at least be some compensation for their efforts.

A schedule of tasks and compensation was then drawn up for a pilot program that will be in-effect until August 31, 2017.

Tasks and Compensation

Online (http://www.theharddata.com) :

Writing an at-least 500 word online article = 500 MC compensation

Sharing an article at least 30 different times (for example linking to the article in Facebook Groups, forums and other online gather places) = 500 MC compensation

Photographs (published) = 10 MC each compensation (most photographers upload a lot of photos)

Editorial overview of web article = 100 MC compensation

Share Checker = 100 MC compensation (this person would coordinate shares and check that the Share Reward links were valid).

Web coding/development = 1000 MC per hour

Print (The HARD DATA magazine):

Written Pages = 500 MC per page (or roughly 500 words)

Artwork or Photo (full page) = 500 MC per page

Content Photos/Artwork = 500 MC per page (half and quarter sizes are divided by that amount, so a half page photo is worth 250 MC for example).

Magazine Layout = 5000 MC

Editing Magazine = 100 MC per written page.

Proofing = 100 MC per written page.

Using Musicoin

So after a contributor receives Musicoin for what they did, what do they do with it? Here are the options:

  1. Hold onto it, hoping that it will become more valuable. Musicoins have traded for as high as $00.041. So, a 500 word article written and shared would be worth $41.00 at that exchange rate. Today, 1 MC is worth about $00.02, so the same article traded or shared is worth approximately $20 if the MC was exchanged for US Dollars.
  2. Should the contributor want to exchange their MC for US Dollars, the following process is currently necessary.
  3. The contributor sells their MC in exchange for Bitcoin on either Bittrex.com or Cryptopia.co.nz.
  4. The Bitcoin is then traded for US Dollars on Coinbase.com which will deposit the USD into your Paypal or bank account.

There will be small fees associated with each transaction, but if your Paypal account is connected to your Coinbase account, you can receive US Dollars instantly.

  1. Use the MC to buy things or trade with friends and associates. For example, The Hard Data offers subscriptions and T-shirts in exchange for Musicoin. Soon other goods and service providers will too.
  2. Simple use it for listening to music, tipping artists, or sending to your friends to enjoy the Musicoin platform.

Sign-up

  1. In order to take part in The Hard Data-Musicoin Pilot Program, you first need to sign-up to Musicoin. Use this link: https://musicoin.org/accept/bd71b3b7
  2. Send an email to writers@theharddata.com and tell me what you want to do for the magazine, i.e. Writing, Vidoe/Audio stories/interviews, Photography, Art, Editing, Layout, Web development, Social Media Sharing, and or checking.

Those are the basics. For transferring Musicoin to US Dollars, you will need to do the following.

  1. Download and install the Musicoin Wallet: https://musicoin.org/wallet.html
  2. Sign-up for an account on Bittrex or Cryptopia. https://bittrex.com/ or https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/
  3. Sign-up for an account on Coinbase. https://www.coinbase.com/

Conclusion

We hope that you find this pilot program intriguing and an opportunity to take a more active part, and to gain some compensation, from something that you are truly interested in. The Hard Data is honored that the Musicoin Foundation believed in it and its readers to undertake this musical journey.