From Albums by Mail to Blockchain Streaming
In a world where the music industry is making $43 billion in revenue with only 12% going to artists, Audius is dedicated to the mission of solving one of the music industry’s biggest problems.
Hello from Santa Monica!
This past week called for a lot of meaningful change, both for the United States and my life in California. Our country made history with our new President and Vice President Elect—like other major cities, songs, cheers, and honks of joy filled the streets of Santa Monica—and I made my fourth move since living in California for 3 years. This time, I’m in my own apartment.
It’s been a whirlwind of a year to say the least, and as there seems to be no end to working from home anytime soon, I felt like it was finally time to have a place all to myself. A place where I can have different spaces for work and rest, decorate to my own style like the Trader Joe’s bouquet making an appearance with major fall vibes below, and can sing as loud as I want (heard one of my neighbors singing opera through the walls earlier this week, so here’s to our future duets.)
Here are a few of my highlights from the last few months:
Over Labor Day weekend and with inspiration from Big Little Lies, Will and I road tripped to Northern California’s beautiful Monterey, Carmel, and Big Sur. The breathtaking views and sea otter sightings made every minute of the 7 hour trek worth it.
We spent one full week on the eastern shore of Maryland where just about every day was as dreamy as this. That week, I took some much needed time off of work and my phone. I filled my days with bike rides, fishing for Maryland crabs, reading Pachinko, and learning how to play pickle ball. Sittin’ on the dock of the bay was good for the soul.
On that same trip, I got to see one of my favorite people thriving in Washington, D.C. We had a rooftop lunch, walked around the city, and of course went to Gregory’s because it’s not a sister hang if we don’t get coffee.
Audius | A profile about the future of music
In 1999, I purchased my first CD. I flipped through a mail-in catalog filled with album covers and check-marked the ones I wanted to sing along to with my new karaoke machine. Naturally, my first three choices were Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time, Christina Aguilera’s debut album, and Millenium by the Backstreet Boys. A week or two later, all three albums showed up in our mailbox.
Today, I’m sharing music with you all that’s accessible by the click of a button.
We went from cassette tapes, to CDs, to MySpace playlists and Limewire. Then came Apple. The new norm was iPod minis and video iPods which offered the luxury of any song we wanted, as long as it was purchased on iTunes and fit within our iPod’s gigabytes. In 2008, Spotify became a phenomenon, people fascinated with its playlist features. Seven years later, Apple leveled up with Apple Music.
What’s considered the “normal” way of listening to music changed drastically in a matter of 20 years. How the music industry compensates artists and creatives for their work still hasn’t.
While Apple Music and Spotify dominate the streaming conversation, we often forget about smaller players like SoundCloud, let alone major up and comers who are trailblazing the way to the future of music. Audius is one of those trailblazers.
In a world where the music industry is making $43 billion in revenue with only 12% going to artists, Audius is dedicated to the mission of solving one of the music industry’s biggest problems: fair compensation for artists.
Audius provides a decentralized blockchain platform where fans can directly engage with artists and artists can have more transparency into their music consumption and compensation. Audius’ major goal is to empower artists in three ways:
Distribute
Monetize
Stream
The game changer? They do it all using cryptocurrency, powered by the recently released $AUDIO token. Artists get compensated by how much value they bring to the Audius network through form of tokens. This is a platform token used to ensure and moderate the security, open network, and governance for all participants. Coining themselves (pun absolutely intended) as a SoundCloud alternative, I firmly believe this kind of decentralized platform where the people decide what music has value is the future of the music industry. Think about it: fans now determine the value of your music instead of traditional labels. As an artist, you have the highly coveted responsibility of owning your catalog, or as traditional labels call it, artist masters.
My questions are:
Since music on Audius lives on the platform forever, what happens to music once it becomes outdated? Does it maintain value like the millions of dollars in royalties Mariah Carey gets every holiday season when “All I Want For Christmas Is You” goes to #1? Or does the token value go down?
With the media so fixated on mainstream platforms like Spotify and Apple Music (even venturing to the colossal business that is podcasting) is there room for newcomers like Audius to rise to the top? Will Audius eventually welcome podcasters as they are focused on all things audio?
If the community of artists, developers, and fans come together to defend the world’s music catalog like they say , what does that mean for a sustainable career for artists? How does blockchain cash out?
Albums | Listen to these in their entirety from front to back, the only way to do it.
The day I discovered The Band CAMINO on Instagram is one of the few days I didn’t regret aimlessly scrolling through Instagram. Once the fiery album cover caught my eye, I kept it on repeat for months after. Okay, maybe it still is. “Honest”, “See Through”, and “Break Me” are my favorites.
Turns out with LANY, third time’s a charm. As a massive fan of their debut album, their latest album is the most cohesive representation of how their artistry and musicality has matured through the years. Staying true to their roots, it’s indie synth-pop through and through: my favorites include “cowboy in LA”, “you!”, and “heart won’t let me”.
This album came back in rotation for me recently after Dua Lipa dropped “Levitating” featuring DaBaby. Dua is the queen of queens when it comes to bops of the late ‘10s and starting strong in the ‘20s with songs like “Don’t Start Now” to “Physical” to “Break My Heart”—throw this album on whenever you’re in need of a dance party.
RN | Songs I’m Loving…right now. Fall Edition.
Full playlist for all the fall feels here.
Remember earlier this year when Billie Eilish became the youngest person, second person ever, and first woman to sweep all four major categories at the GRAMMYs? Best New Artist, Album, Song, and Record of the Year. Billie had a captivated audience listening to her stunningly unique voice echo through an Austin, Texas church only two years ago at South by Southwest. Something in the atmosphere that night made it feel like we were all witnessing the early stages of a legend who would be remembered for ages. Let me remind everyone Billie is 18 going on 19 later this year, and she’s just getting started.
I love that artists are getting creative with their stage names. Just look at our guy Ritt Momney here. My friend Alexa sent this to me a few weeks ago because she knows how much I love the original track by Corinne Bailey Rae, but I love this cover, too. Who knew you could turn “tell me your favorite song” into a tropical beat drop and feel every pulse of the words, “I thought that I was stronger?”
You may know Anna of the North from her most streamed song “Lovers”, which was featured on Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Oh, Peter Kavinsky. If you can’t tell by the song title, you’ll hear the same themes of love, this time with an upbeat twist. A simple love song you can dance and sing along to, because who doesn’t love those? Wherever you go, you got my love.
Lyrics on Loop | Find the lyrics that speak to your soul and never let go.
Palm trees square dancin’ under the moon
Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams
Isn’t it just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string tying you to me?
Thanks for tuning in. Until next time!
Donya