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Spotify Uses This Technology To Track Royalty Payments 

 May 8, 2017

By  Brian Forester

Spotify goes blockchain!

Spotify, the undisputed king of on-demand streaming music, is planning to use blockchain in tracking its royalty payments.

Why blockchain?

Well, why not? This is just a proof that truly, blockchain has become one of the most influential technologies today. It is changing the systems of many countries, including governments, financial services, and more. A proof that blockchain is a system that you can rely on when it comes to accuracy, security, and assurance.

Spotify, the largest European streaming music platform, has announced its decision to acquire Blockchain-related startup Mediachain.

According to Investopedia, the main objective of the acquisition is to improve Spotify’s tracking and processing of royalty payments thanks to the distributed ledger technology.

What’s Mediachain?

Mediachain was launched in 2016 thanks to seed funding received by Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures.

The New York-based startup created a peer-to-peer database to register, identify and track the online distribution of creative works. This was made possible through Blockchain technology, which works as a timestamp and certification of the ownership of content.

Through its new partnership with Spotify, Mediachain wants to enhance the ability of musicians to prove ownership over their composed music, in order to also receive payment of royalties.

Royalties payments: who earns them?

This is one of the biggest problems that Spotify currently faces. In the case of independent musicians and labels, understanding who owns the rights to a particular composition is difficult for streaming platforms to determine.

In order to solve this issue, Mediachain indicates that “a music blockchain would be a single place to publish all information about who made what song, without have to trust a third-party organization.”

In assisting artists to receive royalties payments through the use of Blockchain technology, Mediachain could help Spotify to obtain a competitive advantage over its competitors, reaching more producers, artists and labels.

Blockchain and music

In addition to the specific case of Mediachain and Spotify, Blockchain could revolutionize the music industry. That’s what Benji Rogers, founder of PledgeMusic, had in mind when he decided to create dotBlockchain, a company with a desire to disrupt the music sector thanks to a new media format. In fact, dotBlockchain wants to develop a new media and architecture to benefit musicians, composers, among other artists.

This format will be created via an open source protocol and licenses, leveraging the Blockchain in order to have a fair and transparent way for music artists to express their rights and wishes for commercializing their art. Also, it should prove useful in improving the efficiency in which music is delivered worldwide.

Brian Forester


Brian is an experienced journalist and crypto enthusiast. Founder of CryptoCurry - famed for his insightful input on the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies.

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