Rock On: Blockchain’s Promise to Empower Musicians

The past 30 years have been among the most disruptive in music. Starting with peer-to-peer file sharing services such as Napster and Limewire, musicians saw a sudden drop in the money received from each recording—as more and more listeners found ways to get music for free. Eventually, Big Tech would get involved and launch subscription streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music. But still, artists receive just a fraction of a penny for every song streamed.

In this episode of Disruptors, an RBC podcast, co-hosts John Stackhouse and Trinh Theresa Do explore the latest technological disruption to shake the music business—blockchain—and ask: Are we ready to pay once again for music—and fully support creators? Their guest is Raine Maida, lead singer of the Juno-award winning band Our Lady Peace and Chief Product Officer for online music marketplace S!NG.

Whether it’s NFTs (non-fungible tokens) or disintermediated streaming services, Maida and others believe that the future of music lies in the blockchain—with new ways for enterprising artists to capitalize on their creative output, cut out the middleman, and establish a profitable relationship with their biggest fans.

SHOW NOTES:

To learn more about the S!NG—and how it creates NFTs for musical artists and stores them in a blockchain wallet—follow this link.

Disruptors wants to hear from you! Please fill out our quick 5-minute listener survey and you’ll be entered into a draw to win a pair of Apple AirPods Pros.

In the episode, Raine Maida referred to his involvement in a new startup called Drrops—a mobile platform that delivers exclusive experiences, photos and merchandise to fans at live events. Find out more here.

Our Lady Peace is touring throughout Canada this summer, starting in Victoria in June. To see their full schedule, click here.

Finally, Sasha Braganza from RBCxMusic mentioned a new initiative to support emerging artists, partnering with Sounds Unite to deliver a global mobile music education ecosystem. You can find out more by following RBCxMusic on Instagram.