Dance artists RAC and Goldroom (aka André Anjos and Josh Legg) have launched a new label called Minerva Music. Its twist: it has put blockchain technology at the centre of its distribution strategy.
The company is working with revenue-tracking startup Stem, as well as blockchain firm Ujo Music. RAC is no stranger to the latter, having released his 2017 album ‘EGO’ through a partnership with Ujo that saw fans able to buy it using the ether cryptocurrency.
“Our goals are to give artists a higher level of autonomy, more separation from the traditional music industry, and ultimately insure that the way they are paid is as streamlined as possible,” said Anjos in a statement.
Part of the blockchain element here will be around remixes, according to Stem CEO Milana Rabkin. “Remixers are too often left out of the financial upside when a track does well, simply because of the accounting headaches,” she said. “It’s especially unfortunate because it’s often the remix that breaks through and gives the original track momentum. We are thrilled to empower Minerva with the flexibility they need to make these types of deals work and give everyone a piece of the upside…”
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This is such a cool concept! I’m interested to see how they make it work. I’m wondering how they will interact with PROs such as ASCAP and BMI. Will this make it easier (or possibly tougher at first) to track/collect performance royalties etc? Should be interesting to see things move forward as tools like blockchain begin to be introduced into the music industry landscape.
This is such a cool concept! Interested to see how they make it work. I’m wondering how they will interact with PROs such as ASCAP and BMI. Will this make it easier (or possibly tougher at first) to track and collect performance royalties etc? Should be interesting to see this move forward as new tools such as blockchain are introduced into the music industry landscape.