VentureBeat: Could Blockchain Help Make Streaming Music Pay?

Blockchain innovators, including alumni and those in the Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship’s (BerkleeICE) Open Music Initiative (OMI), are creating solutions for the inefficiencies currently stalling the digital music industry.

January 18, 2017

A recent VentureBeat article explored how blockchain innovators, including Berklee alumni and those in the Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship’s (BerkleeICE) Open Music Initiative (OMI), are creating solutions for the inefficiencies currently stalling payment streams in the digital music industry.

The article cites Berklee alumnus and PledgeMusic founder Benji Rogers ’92, who has suggested tying a codec and player to a blockchain in order to create a unique record each time a song is digitally played.

OMI members are creating methods of encrypting rightsholders' information on the blockchain, including lyrics, musical composition, liner notes, cover art, and licensing, while eliminating intermediaries and opening up new possibilities for collaboration.