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Audius — a free-to-use streaming platform built on blockchain technology — is coming in swinging to compete with Apple Music, Spotify and TIDAL . According to Rolling Stone, on Sept.16, the platform announced a $5 million round of strategic funding with investments from artists, such as businessmen Nas and Pusha T. “I believe [blockchains] might be the most important technology to ever hit the music industry,” Nas said in a statement. “Everyone who uploads to Audius can be an owner. You can’t say that about any other platform.” It’s known knowledge that artists’ pockets barely rely on the slow and minimal income from streams — but Audius is on a mission to change this misfortune. With the platform, artists will get paid promptly. Rolling Stone reports that with Audius, “90% of earnings move in real time — with 10% going to the community that makes the system run.” “The blockchain is enabling entirely new revenue streams for artists and creators, like NFTs, social currency, and...
Entertainer Jason Derulo is forging a deeper connection with will.i.am that extends beyond their shared passion for music. The pair are working together on the technology front, in alignment with their individual ambitions within the space over the years. Derulo has made several investments in the tech space. He participated in a funding round for Moonpay — a fintech company that allows users to quickly buy and sell cryptocurrency — which amounted to $87 million in 2022, along with other investors such as Brent Faiyaz , Snoop Dogg, Drake, Lil Baby, and Lil Durk, its website lists. Derulo also joined a $40 million funding round for Christian app Glorify in 2021, according to a news release, and is an investor in blockchain-enabled music platform Audius. Derulo is an advocate for artificial intelligence (AI) within artistry as well. He sees it as a helpful tool. “When it is good enough, I will embrace it because I just feel like with my wealth of knowledge of music I can utilize...
The beef between Pusha T and McDonald’s has recently resurfaced in quite an interesting turn of events. The rapper’s feud with the fast-food company first began to brew after he wrote its “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle in 2003 with his brother, No Malice, in which they weren’t adequately compensated. Justin Timberlake was reportedly paid $6 million for recording the hit. Now, according to Rolling Stone, Pusha T is getting the last laugh after the foul deal on his end of a one-time fee but no royalties. On March 21, Arby’s aired its commercial “Spicy Fish Diss,” bars courtesy of the Virginia emcee. The ad is for the sandwich company’s marketing purposes, but the shots fired are a bit more personal for him.
Kanye West continues to show why he’s truly a genius. As someone who does it all, the rapper’s Stem Player — what he calls the “first Yeezy Tech product” — has brought in $2.2 million in sales in one day thanks to his latest album, reports HYPEBEAST. Per Kanye West, the move to release his music via his Stem Player platform rather than streaming services such as Apple Music, Spotify, or TIDAL caused him way more monetary gain. “To earn the $2.2 million we made on the first day on the stem player the album would have had to stream 500 million times,” Kanye West shared. “We did more revenue on Stem Player, without the album even being out than we would have done with the album being out on streaming.” Just months following the release of “Donda,” Kanye West revealed that he would release “Donda 2” exclusively via his Stem Player. And, according to the “Jesus Walks” emcee, this was because the percentage that artists receive on streaming platforms is significantly low. “Today artists...
Nas was in a Twitter Space earlier today talking about the importance of his partnership with Royal, and he explained how this partnership wasn’t about the money for him. Instead, it was about empowering people to make financial decisions best suited for them. Join the party and tune into @Twitter Spaces live today at 2PM ET / 11AM PT 🌐🔐 THE DROPS ⬇️ 💎 Ultra Black: 1PM ET / 10AM PT 💎 Rare: 9PM ET / 6PM PT pic.twitter.com/4TezZdC6RF — MASS APPEAL (@MassAppeal) January 11, 2022 “Fractional ownership probably means a lot more to a lot of other artists than it does for me, but this isn’t really for the money for me,” Nas said on Twitter Spaces. “This is just a way to see how doing something like this can build and expand with the core base that I got and encourage artists.” For Royal CEO, co-founder, and renowned electronic artist Justin “3LAU” Blau, the partnership with Nas also meant democratizing the opportunity for NFT ownership, which can prove cost-prohibitive for the average...
As we’re living in the age of cryptocurrency, industries are keeping up with the wave, and UnitedMasters recently broke ground in the music industry. According to a press release, the Black-owned music distributer announced that its new partnership with Coinbase will allow artists to get paid in any cryptocurrency supported on the platform. The company is now one of the first to offer the service, Bloomberg reports. The goal of the partnership is to “empower independent artists by giving them transparency, equity and control over their earnings.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by UnitedMasters (@unitedmasters) “Working with Coinbase to give independent artists the ability to be paid in crypto is a natural next step for us, using technology to ensure that the economics of the music business favor the creators behind it,” UnitedMasters Founder and CEO Steve Stoute said in a press release. “As the financial sector continues to evolve and innovate, we’re committed to putting...