Linebreak Records was founded as part of Simeon Soden's PhD research for his thesis: PayPal for Punks: Blockchain for DIY music. This thesis is made available here to any interested parties and contains code examples of Ethereum web3 API based music download websites and smartcontracts (Solidity) for apportioning royalties alongside critical analysis of the current music industry context of DIY music practitioners and example blockchain music use cases (abstract below):
PayPal for Punks: Blockchain for DIY music (PDF)
If you are interested in this research please consider donating (Ether) to:
0xb241236bB59888DBa6a3D53A4790c044141A3a6a
or buy some music.
*usage conditions below*
Abstract
This research investigated how music organisations and practitioners may use blockchain to
distribute, compose, present and perform music. The research aimed firstly to explore the features of
blockchain and ascertain potentially favourable characteristics when compared to existing music
distribution methods. Secondly it aimed to consider the operational contexts of the DIY musician,
small and large organisation (i.e. the partner organisation, Sage Gateshead). This informed the
development of novel practical applications (including a record label and live music events)
representing real world use cases of blockchain technology (unique in academic literature
surrounding blockchain and music at this time). This resulted in examples of website and Ethereum
smartcontract code (themselves constituting original knowledge) developed iteratively across a series
of participatory projects, from which, data was gathered from participants to evaluate the success and
form conclusions relating to blockchain in music practice. The findings were that whilst blockchain
offers benefits in payment processing: potentially reduced processing fees; potential removal of
intermediaries; quicker payment; and automation of complex accounting processes (including
apportioning royalties in collaborative works) with smartcontracts. It suffers from lack of wider
familiarity among audiences; low demand for music accessed this way; extreme volatility in value;
issues relating to the scalability of the technology and hoarding behaviour of cryptocurrency holders.
Therefore it is not practical at this time to operate solely on the blockchain. It was also concluded that
the discourse surrounding it is often lacking in veracity. The technology shows most potential in directto-fan selling and in ticketing or controlling access to music performance live streams, with most
benefit for DIY musician and small organisations. The opensource nature of the technology further
decentralises „direct-to-fan‟ practices allowing practitioners and organisations to develop their own
webstores and facilitates novel live-performance paradigms, affording new monetisation strategies
that suit the nature of streamed live music.
*usage conditions:
• Academics / students please use but credit fairly.
• Non-profit organisations are also welcome to use the code / results / research, please credit fairly and contact prior to use as I'd love to hear more about your projects.
• Commercial entities / for-profit orgs - prohibited from using any of the intellectual property contained within this document without prior consultation
please contact: simeonsoden(at)aol.com if you wish to discuss this research further or usage of this research
More about the label:
Linebreak Records was founded on 01/01/2018 as the first independent blockchain record label. We are affiliated with Kaneda Records and use the blockchain to explore fairer ways of working as a record label by employing is immutability, transparency and autonomy (found in the distributed leddger and smartcontracts). We hope to use the blockchain to operate without borders or boundaries.
To join the mailing list, discuss the project, give feedback or send us demos and ideas for collaborations please contact: LineBreakRecords(at)gmail.com