Web3 and Metaverse are Overcomplicating the Music Industry

I reckon web3 is overcomplicating solutions in the entertainment industry by trying to shoehorn crypto and NFTs into everything and I don’t think it’s necessary.

Luminate, the analytics company behind famous Billboard charts, reported that listeners in the US have racked up over 1 trillion streams so far in 2022.

Harry Styles apparently was the most streamed performer, hitting over half a billion — which is 5x higher than Tencent’s most listened to AI-generated song (yep, out of over 1,000 generative AI tracks they flooded the charts with one that has hit over 100m streams).

The immediate reaction from a lot of people has been pretty derogatory towards the percentage amount of royalties paid to the artists as a result and rightly so.

But what in reality is being done about it? F*ck all really.

We have web3 pundits claiming that NFTs and decentralization will give artists the power back into their hands and not the labels or streaming platforms.

Then we have metaverse startups saying that people want to flock to virtual experiences to feel more connected to their favourite band or singer? Seen many people on the subway or bus logging into a 3D world to listen to Harry Styles lately?

Didn’t think so.

BandCamp and SoundCloud both have similar options where artists can build up their own subscription based audience, like a musical version of Substack if you will. How popular it is or widely used and recognised is another matter but it exists without the blockchain and immersive shenanigans.

Do consumers care?

Not really when they have the benefit of economies of scale out of Apple Music, Google Play, Amazon Music, and Spotify with a single subscription and a pair of spatial headphones.

David Ogilvy once said that ‘the problem with market research is that people don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think and they don’t do what they say’ and in this case it’s true — people vote with their wallets.

Consumers are lazy, apathetic, and unwilling to change up from hyper-convenience to a model that doesn’t benefit them despite claiming the moral high ground.

I think I’ve come across one example where the solution to this problem is blindingly simple — a streaming platform where the artist gets 95% of the royalty.

That’s it.

And that’s all it probably needs to start a movement in the right direction. Both artists and consumers agreeing to create the groundswell at the same time.

No blockchain.
No NFT album sales.
No Roblox concert hall.

Just fair and equitable distribution of royalties in the simplest way possible.

I wonder if Occam comes with a soundtrack…