Audius - Decentralized Music Platform | Crypto Academy / S5W3 | Homework Post for @wahyunahrul.
Hello all, it's a new week and I'm glad to be a member of this week's lecture, Happy reading!
What do you think about the presence of the Audius platform in the music industry?
Audius is a decentralized crypto-based music platform built on the ethereum blockchain, for direct communication and release of music by artists and singers to various lovers of music all over the world.
Audius deals not with a middle man nor label company for publication and sale of singer's songs, rather it allows the direct promotion and release of music by different artists directly to their fans and lovers.
As a decentralized platform, Audius pays every artist who owns a song uploaded on their platform with crypto known as AUDIO for every music listened to by a fan or lover.
Audius has brought entertainment closer to our doors, where all users are free to listen to all kinds of songs online, whenever and however to want.
- MUSIC
Music is an art, that is to say, that music is creative. The word Music means mousike gotten from the Greek’s, this means "an art of the Muses"(goddess of music, art, dance, and poetry)
Music is a means of entertainment to people, music is also a means of passing various kinds of information to a person, society, country, or anything whatsoever either directly or indirectly.
So with the adaptation of a decentralized-based network for music, we would see that the decentralized platforms are some of the computerized evolutionary changes the world would experience in years to come.
Music lovers can easily upload their various kinds of music online, whenever they wish to, and also as well gain some tokens (audio) whenever their songs are being played, this has decreased the difficulty in the production and release of music, unlike the conventional systems, for a producer to upload and release their music, we would notice the delay in the release of the product.
This is because there are major agreements that need to be addressed between the producer and music label or marketers. But the audius decentralized system has now made it easy for producers to easily upload their songs online and also given them the option on whom they wish to share their music, they could decide to set it to be played by everyone or some group of persons.
This has left music in full control and option of the producer and as well as the potential gains from their production.
It is a potential profit and gains to singers who upload and publicize their music on audius with the fact that they earn from every of their music played by fans, and they earn not just in any fiat currencies(which are mostly static) but with a crypto asset (audio) which has the potential to rise anytime due to market volatility and other analytical reasons creating a higher profit to the artist while holding.
With the presence of audius platform in the music industry, artists can now be at peace in their mind over every music published, and this is due to the inability of any other singer or individual to claim their songs, as all the musical data produced are recorded on the blockchain network.
The blockchain network can not be tampered with or manipulated by any person not even the producers and this is why it is called a decentralized platform.
Audius not just being a music platform, also have features such as; staking of tokens and right to governance voting which users that possess the audio token have right to all the activities in the platform and also gain some reward from the platform due to various activities of choice of the user.
The Audius platform has more potential gains compared to the conventional system of music with the fact that instead of an artist benefiting max reward from music publicized, they benefit a limited amount of reward after being linked or connected to a label company for copyright and publication.
The company would be the ones in control of the music after being connected to the singer, and this results in a smaller portion of the amount for the music owner and a bigger portion for the label company.
But in the decentralized audius platform, musicians have full access and control to their music and monetary income.
Audius has wiped out the need for middle man and third-parties in music publication, artist can now focus on making quality and good music for their fans knowing that they have the full right (authenticated copy-right) and control over their music.
Audius attract investors as well into their system for participation in governance voting and staking of their assets in other to earn network fees.
As we all know that in the music industry, for an artist to get results from publicized songs, they have to partner with a music label company in other to market their product or partner with them.
We would therefore see that the conventional system of music is perturbing and stressful in the sense that musicians would have to partner with music labels for music copy-right and security.
- AUDIUS FUTURE
The blockchain system as days go by, is significantly known, due to its influence and contributions to most industries as its vigorous insurance, cost-efficiency, transparency, and fairness are becoming more understood by people.
In as much as the audius system is still undergoing certain developments, its influence has transformed the music system with the unique feature of decentralization, staking, and governance.
Let us take a look at audius partnership with the famous social app Tik-Tok.
One of the ways the Audius platform has expanded its network is in partnership with the known social media app known as tik tok.
This has given artists on Audius the privilege and chance to expand and advertise their products by sharing their songs to the social app (TikTok), for tik tok users to include in their videos.
Not just that, According to the American monthly magazine which is focused on music popularly known as Rolling Stone, music artist who makes use of the Audius application are also legible to publish their songs through the “TikTok Sounds” category.
With the recent integration of Audius-TikTok which is remarkable for the audius platform, established musicians are likely to be attracted.
Talented singers who have no sponsor or promoter can have the hope of publishing their songs without a partner or the need for money, unlike the conventional system of music where producer needs to spend some amount of money to push their music far.
Aside from music celebrities, the platform is also signing on other prominent partners just like solona...let me quickly give an insight into audius partnership with the popular cryptocurrency SOL.
Audius announced the launching of its partnership with the prominent multi-chain wallet and browser extension which is powered by solona (SOL), giving users the chance to display the Solana NFT collectibles on their audius profile.
With the popularity acquired by the audius platform, with time, the audius open protocol would influence other music applications making its protocol a contemporary standard for all other decentralized music apps.
Audius has a total of 317,057,250 audios staked in audius blockchain as of this month from November 1st - November 30th.
| AUDIO | FEATURES |
|---|---|
| Price | $2.41 |
| Market cap | $1,221,687,612 |
| Fully Diluted Market Cap | $2,573,631,777 |
| Circulating supply | 509,912,301.00 AUDIO |
| Rank | #92 |
| Total supply | 1,066,858,974 |
The increase in price value of audius since lunch also depicts a nice and good developed project, this shows the increase in users and efficiency in project.
So, that is currently there are worth 317,057,250(total audio staked) * 2.40 (price of audio) = $760,937,400 worth of audio staked.
With the governance system used by Audius, do you think that system has made Audius a fair and fully decentralized platform? If not, please provide your personal suggestions for the system that Audius uses to make it more fair and decentralized.
Yes, Audius is a fair and fully decentralized platform with the following reasons;
- Participation in Governance Voting
Any system that deals with voting is dependent on the decision of the people, as the saying goes “majority carried the vote”.
The Audius platform make use of a decentralized system in other to give users the chance to partake in the protocol voting system which determines the governance weight in the platform.
The governance voting is as a result of giving holders of audio token a chance to make their decision in the system, and this is done through voting by holders generally.
- Full Monetization of music produced
Just unlike the conventional system where the share of the reward gotten from sales by the music label company is shortened in return to the music owner as gain made from sales, the audius system as a decentralized platform has made it possible for music owners to have full entitlement to the income made from sales and by listeners.
For every song played and listened on audius platform, the artist is rewarded with “audio” a cryptocurrency built on ethereum blockchain.
And what does decentralization mean? A full governance of users whenever the wish and how ever the want without being controlled, not even by the producers. And when an artist has full right to their music and income what do we say it is? Decentralized or not... Decentralized.
- Staking and Earning Network Fees
Audius platform feature of giving users who hold their audio token room to stake their assets for some potential rewards through network fees, aside from the ability to participate in governance voting is as a means of it's decentralized nature.
Staking can be done in two various type in the audius platform, the user might decide to stake a number of token to become a node operator or the user might decide to be a participant with the node operator.
The first option is quite much costlier due to the large amount of capital needed to buy AUDIO TOKEN as well as purchasing and owning a computer with certain agreed specifications.
The second option is much cheaper compared to the first option due to the fact that the user tend to participate with the node operator itself whom has served as coverage to the network.
- Decentralized system
The main purpose of Audius platform was to create a system where musicians would have full right to their productions without a third-the party being involved and without the fear of music copying and manipulation by other singers.
Copy-right alteration has been an issue in the music industry where all musicians fight to have legal right over there music produced and also protect them from being used or stolen by another singers.
The decentralized music streaming app was made for music lovers and also by music lovers. Audius platform is controlled by a community of artists, fans, and developers which aims I'm giving artists the ultimate control over their music and how their music is monetized.
The decentralized system works with a ledger which records all data, personalizing the owner of the data as well, here music can neither be tempered nor manipulated, if falsely stolen, the ofender can be legally sued.
So the decentralized nature of the audius system has brought an organized state in terms of music life and also the way it affects our environment.
So lastly to round the page up, I would say that with the features built on audius, where users have control and right to all activities on the platform, audius is a full and fair decentralized application.
In as much as every system gets to a point an upgrade would be needed to be installed, the aidius platform can also be a subject to this...but doesn't mean that it is not a full decentralized system.
Explain how to do 2 types of staking on Audius complete with illustrations. (Image Required)
As I mentioned earlier on the two types of staking which could be done on Audius platform, I would give the processes on how one can stake their audio token.
Firstly, I would talk about how to stake your token as a participant with a node operator which is the cheapest means of staking compared to the other type of staking whereby the user stake some numbers of tokens to become an operator.
This type of staking is for users who can barely afford the cost in the participation of operating as a node because of the high cost in price.
User who delegate their $Audio token to node operators in other to gain some percentage reward from network fees are know as delegates.
The delegated token can as well be requested by the delegator at any point in time.
In the process of participating as a delegate, you earn the right to participate in community governance by voting (this could be against an objective or for an objective assigned by the platform).
The right to make decisions in the platform through the medium of nodes and delegates made the audius platform a decentralized platform.
- STEP I
Firstly, log in to the audius crypto-based activity site Audius, then Click Explore dashboard in other to connect to your meta mask
- STEP II
Here, you would need to connect your audius to your meta mask wallet by click on metamask at the top right corner of your screen as shown in the image.
- STEP III
Click on “open metamask”, then click on next on the pop-up page of metamask, then click on confirm to connect your wallet to audius.
- STEP IV
Still Under the service icon we would see the list of various node operators. I would select the first node operator on my list in other to delegate my $Audio token.
- STEP V
Click on delegate labeled at the top left side of the page. The anonymous service operator runs 4 discovery nodes and 11 content nodes, charges an APY of 7% from client's with a minimum delegation of 100 $Audio token.
- STEP VI
Input the number of $Audio’s you wish to delegate to the node provider and click on delegate.
- STEP VII
You would be directed to meta mask to grant the audius protocol the permission to access your AUDIO tokens in your wallet. I was charged a network fee of $20.78. After that click on confirm below the page.
Users can decide to edit the gas fee in other to hasten their transactions, and at the point of increasing the speed of transaction the user would be charged more than the initial amount. Here I was charged $23.16 worth of Seth which was initially $20.
Node operators holds a leading role in governance system on audius by making decisions as regarded to the platform.
This is because their staked $Audio token increases the network security which in return grant them access as well as influence in the platform. This allows them to earn based on staked $Audio.
A stronger computer with a minimum of 200,000 pieces of $Audio token staked must be achieved before one could participate as a node operator.
These essential standards must be met and that has brought about the reasonable reason to the expenses in becoming a node operator.
- STEP I
Ensure that you are connected to metamask, then on the service option click on register new service
- STEP II
Users are given the opportunity to run any type of node the wish to, either the Discovery or Content node. Both nodes requires at least $200,000 AUDIO to run. Input the Amount of $Audio tokens to stake at staking amoun under the selected node type (discovery or content) and your Discovery Node Service Endpoint then Click on Register Service as indicated below the page.
- STEP III
Confirm your transaction using meta mask
- STEP IV
As always, you will be directed to MetaMask to give the system the permission to access your $AUDIO tokens. Then click on confirm transaction.
Adjust the settings in your metamask to hasten the speed of transaction.
NB: reduction in the advanced option (low) would take a longer time to complete the transaction and so on
Show the steps to create an account on Audius. (Screenshot Required)
Firstly, there are two ways to login to the audius platform, you could either choose to login through their website @ audius, or you could decide to download their official app which is available in app store and playstore for iPhone users (iOS) and android users respectively.
I would be showing the following steps through the downloaded app
- STEP I
This is just how the app looks like, open the app in other to continue.
- STEP II
Here is the sign up page, on the box showing the already inputted email is the option to register by adding a valid email address. Users input there email address here and then click on click on sign up.
- STEP III
You would be advised to choose a password which must consist of; number, at least 8 characters, which must be hard to guess, and lastly the two password which are meant to be in the two different box as labeled in the image(red box) must be the same(macth) in other to continue registration.
- STEP IV
This is the creation page where users create their own profile. Users can decide to complete their profile creation using their twitter or Instagram account as means of verification and creation of account [black rectangle). Users who choose to complete their profile creation manually would click on “I,d rather fill out my profile manually” (red rectangle), the profile would now be adjusted manually by the user as willed.
- STEP V
You would be asked to select a photo(add a profile picture just as shown in the red circle), then in the blue box you put a profile name of interest. Then the next indicated box with a yellow rectangle is where you choose username for yourself. After that you click on continue.
NB: The username of interest must not be used by another person, if not, you won’t be able to proceed the registration until the name is being adjusted to user free
- STEP VI
You would be asked to follow at least 3 artists in either of the genre as indicated with a purple box.
When that is done, the continue option would show a purple color just as it is showing now and under it you would see “3/3 following”, this indicates that you are already following at lest 3 artists. When you are following Only 2 or haven’t followed any artist yet, the continue button would depict a gray color which shows the inability to continue until requirement is achieved.
- STEP VII
- STEP VII
Your profile is now set and you are ready to listen to all kinds of music in the platform for free and easily accessible, you are also able to upload your track for others to enjoy with you where you would gain rewards from every played track.
Explore and explain the features available on the Audius application or website. (Screenshot Required)
There are various but limited features in audius platform, where users can perform different activities in the platform as the see fit .
The audius platform has two site which one can be used in crypto-based affairs (audius.org) while the other purely music(audius.co). I will talk about the two, but will go with audius crypto-based activity site first.
In other to get to the audius protocol for crypto-based activities, login to the site audius.org.
We would see four tabs above namely;
Overview
Analytics
Service
Governance
This four (4) tabs comprises the features in audius platform
The overview feature gives a quick overview, like the summary of all the contents in each tab.
Overview would show you the active stake $audio, monthly API calls, the unique users of the month, the weekly reward estimated rate, estimated annual reward rate, the recent proposals, and lastly the top addresses which is determined by voting weight.
The top addresses is determined by the voting power of users. There are lots of nodes where users can delegate their token to any address of their choice.
Users must be aware that any address the choose, the must have analyzed it to know their potential annual and weekly income.
It just like delegating your asset to someone as profess of staking to gain a percentage reward from network fees.
This is the user overview of a single address opened, and there are different lot more with variety of profits annually and weekly, and this is dependent on the amount of users per address.
The anaystic data gives us the actually core statistics about the actual data on audius protocol, the following statistics which are shown with monthly duration are as follows; the total API calls, the total staked token, total plays, unique users, top 3rd party app, and lastly top genres.
The analytic data of various activities are shown in a graph, for easy reading and understanding of data.
Services is where tokens are delegated by variety of individuals to a known operator by choosing an address to delegate your token too for potential weekly and anual rewards.
The Service tab is where users can stake or delegate their tokens, and also which node operators the choose to perform this activities with.
Inside the service overview, we could see the top service operators by active stake, the discovery and lastly the content nodes.
The service operators by active stake are node operators whom the delegations made by user at delegated to for some certain rewards.
- Content nodes:
The content node is usually the first node that processes music data uploaded by an artist. The content node process, ratify and share the data created by an artist with other nodes before final installation of music data to the block chain system.
- Discovery nodes:
The discovery nodes functions to register and Hash data which consist of user playlist, followers and profile. The discovery node performs(works)) after validated & streamed data has been completed and approved by the content node.
The content node approves and validates this data, then the discovery nodes records the data associating it with data gotten from the musician in other for the uploaded music to be legally owned by the musician.
In the governance feature, users who possess the audio token have a legal and equal right to participate in the voting process.
The governance tab contains two types of proposal which are the; active proposal and resolved proposal.
As we can see from the image above there is no active proposal but lots of resolved proposals.
For a proposal to be successful, at least 5% of all the $AUDIO staked must Appoint the proposal and over 50% of this votes are for the proposal.
Only those running a node today may make an on-chain proposal. The community can decide to expand the set of permitted proposers as the see fit in future time.
- Resolved proposal :
The address responsible for the submission of the proposal is the proposer.
This are already submitted proposal by investors which has been resolved.
The Description is the hasty combination of what the platform governance implies.
The ‘Against’ option means the amount of unfavourable votes, votes which are against the proposal.
The option ‘for’ is the Favourable amount of votes, that is to say, votes in favor.
Here is one of the second site where I would talk mainly on audius music features, login to audius through the site audius.co... let's go!
-NOTIFICATION ICON
The notification icon is to remind and alert you of the recent activities and updates on the platform as well as your account.
-ALL POST
This shows all the recent music posts on audius platform.
-TRENDING
The trending icon shows all recent trending Music, It is seen in the green-labeled icon.
You can choose to see trending music for the week, month, and year.
This is also in respect to whether you want to see trending for all music or different genres.
-YOUR FEED
All music activities are shown in your feed option, mostly from your followings, you can choose
What kind of post to see in your feed option, either all post, original posts, and reports.
-EXPLORE
In the explore icon, users can find out and get more information from the activities on audius music platform such like Trending playlist on audius, underground trending and the rest.
The explore icon also, contains other options such as mood, playlist and artist. These options are where users can find or create their own playlist, select music based on their mood and also search for their favourite artist.
-FAVOURITES
This feature is to easily find out your favorite songs, those songs which you have added to your favorites while listening to them, either because you love them or you want to share them with someone.
Under the favourite are other sub options which are all linked to the favourite option, here we would see favourite tracks, albums and playlist.
-PROFILE
The profile option shows you your profile with it's information both the ones added by you like your username and profil picture, and the ones added by the system from the activities just like your followings.
We would see option to upload track, we would see reposted tracks, and also your created playlists.
You can as well edit your profile to suit your current state.
-SETTINGS
You can choose to set you account as you wish, just like app appearance(dark of bright mood), casted devices (airplay or chromecast) where you can select the medium in which you listen to music, you can also get to see notifications from here as well as view your listening history.
The forward arrow by the right opposite the settings is to forward your profile link to your friends and families.
Clicking on your username which I labeled with a black box on the settings page, it would direct you to your account where you can recover your email, get verified in the audius platform(this is only if the linking account is verified), and change your password.
NB: All images above in Question 5 are sourced from audius app which I installed from app store
Explain in detail how the mechanism of uploading music content on Audius.
There are two nodes on audius ecosystem, the content and the discovery node, seeing the platform as it is is because of the various nodes functions. But we would be looking into how it works.
the content nodes are in designed to store songs sent on Audios. As a users who contribute to/as a node, it is required to have a computer which reaches the storage requirements. This is because the content nodes works as a server where all songs are stored.
In other for the audius network to detect which user the music content belongs to, the second node which is the discovery node now comes in.
The discovery node is liable for authorizing the uploaded data while it displays the music content created in the users profile, ensuring the originality of the uploaded song by the artist.
The discovery node works only when validation is completed by the content node, if not the node won't be indexed.
After a successful validation,authorization and storing of upload content, the uploaded music would now appear on the profile of the artist.
At the time of indexing, the audius platform protects the music copy-right, this is because a brand is added to the uploaded music and transaction hashes are used in the identification of uploaded contents by artists as audius property.
Upload your original music to Audius and show the proof using a block explorer. (Screenshot Required)
Before a user could be able to upload any of their music on the audius platform, the user must first login to the platform through audius.co.
Thanks to our prestigious professor @wahyunahrul for this course and opportunity to boost younger talents, I would be using this medium to upload a track by a very good friend of mine.
Before I could do this, I seek his consent first, which he agreed, sayin this alone has no much proof, so I would rather upload our conversations.
The following are steps to uploading your music tracks;
STEP I
After being able to login to you account, click on upload track in your profile which I labeled with a red ink
STEP II
Click on “browse to upload” as labeled by a green ink. You would be directed to your phone/PC media in other to select your file (music)
STEP III
Here you would see the “release type”, if it’s an album, you select album, you could make selections in reference to your release type option. This is indicated with a yellow ink. After that, click on continue
STEP IV
Complete your track setup; input the name of your track or album, the genre under which you sing/perform and lastly, any possible description that suits your music as indicated with a green ink.
After that click on continue.
STEP V
Your music is uploading, wait till it reaches 100% to indicate a successful upload.
After that your music is now successfully uploaded.
A congratulatory message would pop up on the screen to let you know that you have successfully uploaded your first track.
The music was successfully uploaded and I hope my dear readers who love the hip-hop/trap genre would enjoy this wonderful track.
Music is a worldwide accepted way of life, where music influences peoples life style, metal health, reasoning and so on. This attribute of influences by music is what makes it special.
Now imagine how special music is for the creators of audius, to decentralize the aspect of music in life due to love for music, in other to give room for fellow music lovers to enjoy music at its full, and at an easily accessible means.
Audius platform is a well-developed platform due to its project purposes which affect life in general and in the case of affecting life has brought investors into investing using the platform crypto-asset known as “Audio”.
Audius has brightened the world of music for artists, giving them rest of mind over music produced, and also the ability to create their copy-rightlicense for each music published.
Musicians are rewarded on the platform for every song played and listened to by a user or fan. Audius has helped clear the air and as well given room for equal rights to the music.
Thanks to professor @wahyunahru for this intriguing course which I learned a lot from.
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