Audius - Decentralized Music Platform | Crypto Academy / S5W3 | Homework Post for @wahyunahrul
Greetings everyone. This week's lesson talks about a decentralized network where music artistes can share their contents and enjoy the benefits of producing these contents without the need for a music label. The network is called Audius.
The professor has already given information on the workability and advantages of this platform. With this, is would tackle the given tasks.
My Thoughts on Audius
Audius is a decentralized platform for streaming and sharing of music which offers total profitablity to the original creator of the music. This means that it eliminates the need for music labels which act as third party for the production and marketing of music.
Aside from giving the artistes full profits from his/her work, Audius also makes it possible for an artiste to copyright his own productions without a music label. Copyrights would mean that the artistes are given full ownership of their works, making it unlikely for content theft to occur.
Founded in 2018, Audius has gained popularity. So many established and upcoming artistes are switching to this decentralized platform that offers much more security, privacy and profitability for their works.
The success of this platform can also be seen in the price movement of its native token, AUDIO, which shows a positive movement since the introduction of this platform.
In my opinion, the Audius network is very advantageous and much better than the centralized music production methods because it gives the original creators full profits for their works. In terms of the amount of income generated for music production, the centralized method wins.
Thoughts on the Governance System of Audius
The governance system of Audius is such that everyone who has staked AUDIO tokens can vote on decision making in the network.
Proposals are made in the network and users with staked tokens are allowed to vote on whatever proposal they like. For a proposal to pass, at least 5% of all stakes tokens in the network must vote for the proposal, and more than 50% of the votes must be for the proposal.
Audius network makes it possible that everyone with staked AUDIO tokens (this includes artistes, fans and node operators) can vote in the network, but there's a catch: only active participators with staked tokens in the network are allowed to vote.
In my opinion, the governance system of Audius is fair because it allows only active participators and users that add most value to the network to vote. This means that dormant users and certain investors are restricted from partaking in the networks governance, leaving the tasks in hands of active users that know what would be best for the network.
Staking on Audius
Staking on Audius is the act of voting for proposals on the platform that would decide the future of the network.
Staking as Client
Staking as a client on Audius is very simple and direct:
- Go to the Audius site. A list of proposals are given on the screen. Select the desired proposal and delegate AUDIO tokens in order to vote.
Staking as a Node Operator
To stake as a Node Operator, a user needs to buy sophisticated hardware and obtain a great number of AUDIO tokens (minimum of 200,000 tokens).
Node operators stake their tokens in order to improve and maintain the integrity and security of the network. These node operators are responsible for validating transactions and activities in the network before they are approved. Hence, staking as a node operator is more important than client staking/delegation.
Note: In order to stake on Audius, the network must be connected to a wallet (preferably MetaMask) which has AUDIO tokens.
Steps to Create an Account on Audius
Step 1: Go to play store and download the Audius app or download the app using this link
Step 2: Open the app. Input email and select "sign up".
Step 3: Input password and select "continue".
Step 4: Choose method of completing identity verification. I chose to verify my identity manually.
Step 5: Input profile picture and username.
Step 6: Choose at least three artists to follow.
Step 7: Creating account...
Step 8: Account successfully created.
Features Available on Audius Website / Application
Using the Audius application for Android, there are a lot of features on the Audius platform that are common in other music apps. These features are listed below:
Feed
The feed feature gives first hand music from artists that you follow and similar genre of music that the user likes.
Trending
This gives the list of trending music on the platform. The trending music are listed weekly, monthly and yearly.
Explore
The explore space gives info on trending music, top albums, remixes, etc. It also arranges music according to genre, mood, playlists and artists so as to suit the user's taste.
Favourites
This displays the user's liked songs, albums and playlist, making it easier to find the user's preferred music in one place.
Notification
Notifications sent by the network to the users would be received in this window. Notifications include information on when an artist has dropped a new song, information on when a particular song is trending, etc
Settings
This is used for adjusting the app to a user's desired taste, and it includes a display option for switching to light or dark mode.
Mechanism of Music Content Upload in Audius
The mechanism of content upload is handled by two different nodes on the Audius platform; the Discovery node and the Content node. The Content node demands more storage as it stores more data than the discovery node. Basic activities like streaming, addition of a track to a playlist, liking a music track, following an artist, etc are all handled by the discovery node.
Content nodes are computes in the network that deliver and store uploaded music, and make this music available for streaming by the users. Uploaded music is first received by the content nodes which create a timestamp on the content.
After the content nodes has approved the data, the discovery node will come into play. The discovery node records the data and tags it with data from the musician, creating a right to claim of the uploaded music for the creator. The music is successfully uploaded after it has been approved by the discovery node.
Uploading Music to Audius
Step 1: Open the Audius site and select your profile.
Step 2: Select "upload track".
Step 3: Browse track and upload.
Step 4: Input track artwork, genre, mood, description, etc and select "continue".
Step 6: Uploading content.
Step 7: Upload complete.
Step 8: Go back to profile page. The track would be displayed in the user profile.
Conclusion
The Audius network is a secure network that offers total profitablity and right to ownership for music produced by an artist. As it is built on blockchain technology, the platform is very transparent.
Audius is just like every other music platform, but it's advantages would soon make it one of the most widely used music platform in the world.
Given the fact that the native token of the Audius platform, AUDIO, has a good price movement, it is safe to say that the future of this project shines bright.
Special thanks to @wahyunahrul.