American rapper Jay-Z and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey have introduced music streaming service, Tidal, to feature non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and smart contracts.
It has been reported that the duo emphasized the importance of introducing features that empower the artists using the platform, citing smart contracts, NFTs, and analytics tools as examples.
However, despite Tidal lagging behind top music streaming services, with Tidal’s 2019 $166 million in revenue paling in comparison to the $2.8 billion and $7.44 billion generated by Apple and Spotify, during that same year, Dorsey and Jay-Z believe they can capture significant market share by using blockchain technologies to offer empowering tools to artists.
Dorsey said:
“What really dawned on me was how weak some of the toolsets are for artists, with analytics and data, to understand what they’re doing and help them inform their decisions, especially considering other revenue streams like merchandise and touring and NFTs.”
He added:
“We want to open up all the information tools and simplify it for anyone — anyone can come onto the platform and create.”
Likewise, Dorsey discussed the potential of adding revenue streams such as NFTs, with the Square and Twitter CEO stating that anything that can help artists “shine” is up for discussion.
He added:
“The spirit of what NFTs represent, the spirit of just looking critically at how artists are compensated, and of proving that, is something that we want to spend a lot of time and a lot of our focus on going forward.”
Jay-Z said:
“It’s so many creative ways you can participate, and let others participate. And it’s recorded there, so it’s very transparent, there’s no hiding behind any fancy words, and lawyers, etc. With these blockchains and these smart contracts, you can write the contract today to say, any sale that happens, I want to receive 10% or 30%. Or you can write it out: 50% on the first one, 40% on the next.”
Thus, Jay-Z is currently in a legal battle with Roc-A-Fella (RAF) Records co-founder Damon Dash, who is alleged to have attempted an NFT auction depicting a tokenized version of Jay-Z’s first album “Reasonable Doubt” alongside rights to the album’s copyright.
Source: Cointelegraph