Streaming Service for Fans

New music streaming services give musicians more control over their music and earnings.

07:51 26 August 2017

Many artists were hesitant to make their music available on music streaming services as they struggle to get their share of profits. This problem is what new wave streaming services are trying to address.

 

Resonate, a Berlin-based streaming service, has more than 1,000 artists and 150 labels signed up to its pay-as-you-play model. With this, artists earn more every time a subscriber streams a track, until the ninth play, when it becomes free forever.

 

Resonate founder Peter Harris said that the idea is that fans pay to support their favourite artists. "It's going to take a while before the decentralised technologies are fully developed but the co-operative model gives us protection against being led down that investor-controlled road."

 

Mat Dryhurst, founder of the self-hosting framework Saga, on the other hand, allows contributors to augment, self-destruct or charge viewing fees for their self-hosted videos. "The independent music industry has benefited from being antagonistic," Dryhurst explains. "The idea that blockchain- or co-operative-based music is on the horizon is viable."

 

Another service is called Boiler Room. The London-based global streaming service for underground music has hosted its inaugural performance at the world’s first VR nightclub in March.

 

"These projects are not as abstract as they were for the previous generation," says Michail Stangl, director of Boiler Room Germany. "For people who grew up with the internet, this project is as real and tangible as it was for those who first discovered underground music in clubs."