Music streaming accounts for more than 51 per cent of the market share for album consumption, yet many artists struggle to get their share of the profits. "Technology is a big destroyer of emotion and truth," as musician Jack White once put it - but what technology takes with one hand, it often gives back with the other. For bedroom musicians the world over, digital advances are opening up new ways to make money and find an audience.
Berlin-based streaming service Resonate opened to the public in May, after previously being available to its supporters. It already has more than 1,000 artists and 150 labels signed up to its pay-as-you-play model. Artists earn more every time a subscriber streams a track, until the ninth play, when it becomes free forever.
Read more: SoundCloud isn't the only streaming firm struggling to make music pay
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," Resonate founder Peter Harris says, "but the co-operative model gives us protection against being led down that investor-controlled road."
The idea of taking control of your music also informs the work of Mat Dryhurst, founder of the self-hosting framework Saga. It lets people 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."
With companies such as dotBlockchain, Ujo Music and Spotify-owned Mediachain Labs experimenting with tailored forms of music distribution for independent artists, Dryhurst appears to be correct.
Then there's Boiler Room, a London-based global streaming service for underground music. It hosted its inaugural performance at the world's first VR nightclub in March. During the broadcast, from an event at Berlin's Arena Club, participants from around the world were able to move freely around the VR dancefloor and interact with the crowd, as well as explore hidden rooms and watch the performance.
Google was an early Boiler Room partner, and more frequent broadcasts are planned for the future."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."
Resonate: Musicians signed up to Resonate earn, on average, more than double the amount they earn on Spotify. The co-operative platform has streamed more than 30,000 tracks to date.
Mediachain Labs: The Brooklyn-based startup was acquired by Spotify in April 2017. It's using the blockchain to create a secure, verifiable music database.
Boiler Room: The London-based company has broadcast DJ sets from more than 135 cities in 45 countries - and now it's streaming in virtual reality.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
