Russian pop singer completes first blockchain digital rights transfer
Oleg Kenzov, a Russian pop singer, successfully completed the world’s first ever digital rights transfer of a song he had composed with the use of a blockchain platform backed by the Russian government.
vc.ru, an online publication, reported that the Soyuz studio had reached a licensing agreement deal with the music service FONMIX to distribute “Po Kaifu”to stores, restaurants, and gyms that are planning on using it for marketing purposes.
The landmark transfer of rights, which was fully conducted on the blockchain, was made in the presence of several high profile music industry leaders from major record companies and labels. This includes Sony Music, Warner Music Russia, Zhara Music Label, Universal Music, and others.
Music companies are hoping that this new technology will streamline the distribution of musical creations from local artists by making it easier for everyone involved to conduct the transfer of digital rights.
With the platform acting as an intermediary, artists receive their payments instantaneously and the entire process of transferring digital rights finished in less than ten minutes.
“The IPEX digital exchange opens up new opportunities for the circulation of all types and forms of objects of corporate and individual creativity. The platform allows creators, owners and users of intellectual property (IP) to interact directly, without intermediaries and from anywhere in the world, so that they can effectively use and monetize original content.” the vc.ru article explained.
IPChain, a blockchain platform, offers tools for managing content made by musicians as they are distributed globally. It is also mindful of the nuances in legislation across different countries, and geo-restrictions that are imposed by record labels.
The President of the IPChain Association, Andrey Krichevsky, remarked that what they accomplished “has no precedent.”
“But the music industry is extremely pragmatic in this regard. Therefore, blockchain has long remained an interesting, but not a very clear tool. Now, we are finally ready to give a concrete answer to our colleagues’ question: ‘Why?’.” he stated.
eMusic, a digital music store, conducted a survey in July of this year. Results revealed that most users were willing to pay with crypto if it meant that artists would earn more.
While the study showed that 65% of eMusic customers would use cryptocurrency for that reason, the results of the survey appear to indicate that cryptocurrency adoption is slow, with only 8% of the respondents stating that they had used Bitcoin (BTC) or any other cryptocurrency in the past.