Blockchain can provide the framework for a future music industry which is 10 times larger than today, a leading artist manager has said.
Ric Salmon, partner and director at ATC Management, said the new technology offers an opportunity to ‘rewrite the rulebook’ and build a modern music business ready for growth.
Addressing the PRS for Music Explores Blockchain event held in London earlier this week, he said: ‘I staunchly believe that we are on the edge of what is about to be the greatest era for the music industry in its modern times. I believe we’ll get to a point in the next decade where we’ll see revenues double, quadruple, grow tenfold, to become the biggest they’ve ever been.’
He said the growth would be based on micro-payments, which will make up 99 percent of the business, adding: ‘At the moment we find ourselves in the slightly frustrating position of building a modern music industry on a very old fashioned fabric and framework – and it’s just not working.
‘What blockchain potentially does is provide us with an opportunity to rewrite the rulebook. So, while I’m feeling muted and cautious, I have a very optimistic view of it all.’
Blockchain is a decentralised, transactional system with no single entity controlling it. It’s of particular interest to the music business because it offers transparency of ownership by publicly associating music files with the correct rightsholders in real time.
Just as music distribution was disrupted at the start of the millennium with the rise of peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms, blockchain technology could now offer new opportunities for its monetisation.
Andy Heath, chairman of Beggars Music and UK Music, was also on the panel, and expressed a similar cautious optimism about the technology.
He said: ‘I think blockchain is a very exciting, sensible idea: what we do with it is something else completely. Blockchain needs to be taken very seriously as one of the tools that will work going forward.’
But he cautioned that while the technology is robust, it is not a ‘silver bullet’ that will ‘solve everything’.
‘What it could be is a super-helpful element of the future of music distribution. We should embrace it and welcome it.’
The panel was chaired by Graham Davies, PRS for Music’s director of strategy and digital, and also included songwriter and technology expert Rupert Hine, songwriter Crispin Hunt and Phil Sant (Omniphone).
The society said it is keen to encourage constructive debate around how the new technology can be used to assist in its goal of ‘getting fair and full value for the exploitation of our member’s repertoire’.
Also from M‘s coverage of the panel:
Imogen Heap: blockchain can help music industry ‘join the dots’
Blockchain can help combat music piracy, expert says
Music rights expert calls for blockchain caution
Ric Salmon, partner and director at ATC Management, said the new technology offers an opportunity to ‘rewrite the rulebook’ and build a modern music business ready for growth.
Addressing the PRS for Music Explores Blockchain event held in London earlier this week, he said: ‘I staunchly believe that we are on the edge of what is about to be the greatest era for the music industry in its modern times. I believe we’ll get to a point in the next decade where we’ll see revenues double, quadruple, grow tenfold, to become the biggest they’ve ever been.’
He said the growth would be based on micro-payments, which will make up 99 percent of the business, adding: ‘At the moment we find ourselves in the slightly frustrating position of building a modern music industry on a very old fashioned fabric and framework – and it’s just not working.
‘What blockchain potentially does is provide us with an opportunity to rewrite the rulebook. So, while I’m feeling muted and cautious, I have a very optimistic view of it all.’
Blockchain is a decentralised, transactional system with no single entity controlling it. It’s of particular interest to the music business because it offers transparency of ownership by publicly associating music files with the correct rightsholders in real time.
Just as music distribution was disrupted at the start of the millennium with the rise of peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms, blockchain technology could now offer new opportunities for its monetisation.
Andy Heath, chairman of Beggars Music and UK Music, was also on the panel, and expressed a similar cautious optimism about the technology.
He said: ‘I think blockchain is a very exciting, sensible idea: what we do with it is something else completely. Blockchain needs to be taken very seriously as one of the tools that will work going forward.’
But he cautioned that while the technology is robust, it is not a ‘silver bullet’ that will ‘solve everything’.
‘What it could be is a super-helpful element of the future of music distribution. We should embrace it and welcome it.’
The panel was chaired by Graham Davies, PRS for Music’s director of strategy and digital, and also included songwriter and technology expert Rupert Hine, songwriter Crispin Hunt and Phil Sant (Omniphone).
The society said it is keen to encourage constructive debate around how the new technology can be used to assist in its goal of ‘getting fair and full value for the exploitation of our member’s repertoire’.
Also from M‘s coverage of the panel:
Imogen Heap: blockchain can help music industry ‘join the dots’
Blockchain can help combat music piracy, expert says
Music rights expert calls for blockchain caution
