🔵 Revisiting Web3 in the music space in 2024

Is there still a glimmer of hope in all things blockchain and crypto?

So low is the public perception of Web3 at this point that I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this edition of Network Notes proves to be one of the least read. That is how little people care for Web3 in 2024, at least from what I see looking around me.

Web3 has certainly suffered, largely due to two reasons. The first is that it became overrun with hucksters and con artists, ensuring that over time, Joe Public viewed it as a kind of “don’t go there” mess of a space for the most part. The second reason is that AI appeared very quickly, and - at least in the music space - completely overshadowed Web3. It is understandable how, too: where Web3 was often full of promises, few of which were actually delivered on, AI was the opposite, emerging seemingly from out of nowhere and demonstrating both exciting and deeply worrying use cases with it.

Through 2023 and now 2024 then, Web3 has been living in the shadows, no longer the Hot New Thing, and with some of the biggest players battling fines and lawsuits from finance regulators the world over.

From the outside, certainly, it looked like it was yesterday’s news and unlikely to warrant further examination.

Except, that is not necessarily reflective of the truth. Consistent with the Hype Cycle model that it was continually referenced against, Web3 has, for the most part, stripped away a good chunk of the vapid hot air salesmen, leaving only those committed to the long haul - and from that, interesting things appear to be emerging.

For me, the most interesting as a prospect remains the Lens protocol. This is a kind of social networking framework, allowing experiences akin to Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and more to exist, all under the same unique user ID. Where it gets interesting in the music context is that you can also make posts collectable, and can charge whatever you like for that purchase.

In short then, you can sell music through the platform, but with infinitely more control than I’ve ever seen elsewhere. Furthermore, thanks to things like smart contracts, royalty processing can be fairly instantaneous, splitting monies out as ascribed.

For me though, the #1 bane of all things Web3 is simply the horrific complexity of wallets, paying, authorising things and so on. I consider myself a very tech savvy guy, but at points even I am stumped.

This is why I’m particularly interested in the news that, apparently within about 12 months, new approaches will be coming that will not require wallets, signing, or any of the other things that currently bamboozle us.

If that happens (and I’ll leave it as an ‘if’ for now), then all things Web3 might just stand a chance of really striking out beyond the niche tech space it currently sits in.

I appreciate to most of you that might be news you’d receive with a shrug - and that’s fine. However I continue to look for where music might go next, and right now platforms like Lens are shining a light of possibility that I am simply not seeing elsewhere.

Could this all be done in a Web2.0 space? It is certainly possible, and please don’t mistake me for a Web3 zealot; I am not that at all. However I do feel these developments continue to be interesting, and if all they do is demonstrate alternative models and possibilities that might then inspire the real next generation of music consumption, then that’s no bad thing either.

Have a great evening,

D.

📖 still reading Eamonn Forde’s “1999: The Year The Music Industry Lost Control”. What I can’t escape from whilst reading this is whether we are on the brink of a similar turn of events in which markets might just be blindsided by a new development. I very much doubt it could be as catastrophic as the MP3 era, but many behavioural hallmarks appear the same to me.

📺 watching “Flyball Last 16 | Crufts 2024”. Flyball might be my new favourite sport. It’s gripping, it’s entirely cute to watch and everyone involved is having a blast. What’s not to like?!

🤖 playing with various UJAM plugins. Someone laid down a challenge of making a whole EP using, wherever possible, only UJAM’s virtual instruments. It’s proven to be the most fun I’ve had in ages.

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Stories from the Music Industry:

Over half of the US population now pays for an audio subscription

US-based research firm MusicWatch is publishing its annual music study this week, and has shared a few of the key stats. “The number of paid music subscribers in the US hit a record, at 109m; 136m if SiriusXM and Amazon Prime music listeners are included,” being one of them. “That means over half the population are paying for an audio subscription.” The study suggests that there is more growth to be found in the US by “moving GenZ from free to paid services as well as converting the older, and more resistant, demographic”.

👆🏻Hot take: I suspect this might be more ammo for those questioning why, if half the US population is now paying for an audio subscription, so many artists are feeling short-changed by the current model.

‘It’s terrifying’: songwriter behind Robbie Williams hits out at AI in the music industry

Chambers said: “We now use so much software that’s probably being helped by AI, it would be quite hard to do a completely organic analogue record these days. Of course, there are also benefits to this, and I think there will be incredible tie-ins with AI that we can’t even imagine now. But also I think there are lots of potential dangers and I’m worried that young musicians might get lazy, and in this business you’re not going to get anywhere if you’re lazy.”

👆🏻Hot take: the headline is clickbait. In reality Chambers does a solid job of highlighting the pros and cons of AI in this space.

Music-streaming startup Sonu launches 'VibeCheck' feature

Now it has announced a partnership with AI-tagging startup Cyanite that will power a new feature in its app called ‘VibeCheck’. It’s the latest example of text-to-playlist AI at work, with listeners entering text prompts to generate playlists on the fly. “We built VibeCheck as a more fun interface for browsing music in this age of abundance. The goal is a playlisting experience that encourages a ‘lean in’ experience that feels a bit like crate digging in the age of AI,” said co-founder Laura Jaramillo.

👆🏻Hot take: a smart use of AI from this new kid on the streaming block. Your move, Spotify.

Because Music boss tells TikTok that it must respect music

The column mirrors many of the criticisms of TikTok made by Universal Music Group, including its low payments (“only 1% to 2% of revenue for music labels and artists comes from TikTok, while around 30% to 40% (depending on the label) comes from Spotify, which is a measure of the extent of the problem”). De Buretel also claimed that “TikTok is allowing its platform to be flooded with music recordings generated by artificial intelligence, by developing tools to encourage them”, and took some potshots at its recommendation algorithm too.

👆🏻Hot take: TikTok’s low payouts remain its Achilles Heel relative to the recorded music business. I’d imagine few would dispute the logic of what Universal is doing here TBH.

Aux's LoopLM AI helps producers to create their own samples and loops

“We have gone out and licenced 100K+ samples and loops to train the model,” explains its FAQ. “We do not scrape data and we do not use any data uploaded to the Aux Hub app.” The samples created by LoopLM are royalty-free, but Aux says that the creators who it licensed music from to train its model will get a revenue share for downloads. What revenue? Aux will charge people a subscription to use the new tool: $4.99 for 50 samples a month; $20.99 for 200 samples a month, and a VIP $47.99 plan for unlimited samples.

👆🏻Hot take: this, to me anyway, is where AI should be headed relative to music creation. Well, one of the areas anyway, but my point is more that sample creation feels like a valid space where AI could be genuinely interesting.

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Notable stories from the world of tech:

Donald Trump flip flops on TikTok, now rails against a ban

“There are a lot of people on TikTok that love it. There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it,” Trump told CNBC on Monday, saying that without it “you can make Facebook bigger and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people”. He said that, while he still believes TikTok is a national security risk, other apps are a risk as well, and singled out the Meta-owned platform: “I think Facebook has been very bad for our country, especially when it comes to elections.”

👆🏻Hot take: the logic is simple enough here. Win over young voters by being the guy who saved TikTok. Where this leaves the rest of the Republican party will be comical to watch, given this is the sole topic that’s had bipartisan support to date.

Apple to allow iOS app downloads direct from websites in the EU

Apple is planning to make further changes in EU countries to allow some developers to distribute their iOS apps directly from a website. The new web distribution feature will be available with a software update “later this spring,” according to Apple, providing developers with a key new way to distribute iOS apps in EU markets without the need for a separate app store — as long as they’re willing to adhere to Apple’s strict rules.

👆🏻Hot take: I think the detail to watch out for here will be the adoption rate of this new feature. For some reason I’ve a feeling it might prove lower than anticipated.

Max Adds More Ads, Takes Aim As Password Sharing

Of course, the whole streaming industry is heading this direction: more restrictions, higher prices, shittier product catalogs, lots of pointless, layoff-producing mergers, and more ads. And they’re heading this direction because as publicly traded companies, it’s simply not good enough to provide people with a quality, popular product at an affordable price.

👆🏻Hot take: the downward spiral continues…

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Need something else to read? Here you go:

‘The worst film ever made’: how Sex Lives of the Potato Men broke British cinema

When the puerile comedy bombed, the film-makers blamed the critics and the Tories blamed the UK Film Council. Twenty years on, we reassess the legacy of a cinematic pariah whose champions include Stewart Lee and Mike Leigh

👆🏻Hot take: given how indefensibly bad the film is, this article is far more interesting than you might think.

I’m a Neurologist. Here’s the One Thing I Do Every Day for My Long-Term Brain Health

If you’re worried about cognitive decline, add this to your routine.

👆🏻Hot take: the spoiler? Learn something. Now read the article to, er, learn more!

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Exit Notes:

• Why not follow Motive Unknown on Instagram? It’s the best way to see what we’re working on - such as the IDLES album that is #1 this week 😁 💪🏻

• Huge thanks to both

  Bass, Mids, Tops and the Rest
  and
  Zen Sounds with Stephan Kunze
  for recommending Network Notes! I heartily recommend subscribing to both if you can.

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