Background & Mission
According to a report released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in 2021, the size of the global music market was 21.6 billion USD, which is up 6.9% from a year ago. The global music market, which peaked in 1999 before decreasing, has been showing a clear recovery since 2015 as the number of streaming service users increased sharply to 443 million last year.
In the internet age, music is gradually becoming digital, business models are changing rapidly, and the market is constantly growing. Yet, the unfair profit distribution structure which is the main pain point of the music industry keeps existing up to these days. The reality of music’s ugly revenue structure is that ¾ of the total revenue goes directly to the pocked of middlemen a.k.a tradition labels. If we take a look at Spotify, the money paid to an artist every time a song is played is $0.0033 which is a tiny portion of the actual revenue. One survey shows that only 1% of the singers in the streaming market get their songs played, meanwhile, the role of listeners is totally ignored in the revenue structure. The listeners are the engine of the music industry which means that without listeners none of the music will be demanded and popular. However, the music streaming platform does nothing in return for listeners within the ecosystems by enjoying monopolization of IPs. This is the limit of Web 2.0 music platforms and the reason why Web 3.0 is emerging in the music industry.
Throughout the last couple of years, we have witnessed a couple of music-related blockchain projects that tried to relate blockchain technology and create an ecosystem for musicians. However, the main reason for failures was the ignorance of listeners in the interaction with smart contracts. Innovations were made to provide more rewards to musicians by eliminating intermediary labels, however, the incapacity to attract millions of listeners made became the main failure mistake. After all, if there are few listeners, there are no benefits either for musicians or listeners and the idea of decentralization is forgotten.
LABEL 1.0 focused on the activation of the MOOC platform and content production for musicians in the E&M (Entertainment & Media) sector. Although the service was expanded with dozens of top global musicians joining LABEL, it was recognized that there were limitations to the musician incubation system that did not provide a fundamental solution to the music distribution structure.
LABEL Foundation started a transformation into LABEL 2.0, a Web 3.0 music platform to increase user participation and ecosystem activation. Our team decided that innovation for musicians and listeners should be made together with blockchain-based technology.
LABEL team intends to bring listeners into the LABEL ecosystem and fix the monopoly and profit structure of the secondary market with their participation by introducing the innovative Music-Fi Streaming platform Listen -and-Earn mechanism TRACKS. The new mission of LABEL 2.0 is to distribute more diverse music to the world and to build an ecosystem where potential musicians can grow without giving up on their profit revenue.
LABEL aims to be a decentralized Web 3.0 music platform where the community can fully own and operate the ecosystem. Accordingly, LABEL establishes and implements a governance mechanism that follows decentralized policymaking and opens up unlimited possibilities for the community. The transition to decentralization will be gradual.
Last modified 2mo ago