This female singer wants to use Bitcoin to help musicians restore their dignity and wealth

How to solve the "information asymmetry" in the music industry? Imogen Heap's idea is to establish a simple and direct transaction model, where musicians sell their works directly to listeners, because it is completed through the "data blockchain", and every account in the middle is clear.

Bitcoin Music Online

Author: New Music Industry Observation and Research Room

“An open source, living, smart, decentralized, transparent, adaptive, effective, sunny home for music.”

Above is musician Imogen Heap’s description of her planned music trading platform. Can you imagine what that platform looks like?

Most people can't imagine it, because this music platform called Mycelia by Imogen Heap is so avant-garde. Its inspiration comes from a technology called "blockchain". However, it takes some effort to explain what "blockchain" is.

You may not know Blockchain, but you must have heard of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is traded based on the "data blockchain".

The "data blockchain" is equivalent to the Bitcoin ledger, which records all Bitcoin transaction data. Because this ledger is stored in partitioned blocks, each block contains part of the transaction record and also records the ID of the previous transaction node, forming a chain structure, so it is called a blockchain.

Is it still hard to understand? You only need to know that "data blockchain" has the following two characteristics:

Completely decentralized, transactions are scattered across any node. The system cannot control any node, but the destruction of any node will not affect the operation of the system.

The information is completely transparent and equal, and the data of each transaction is recorded clearly.

This is why Imogen Heap chose to build her own music trading platform based on "data blockchain". In her opinion, "data blockchain" can solve the unequal transactions caused by various information asymmetries in the current music industry.

This reminds us of an interview with Gao Xiaosong:

"Information asymmetry" has become a chronic disease in the music industry, and many roles in the industry have benefited from it, so there has been no motivation to change it. "Even a broker can make a lot of money by keeping an artist's schedule in his pocket. It's nothing more than answering the phone and saying that the artist doesn't have time. If you want time, I'm sorry, I'll give it to you to 'try'." Gao Xiaosong said that he and Song Ke have been in the industry for more than 20 years and know how much information everyone keeps in their pockets. From artist assistants to publishing agencies, in this "network-intensive industry" of the music industry, every role benefits from information asymmetry. (36Kr exclusive interview with Gao Xiaosong)

It is this information asymmetry that causes musicians to lose their dignity and wealth. For musicians who are better at creating, it is impossible for them to know how to play the commercial game.

How to solve this information asymmetry? Imogen Heap's idea is to establish a simple and direct transaction model, where musicians sell their works directly to listeners, because it is done through the "data blockchain", and every account in the middle is clear.

This is of course an ideal model, and it is very advanced. Except for a few technical experts, no one knows how to implement it. In fact, it has been half a year since Imogen Heap's Mycelia was announced in July last year, and it is still just a concept and has not been implemented.

However, last October, Imogen Heap actually released a single called "Tiny Human" based on the "data blockchain". From the reactions of netizens on Reddit, we can see how difficult this revolution will be...

Selling rice: a mysterious thing, not human language

Soda671: Oh my god, I thought Tiny Human was a program...

Death Penalty: It's just marketing hype to me

Shesuobi: Uh, is it related to the podcast?

Finally, the netizen "Heyke Duancian" asked a practical question: "It sounds cool, and I like her music, but does anyone know how to buy it?"

So, how is a song released using the "data blockchain" traded? A netizen who successfully traded gave the answer that everyone cares about:

Step 1: Log in to the song "Release" page

Step 2: Start Prototype (front-end framework required to use "data blockchain")

Step 3: Click "Download" of the song

Step 4: Create an Ethereum wallet

Step 5: Use Bitcoin to recharge the wallet created in step 4

Step 6: When the wallet arrives, the official download link will appear

According to this netizen's statistics, the whole process takes about 10-15 minutes. Isn't it cool? But do you really understand it?

We cannot underestimate Imogen Heap's determination and action. She is very obsessed with new technologies and she once invented a smart glove.

With this smart glove, she won the support of "Abbey Road" and became an incubation project of "Abbey Road". Yes, this "Abbey Road" is the one we are familiar with, but "Abbey Road" has evolved from a recording studio to an "incubator".