7) Decentralized Media Platforms

7 Decentralized Media Platforms

7 Decentralized Media Platforms

In addition to our Literature Review⁸⁷⁴, we also reviewed the Terms of Service (ToS) of six decentralized media platforms⁸⁷⁵ to determine how they are assisting musicians and creatives⁸⁷⁶ in licensing their works on their platforms. The list of decentralized streaming platforms we considered for our analysis were:

Musicoin,
Resonate,
Choon,⁸⁷⁷
Creativechain,
LBRY, and
Ujo Music.

We chose the six above platforms for ToS review for two reasons. First, we could easily nd their ToS or similar documents. Second, these platforms are prominent decentralized media platforms in the blockchain ecosystem. For the sake of brevity, we evaluated these six platforms to answer three questions:

What are the licensing options available to creatives?
How are the platforms abating transaction costs? and
What are the new costs arising from using decentralized media platforms?

From evaluating the six above platforms, and after reviewing Overview of Licensing Platforms based on Distributed Ledger Technology, we came to the conclusion further described in the Need for Greater Licensing Options section that there is a need for greater licensing options for creatives on decentralized media platforms (especially for an automated license (preferably a RC) that is interactive with Web3 technologies).⁸⁷⁸ For another analysis of licensing on distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms, please refer to Overview of Licensing Platforms based on Distributed Ledger Technology. ⁸⁷⁹

7.1 Musicoin

Musicoin is a decentralized, advertisement-free streaming platform launched on the 11th of February 2017 when the genesis block of the Musicoin blockchain was mined. ⁸⁸⁰ Musicoin’s blockchain is a fork of the Ethereum blockchain, with network nodes and protocols con gured as an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), capable of executing smart contracts in a Turing-complete language. ⁸⁸¹ Musicoin incentivizes musicians to upload their music on the free streaming platform through their Pay-Per-Play (PPP) model, where musicians receive a certain amount of $MUSIC, the native cryptocurrency on the Musicoin blockchain, for each play of their music, from an artist Universal Basic Income (UBI) pool.⁸⁸²

⁸⁷⁴Supra Section1.

⁸⁷⁵Decentralized media platform refers to a platform that is interactive (e.g., built on the technology) with Web3 technologies such as a blockchain or the IPFS

⁸⁷⁶Creative refers to anyone who creates a creative work such as music, art, and is used in this report to generally refer to nonmusicians

⁸⁷⁷The Choon streaming service shut down between late 2019 and early 2020

⁸⁷⁸Alexander Schönhals et al. Overview of Licensing Platforms based on Distributed Ledger Technology. In: HICSS. 2019.

⁸⁷⁹Ibid.

⁸⁸⁰Musicoin Foundation. Musicoin: A decentralized platform revolutionizing creation, distribution and consumption of music. Whitepaper. Musicoin Foundation, Oct. 2017, pp. 129.

⁸⁸¹Musicoin. Musicoin Blockchain Upgrades to V3.0(Quantitative Tightening”). en. May 2019. url: https://medium.com/@musicoin/musicoin-blockchain-upgrades-to-v3-0-quantitative-tightening-dfbd36e621ee (visited on 11/12/2019); Foundation, Musicoin: A decentralized platform revolutionizing creation, distribution and consumption of music; Musicoin, Musicoin Blockchain Upgrades to V3.0(“Quantitative Tightening”); How it works? publisher: Musicoin. url: https://musicoin.org/howit-works (visited on 11/12/2019).

⁸⁸²How it works?; John Bartmann. Musicoin | Blockchain Music Streaming Platform. en-US. Feb. 2019. url: https://johnbartmann.com/blockchain/musicoin-blockchain-music-streaming-platform/ (visited on 05/12/2020).

The Musicoin Foundation’s (MCF) Terms of Service and Artist Policy describe the legal relationship between the Foundation, musicians and users regarding intellectual property on the platform.⁸⁸³ For musicians on the platform, the only license they can o er to other users is the PPP protocol (though, musicians may choose a di erent payment scheme than the PPP model) .⁸⁸⁴ Musicians can license their works for streaming under the PPP protocol by uploading a musical work to the platform, and in the smart contract, placing their address in the recipient eld.⁸⁸⁵ Additionally, musicians can have their licenses interact with other licenses via the PPP smart contract, thus allowing for musicians to collaborate with each other, and enforce their negotiated terms via the PPP smart contract.⁸⁸⁶

The PPP protocol is a license between Musicians and MCF, in which musicians grant MCF the right to perform tracks using the Service in exchange for payment in $MUSIC.⁸⁸⁷ MCF provides musicians a Musicoin wallet following veri cation of the [Musician’s] identity. ⁸⁸⁸ Musicians receive $MUSIC per stream of each track at the rate identi ed in the PPP license and according to the percentages submitted to the Service. ⁸⁸⁹ Musicians are required to acknowledge that they will accurately submit the PPP terms to allow for compensation of rights to Artist Content including tracks and agrees that Artist shall be responsible for any incurred costs of MCF due to any failure to assign, report or submit percentages for payments in accordance with our Agreement. ⁸⁹⁰ The royalty rate is determined by each stream of the track on the Musicoin platform and the percentages the Musician submits to MCF⁸⁹¹ Lastly, In the event Musician is in default of payment obligations, Musicoin may notify interested third parties if the default is not cured after receiving a noti cation of such.⁸⁹²

7.2 Resonate

Resonate is a multi-stakeholder platform cooperative that o ers an advertisement-free streaming service under the stream2own model.⁸⁹³ Currently, Resonate is in the beta-stage of developing their streaming service.⁸⁹⁴ In the stream2own model, the cost of a digital download is broken into nine separate streams, with the price increasing after every play until the ninth and nal play, upon which the listener may stream the music for free or download a copy of the music .⁸⁹⁵ On Resonate’s streaming platform, musicians are known as Music Maker members, and are subject to the ToS for the streaming platform.⁸⁹⁶ The ToS describe how Music Makers license their intellectual property to Resonate and Music Listener members.⁸⁹⁷ Similar to Musicoin, the only licensing option available for musicians on Resonate is a license in accordance with the stream2own model..⁸⁹⁸

⁸⁸³Legal: TOS. url: https://musicoin.org/legal/tos (visited on 12/13/2019).

⁸⁸⁴Resources: FAQ. url: https : / / musicoin . org / resources / faq (visited on 12/20/2019); Legal: Artist Content Policy. publisher: Musicoin Foundation. url: https : / / musicoin . org / legal / artist - policy (visited on 11/12/2019) (Additionally, musicians acknowledge and agree to receive $MUSIC in exchange for a waiver of other royalty payments, statutory or otherwise that MCF or its Account Holders may or may not be obligated to pay Artist in connection with the use of Artist Content, …).

⁸⁸⁵Resources: FAQ.

⁸⁸⁶ibid. (“For example, if you’re sampling part of another artist’s song and you both agree on a 10% royalty share each time your song is played, you would enter that artist’s song license address in the recipient eld under your license. Now, every time your song is played, 10% of your revenue from each play, will be automatically distributed to their license.”).

⁸⁸⁷Legal: Artist Content Policy.

⁸⁸⁸Ibid.

⁸⁸⁹Ibid.

⁸⁹⁰Ibid.

⁸⁹¹Ibid.

⁸⁹²Ibid.

⁸⁹³Kieran Devlin. Relaunched music sharing platform, Resonate’, operates “stream to own” model. *Apr. 2019. url: https://djmag.com/news/relaunched-music-sharing-platform-%E2%80%98resonate%E2%80%99-operates-%E2%80%9Cstreamown%E2%80%9D-model; John Bartmann. *Resonate | Blockchain Music Streaming Platform. en-US. Oct. 2018. url: https://johnbartmann.com/blog/resonate-blockchain-music-streaming-platform/ (visited on 05/12/2020).

⁸⁹⁴Devlin, Relaunched music sharing platform, Resonate’, operates stream to own model; Bartmann, Resonate | Blockchain Music Streaming Platform.

⁸⁹⁵stream2own. en-US. url: https://resonate.is/stream2own/ (visited on 12/13/2019).

⁸⁹⁶Resonate Player Terms of Use. en-US. publisher: Resonate. url: https://resonate.is/terms- conditions/ (visited on 12/13/2019).

⁸⁹⁷Resonate Player Terms of Use.

⁸⁹⁸Ibid.

7.3 Choon

Choon is an advertisement-free streaming service built on top of the Ethereum blockchain.⁸⁹⁹ Choon’s streaming model operates similarly to Musicoin’s PPP model, in that musicians who upload their music to the platform receive payment in $NOTES on a pro-rata basis on the number of streams of their [music]. .⁹⁰⁰ Additionally, musicians can share revenue with other users who curate their music into playlists.⁹⁰¹Choon describes the licenses it grants to registered (a user who has created an account with Choon) and unregistered (a user who has not created an account with Choon) users in using the platform, the licenses registered users grant to Choon, and the license registered users grant to other users (registered and unregistered) and a liated platforms and services.⁹⁰² From analyzing Choon’s ToS, it appears that a musician could o er multiple licenses (e.g., mechanical, synchronization, public performance) to other users on Choon, but we did not see such functionality available on the service..⁹⁰³

7.4 Creativechain

Creativechain is a multimedia content blockchain platform, where content creators (specifically targeted towards artists who create digital works of art) are rewarded for creating and curating content via Creativechain’s Proof-of-Creation algorithm.⁹⁰⁴Creators and viewers can interact with Creativechain’s blockchain on Creary, a social network DApp where creators can share their creative works with their followers and receive rewards in the CREA cryptocurrency based on user votes.⁹⁰⁵

In Creary’s ToS, Creativechain describes the intellectual property licensing relationship between users (creatives and consumers) and between creators and Creativechain.⁹⁰⁶ In particular, Creary’s ToS differs from the other five (excluding LBRY) platform’s ToS considerably because Crea does not store user uploads to their blockchain or centralized servers, instead uploads are stored on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), and are accessible through Creary.⁹⁰⁷ On Creary, creatives upload their works to the IPFS, and store the associated metadata (hash, name, URL, license, type, size, tags, and description) on the Creativechain blockchain. When uploading (i.e., publishing) a work, creatives are required to complete four steps in the publishing process:

Content;
Information;
Download; and
License.⁹⁰⁸

In Content, creatives present their project by combining different video or audio image files with text.909 In Information, creatives add basic information about the work.910 In Download, creatives choose whether to allow

⁸⁹⁹John Bartmann. Choon | Blockchain Music Streaming Platform. en-US. Aug. 2018. url: https://johnbartmann.com/blog/choon-blockchain-music-streaming-platform/ (visited on 05/12/2020); Marco Svarda. Official Statement On Choon’s Dissolvement. en. Dec. 2019. url: https://medium.com/@marcosvarda/official-statement-on-choons-dissolvementbbf7bcb1e9e4 (visited on 05/12/2020)(Choon’s streaming service shut down between late 2019 and early 2020. Choon was initially discussed in the drafts of this report and is included in this version of the final print because Choon was a prominent decentralized media platform at the time of writing.).

⁹⁰⁰About Choon. url: https://choon.co/about (visited on 12/13/2019); Choon Account - Terms and Conditions. en. url: https://choon.co/serverauth/showterms (visited on 12/13/2019).

⁹⁰¹Bartmann, Choon | Blockchain Music Streaming Platform.

⁹⁰²Choon Account - Terms and Conditions.

⁹⁰³Ibid.

⁹⁰⁴Decentralized Creative Communities. en-GB. url: https://creaproject.io/crea-en/ (visited on 12/13/2019); Schönhals et al., “Overview of Licensing Platforms based on Distributed Ledger Technology”.

⁹⁰⁵Creary. en-GB. url: https://creaproject.io/creary/ (visited on 12/13/2019).

⁹⁰⁶Terms of service. en. url: https://creary.net/terms_and_conditions (visited on 12/13/2019).

⁹⁰⁷FAQ. en. url: https://creary.net/faq (visited on 12/13/2019); Schönhals et al., “Overview of Licensing Platforms based on Distributed Ledger Technology”.

⁹⁰⁸FAQ.

⁹⁰⁹FAQ.

⁹¹⁰Ibid.

users to download their work, and the price per download.⁹¹¹ In License, creatives choose the licensing scheme for their work.⁹¹²

Regarding authorship, Creary automatically creates incorruptible timestamps that issue a certi cate of authorship and a distribution license for any digital work. ⁹¹³ For creatives, this means that there is an uno cial certi cate of authorship that comes along with uploading works, which can provide some aid in tracing the origins of a work. Regarding distribution licenses, Creary o ers Creative Commons (CC) licenses when a creative is publishing their work to Creary.⁹¹⁴ However, we could not ascertain whether Creary will allow users to associate their own custom licenses with works uploaded to Creary, or the allowance of an automated licensing DApp on top of Creary that o ers di erent licensing schemes..⁹¹⁵

Creatives on Creary can receive rewards from other users curating their content via voting, and by making their works available for purchase as a digital download.⁹¹⁶ For a work published and sold on Creary, creatives receive seventy-percent 70%) of the payment while curators receive thirty-percent (30%) of the payment..⁹¹⁷

In Creativechain’s multi-token economic system, there are three tokens:

CREA,
CREA Energy (CGY), and
CREA-based Dollar (CBD)⁹¹⁸

CREA is the main cryptocurrency of the Creativechain blockchain, intended to be a liquid asset that operates like Bitcoin.⁹¹⁹ CGY and CBD derive their value from CREA.⁹²⁰ CGY represents the power a user has when “voting for content or network witnesses (DPOS).”.⁹²¹ The influence a user has on the payout of a work published onto Creary “is directly proportional to the amount of CGY they have.”⁹²² CREA can be converted into CGY or exchanged for CBD.⁹²³ CBD is intended to have a price correlation with the US Dollar (i.e., a Crea-based stablecoin).⁹²⁴ CBD primarily tracks the price of CREA to USD (i.e., the price of converting X amount of units of CREA into 1 US Dollar)..⁹²⁵ Users can withdraw CBD at any time. CBD can be exchanged for CREA through the CREA Core “tak[ing] and destroy[ing] the CBD and then creat[ing] new CREA.”⁹²⁶

7.5 LBRY

LBRY is a multimedia content protocol for distributing and discovering media.⁹²⁷ LBRY utilizes a BitTorrentlike protocol for le sharing and hosting, a blockchain for tracking transactions, channels, and metadata associated with content, channels, and transactions, a DApp for users to interact with content, and a naming system for content so that users do not have to rely on a Content Identi er (CID).⁹²⁸

⁹¹¹Ibid.

⁹¹²Ibid.

⁹¹³Creary; utkudedetas. My Tiny Demon. url: https : / / creascan . net / devil / @utkudedetas / my - tiny - demon (visited on 12/13/2019).

⁹¹⁴FAQ.

⁹¹⁵bid.

⁹¹⁶Ibid.

⁹¹⁷Ibid.

⁹¹⁸Ibid.

⁹¹⁹Ibid.

⁹²⁰Ibid.

⁹²¹Ibid.

⁹²²Ibid.

⁹²³Ibid.

⁹²⁴Ibid.

⁹²⁵Ibid.

⁹²⁶Ibid.

⁹²⁷Schönhals et al., “Overview of Licensing Platforms based on Distributed Ledger Technology”.

⁹²⁸How does content hosting work? en. url: https://lbry.com/faq/host-content (visited on 12/13/2019); Schönhals et al., “Overview of Licensing Platforms based on Distributed Ledger Technology”.

Creatives (specifically targeted towards YouTube-style content creators) are rewarded for uploading content to LBRY at a set price in either LBRY Credits (LBC) or US Dollars (USD), or a creative can o er their content for free.⁹²⁹ Creatives also have the option to associate a specific distribution license with their works regarding how other LBRY users interact with their content.⁹³⁰When a creative publishes a work on LBRY, the creative can choose the distribution license associated with their work, with LBRY setting defaults for Creative Commons (CC) international licenses, Public Domain, None, Copyrighted, and Other.⁹³¹ The Other option lets creatives associate a custom license with the work, which requires a description of the license and an accompanying URL.⁹³² Concerning None’s relation to Public Domain and Copyrighted, we are unsure how None di ers from Public Domain or Copyrighted.⁹³³ LBRY, like Creativechain, provides creatives exibility regarding the distribution license associated with their works, but we were not able to ascertain whether LBRY has any DApps for automated licensing via RCs.⁹³⁴

7.6 Ujo Music

Ujo Music (“Ujo”) is a music streaming and download service built on the Ethereum blockchain (in the beta stage).⁹³⁵ Ujo promotes a direct fan-to-artist model where fans can purchase a stream of a musician’s work or a digital download of a work, tip musicians in cryptocurrency or buy a musician’s NFT badge to represent support for a musician (purchasing badges is a planned feature to be added to Ujo).⁹³⁶

Ujo stores all musical works on the Ethereum blockchain and ties the musical works to the musician’s Ethereum public address (i.e., musical works uploaded to Ujo cannot be deleted).⁹³⁷ Musicians are required to upload full albums to Ujo.⁹³⁸ Creatives can be compensated in Ether (ETH) or DAI for streams or downloads of their musical works.939 Currently, the streaming rate is one cent per play.⁹⁴⁰

In Ujo’s ToS, users are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to access and make personal and non-commercial use of the Service [(The Site and any other features, tools, materials, or services offered from time to time by Ujo, including our smart contracts)]. ⁹⁴¹ As such, users are only allowed to utilize Ujo’s platform for personal and non-commercial use.⁹⁴² We did not find anything specific in Ujo’s ToS about licensing options available to musicians other than streaming and digital downloads.⁹⁴³ Though, this may change if Ujo integrates OpenLaw and uPort into the platform.

7.7 The Wicked Costs of Decentralized Media Platforms

The six decentralized media platforms, in trying to address the complexity and issues in the music industry and the licensing process, also need to contend with wicked problems.⁹⁴⁴ Wicked problems are systemic problems that

⁹²⁹How do I earn LBRY Credits (LBC)?. en. url: https://lbry.com/faq/earn-credits (visited on 12/13/2019).

⁹³⁰How do I Publish Content to LBRY?. en. url: https://lbry.com/faq/how-to-publish (visited on 12/13/2019).

⁹³¹Ibid.

⁹³²Ibid.

⁹³³ibid. (None could imply that the creative does not intend any license to be associated with the work, that the work is in the Public Domain, or that they are reserving all rights to the work, i.e., Copyrighted.).

⁹³⁴Build. en. url: https://lbry.tech/build (visited on 12/13/2019); LBRY. Contributor’s Guide. en. url: https://lbry.tech/contribute (visited on 12/13/2019); LBRY. Overview. en. url: https://lbry.tech/overview (visited on 12/13/2019).

⁹³⁵John Bartmann. Ujo Music | Blockchain Music Streaming Platform. en-US. Aug. 2018. url: https://johnbartmann.com/blog/ujo-music-blockchain-music-streaming-platform/ (visited on 05/12/2020).

⁹³⁶Ibid.

⁹³⁷Ujo Music FAQ. en. url: https://ujomusic.com/faq (visited on 05/12/2020).

⁹³⁸Ibid.

⁹³⁹Bartmann, Ujo Music | Blockchain Music Streaming Platform.

⁹⁴⁰Ujo Music FAQ.

⁹⁴¹Terms of Service. en. url: https://ujomusic.com/terms-of-service (visited on 12/13/2019).

⁹⁴²Ibid.

⁹⁴³Ibid.

⁹⁴⁴Joss Colchester. Complex Wicked Problems. en-US. July 2018. url: https://systemsinnovation.io/complex- wicked problems/ (visited on 06/02/2020); Wicked Problems Austin Center for Design. en-US. url: https://www.ac4d.com/our

arise in complex systems⁹⁴⁵ from the interaction of local parts that do not have a simple nor a single solution.⁹⁴⁶ The complexity of the music industry gives rise to these wicked problems, and thus requiring solutions that affect the industry at multiple points to solve them.⁹⁴⁷ If not addressed in a systematic approach, any one solution to a wicked problem will lead to new, additional problems that keep the status quo. As stated by Sellin and Seppälä and Torbensen and Ciriello in their analyses of the music industry, a solution(s) to address the complexity and inequities of the music industry needs to be systemic and incentivize stakeholders to align their interests with each other.⁹⁴⁸ Here, in abating the licensing costs and issues of the music licensing process⁹⁴⁹ and other issues in the music industry (though, not at a systemic level), these platforms also create a new host of costs that must be contended with and addressed by platform owners and users.⁹⁵⁰

The six decentralized media platforms aid in abating transaction costs, specifically monitoring, enforcement and negotiating costs, associated with licensing.⁹⁵¹ LBRY, Ujo, Musicoin, Choon, Creativechain and Resonate (when Resonate is out of beta) abate monitoring and enforcement costs because all transactions are tracked and made transparent on the blockchain, and all transactions are made via smart contracts which self-enforce the licensing model(s) for the platform. The above platforms also reduce negotiating costs because:

the price of a stream is predetermined by the licensing model on the platform;
the creative can associate a price with their work on the platform; or
the creative work is offered for free on the platform.

However, the six above platforms, do not necessarily reduce identification costs because the platforms do not pre-verify whether the user who is uploading the work is the author or an appropriate rightsholder of the work.952 Though, this is not meant to diminish the efforts of Resonate, Ujo, and Musicoin to verify users on the platform, but pre-verifying users this does not necessarily prevent misattribution of authorship or copyright ownership in a work.⁵³⁹ Besides abating licensing costs and issues associated with the traditional licensing process, the platforms also bring with them five new costs.⁹⁵⁴ .

The first cost is the volatility cost, which arises from the usage of cryptocurrencies and tokens (e.g., $MUSIC, $NOTES, $ETH) on these platforms. These cryptocurrencies are inherently volatile, and their market value can have major fluctuations on even a daily basis.⁹⁵⁵

The second cost is the exit cost, which arises from converting the cryptocurrencies and tokens into other cryptocurrencies or at currencies (i.e., leaving the platform’s ecosystem).⁹⁵⁶ The exit cost arises from creatives cementing or realizing the expected value garnered from these platforms. In other words, the creatives only know

work-philosophy-and-approach-to-education/understanding-wicked-problems/ (visited on 06/02/2020); What are Wicked Problems? en. url: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/wicked-problems (visited on 06/02/2020).

⁹⁴⁵The music industry is a complex system

⁹⁴⁶Colchester, Complex Wicked Problems; Wicked Problems “ Austin Center for Design; What are Wicked Problems?

⁹⁴⁷Colchester, Complex Wicked Problems; Wicked Problems “Austin Center for Design; What are Wicked Problems?; Sellin and Seppälä, “Digital Music Industry “ Background Synthesis”.

⁹⁴⁸Colchester, Complex Wicked Problems; Wicked Problems “ Austin Center for Design; What are Wicked Problems?; Sellin and Seppälä, “Digital Music Industry “ Background Synthesis”; Torbensen and Ciriello, “TUNING INTO BLOCKCHAIN”.

⁹⁴⁹Supra Section 4.4.

⁹⁵⁰Bodó, Gervais, and Quintais, “Blockchain and smart contracts”; Finck and Moscon, “Copyright Law on Blockchains: Between New Forms of Rights Administration and Digital Rights Management 2.0”; Haugen and Engebretsen, “The Music Industry on Blockchain Technology”; Torbensen and Ciriello, “TUNING INTO BLOCKCHAIN”; Schönhals et al., “Overview of Licensing Platforms based on Distributed Ledger Technology”; Treiblmaier, “Toward More Rigorous Blockchain Research”; Alharby and Moorsel, “Blockchain Based Smart Contracts : A Systematic Mapping Study”.

⁹⁵¹Bodó, Gervais, and Quintais, “Blockchain and smart contracts”.

⁹⁵²Though, this may change for Ujo if Ujo integrates uPort into the platform.

⁹⁵³Schönhals et al., “Overview of Licensing Platforms based on Distributed Ledger Technology”; Resources: FAQ.

⁹⁵⁴Each platform has one or more of these new costs, but not necessarily all ve costs

⁹⁵⁵Haugen and Engebretsen, “The Music Industry on Blockchain Technology”; Finck and Moscon, “Copyright Law on Blockchains: Between New Forms of Rights Administration and Digital Rights Management 2.0”.

⁹⁵⁶Haugen and Engebretsen, “The Music Industry on Blockchain Technology”.

the true value or remuneration of their work in the outside economy once they convert their cryptocurrencies or tokens (which are only local to the blockchain, and thus the blockchain’s or network’s local economy).⁹⁵⁷

The third cost is the technical issues cost, which arises from the inherent technical architecture of Web3 technologies (speci cally blockchain and smart contracts).⁹⁵⁸ For example, blockchain’s immutability feature can be an issue (and is a major issue for Ujo) because if a creative ever needs to remove their content for any reason, e.g., copyright infringement, it is nearly impossible to do so. Though, this can be mitigated against by making the content inaccessible on the platform or storing the content on a mutable data storage solution such as the IPFS.

The fourth cost is the network-industry cost, which arises from the need for network e ects and/or industry adoption for these platforms to gain a foothold. The network-industry cost can inhibit a platform’s growth if the platform cannot garner enough users⁹⁵⁹ for network e ects to kick in.⁹⁶⁰ Additionally, if a platform cannot become adopted in the industry, it will be nigh impossible for the platform to incentivize all music industry stakeholders to share data with the platform, use the platform, and participate in the platform’s governance.⁹⁶¹

The fifth cost is the e ective governance cost. For these platforms to survive and grow, especially in the face of uncertainty, they must have e ective governance models⁹⁶² For example, since most of these platform’s (and the underlying software they utilize) have their software licensed under an open source license (and this is the norm for most Web3 technology projects), if a segment (or class of stakeholders) of the platform’s community is no longer satis ed with the platform owner’s maintenance of the platform, they can, at any time, fork the software and run their own version of the platform (i.e., a hard fork).⁹⁶³ This can lead to loss of personnel, knowledge, software advances, and other resources that would otherwise have stayed with the platform.⁹⁶⁴ To prevent a hard fork, a platform’s owner(s) must satisfy the needs and concerns of the segments in the platform’s community, including external and internal stakeholders.⁹⁶⁵ This can be an issue for platforms that operate at the protocol layer (i.e., base layer or layer 1), and the application layer (i.e., layer 2 or DApp layer).⁹⁶⁶

⁹⁵⁷Ibid.

⁹⁵⁸Alharby and Moorsel, “Blockchain Based Smart Contracts : A Systematic Mapping Study”; Treiblmaier, “Toward More Rigorous Blockchain Research”.

⁹⁵⁹For example, a streaming platform would need both music listener users and music maker users. Though, a platform usually just needs to garner enough users on one side (e.g., listeners or makers) to incentivize the other side to join the platform.

⁹⁶⁰Bodó, Gervais, and Quintais, “Blockchain and smart contracts”; Finck and Moscon, “Copyright Law on Blockchains: Between New Forms of Rights Administration and Digital Rights Management 2.0”; Haugen and Engebretsen, “The Music Industry on Blockchain Technology”; Torbensen and Ciriello, “TUNING INTO BLOCKCHAIN”.

⁹⁶¹Bodó, Gervais, and Quintais, “Blockchain and smart contracts; Finck and Moscon, Copyright Law on Blockchains: Between New Forms of Rights Administration and Digital Rights Management 2.0; Haugen and Engebretsen, The Music Industry on Blockchain Technology; Torbensen and Ciriello, TUNING INTO BLOCKCHAIN.

⁹⁶²Bodó, Gervais, and Quintais, Blockchain and smart contracts; Finck and Moscon, Copyright Law on Blockchains: Between New Forms of Rights Administration and Digital Rights Management 2.0; Haugen and Engebretsen, The Music Industry on Blockchain Technology; Torbensen and Ciriello, TUNING INTO BLOCKCHAIN; Treiblmaier, Toward More Rigorous Blockchain Research; Juri Mattila and Timo Seppälä. Distributed Governance in Multi-Sided Platforms. May 2017. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.35409.74086.

⁹⁶³Treiblmaier, Toward More Rigorous Blockchain Research; Mattila and Seppälä, Distributed Governance in Multi-Sided Platforms; Brave New Coin. url: https://bravenewcoin.com/insights/bitcoin-core-developers-issue-segwit2x-hard-fork-warning (visited on 06/02/2020); How Many Bitcoin Forks Are There? en. url: https://forkdrop.io/ (visited on 06/02/2020); Michael del Castillo. Ethereum Executes Blockchain Hard Fork to Return DAO Funds. en. July 2016. url: https://www.coindesk.com/ethereum-executes- blockchain- hard- fork- return- dao- investor- funds (visited on 06/02/2020); Jake Frankeneld. Hard Fork (Blockchain) Definition. en. url: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hard-fork.asp (visited on 06/02/2020).

⁹⁶⁴Treiblmaier, Toward More Rigorous Blockchain Research; Mattila and Seppälä, Distributed Governance in Multi-Sided Platforms; Jamie Redman. Two BCH Devs Leave Bitcoin Unlimited as Network Upgrade Approaches. en-US. Mar. 2019. url: https ://news.bitcoin.com/two- bch- devs- leave- bitcoin- unlimited- as- network- upgrade- approaches/ (visited on 06/02/2020) (An additional concern is other projects misusing a platform’s open source software for their own gains to compete with them in the market.Digital Asset Research. TRX: We Found New Instances of Code Copy without Attribution. en. June 2018. url: https://medium.com/digitalassetresearch/trx-we-found-new-instances-of-code-copy-without- attribution-butthese-pale-in-comparison-to-the- 305aff860f8b (visited on 06/02/2020); Greg Thomson. Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin on Zombie’ BitTorrent Under Justin Sun Dictatorship’. en. url: https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereums-vitalik-buterinon-zombie-bittorrent-under-justin-sun-dictatorship (visited on 06/02/2020)).

⁹⁶⁵Treiblmaier, Toward More Rigorous Blockchain Research; Mattila and Seppälä, Distributed Governance in Multi-Sided Platforms; Brave New Coin; How Many Bitcoin Forks Are There?; Castillo, Ethereum Executes Blockchain Hard Fork to Return DAO Funds; Frankenfield, Hard Fork (Blockchain) Definition.

⁹⁶⁶Treiblmaier, Toward More Rigorous Blockchain Research; Mattila and Seppälä, Distributed Governance in Multi-Sided Platforms.

Additionally, for platforms that operate on the application layer, they must be prescient and ready to participate in the governance processes at the protocol layer, lest they be blindsided by unexpected changes to the protocol’s software.⁹⁶⁷

7.8 The Need for Greater Licensing Options

Based on our review of the ToS, copyright related policies, and other relevant policies governing the use of user-uploaded content onto decentralized media platforms, we came to the following three conclusions. First, the legal documentation for the platforms reviewed concerning user-uploaded music does not grant musicians as much autonomy as they may perceive or expect from using a decentralized media platform, often described as alternatives that put the control back into the hands of musicians. Second, other than Creativechain and LBRY, the decentralized media platforms did not o er creators the option of attaching a license to accompany their works other than those prescribed in the ToS. Third, the platforms that allow creatives to attach a license not prescribed in the ToS to their works, Creativechain and LBRY, only provided default options for CC licenses for distribution, which unfortunately, does not fully span the spectrum of licensing options available to, or desired by, creatives. With these conclusions in mind, we believe that there is a need for:

further study in developing automated music licenses (and copyright licenses in general) that interact with Web3 technologies; and
offering more licensing options to creatives than what is currently available on decentralized media platforms.

⁹⁶⁷Alharby and Moorsel, Blockchain Based Smart Contracts : A Systematic Mapping Study; Treiblmaier, Toward More Rigorous Blockchain Research; Castillo, Ethereum Executes Blockchain Hard Fork to Return DAO Funds; Brave New Coin.