Can Web3 Change The Music Industry? Base And Sound Think So

When listening to music people often dance, sing, whistle or hum... but now, Base and Sound want them to also be onboarded to Web3. Coinbase's Layer-2 blockchain solution has announced a partnership with Web3 music platform Sound.xyz that will aid its efforts in 'bringing a billion on chain' while 'changing the way that music platforms operate'.

Sound.xyz was founded on the idea that the current format of streaming platforms dominating the music industry needs to be fixed. Never before has so much music been so easily available, yet most of it falls by the wayside as reportedly 90% of streams go to the top 1% of artists due to algorithm design. With big record labels taking the lion's share of music streams and revenue, further value is lost as artists don't have enough financial incentive to keep producing quality content - on average, an artist makes only $0.003 per stream.

Despite several other projects working to integrate music and blockchain, Sound.xyz's partnership with Base puts the a16z-backed company on a whole different level. 

Launched to the public in July this year, Base is now the fastest-growing L2 solution. By presenting low-fees, a user-friendly interface and a culturally rich ecosystem, the blockchain had managed to amass $310 million in total value locked as of October.

By being on Base, Sound.xyz gains access to a whole new universe of users while being able to offer "10x cheaper gas fees," "lightning fast transactions", and "free uploads and withdrawals for artists." 

"From today you can mint music and collect on @buildonbase, paving the way for Sound to reach a mass audience of music fans."

The listening experience is similar to any other streaming platform but goes beyond passively enjoying the music. Sound.xyz greatly improves the sense and spirit of an artist's community by allowing users to show their support by minting their favourite songs, which in most cases is free (plus gas fees). The app also offers the chance for artists to open the doors to further engagement with their community by offering exclusive paid NFTs to fans. For artists, Sound.xyz guarantees that either free or paid, every mint will generate revenue.

The alliance was announced with the launch of a new jingle/song called Based, which lyrically celebrates the onboarding process of users onto the Base blockchain. Curated by Reo Cragun and Heno, the promotional track has such cringeworthy lines as "Now I am on-chain, and I am using Base" and "On-chain is the new online" as well as a low-key thank you note to users who didn't leave the crypto space during the bear market.