The music industry needs a shakeup. Let’s face it, artists receiving mere pennies as record labels make millions under this system is an inequitable playing field. LION Music, on the other hand, claims they are going to solve all that with blockchain, creating a decentralized music platform where artists will finally receive a fair share. Sounds great, right? Too great, maybe. Are we succumbing to a new tech utopia, entranced by the shimmery promise of “decentralization” while ignoring the very real booby traps?
Decentralization Equals Instant Fairness?
Decentralization is not a magical wand. But transferring that power from the National Music Publisher’s Association to a new, decentralized, platform-controlled space doesn’t ensure an equitable outcome. It’s the same as saying if we just give everyone a hammer we’ll have a nation of carpenters. Sure, the tool is one part, but the skill, the guidance, the ethics – that’s what’s essential to this purpose.
Remember those internet dial-up noises? We were sold on a siren song of a democratized information paradise, an egalitarian telecom utopia. What did we get? Echo chambers, misinformation on steroids, and tech oligarchs that are more powerful than most countries. The technology itself was revolutionary, but human nature—and a great deal of short-sightedness—made the utopian dream very quickly go astray. And the same, given half a chance, could happen with LION Music.
Who Governs This Decentralized Utopia?
Here's where things get tricky. Who decides the rules on LION Music? How are creative control disputes handled when artists find themselves at odds with a platform’s objectives? What’s preventing a cabal of influential users from gaming the system to their benefit? Decentralization, in practice, usually translates to reduced accountability, not increased.
This isn't some academic exercise. Glance back at the track record of sincere efforts at collaborative, neighborly decentralized governance. From crypto DAOs plagued by infighting to open-source projects hijacked by malicious actors, the road to decentralized utopia is paved with good intentions and broken promises. For LION Music to work, it needs a rock-solid governance structure, and it must be transparent and resistant to manipulation. Otherwise, it will be nothing more than a playground for the tech-savvy elite.
Consider this: the traditional music industry, for all its flaws, at least has established legal frameworks and regulatory bodies. What do you get when copyright infringement goes crazy on a decentralized platform? Who enforces the rules? Will LION Music turn into a piracy paradise, with the unintended but self-destructive consequence of hurting the independent musicians they desire to support?
New Problems, Same Old Song?
Forecasts for the blockchain music market are certainly tempting — an 18.5% CAGR from 2023 to 2030. Growth isn't synonymous with success. Rapid expansion can soon outstrip the creation of important safeguards. This imbalance creates a myriad of unintended consequences.
In fact, might LION Music be doing more harm than good and fostering even greater types of exploitation? Now picture a future where creators, starving for visibility, feel cornered into accepting deficiency deals, even on a decentralized platform. Would the new platform widen the gig economy’s yawning digital divide, privileging artists with pre-established fanbases or a strong grasp of marketing fundamentals?
And what about the average listener? Will they be smart enough to figure out the maze that is blockchain technology just to listen to music? Or will LION Music turn into the hobbyhorse of tech geeks and leave most music fans in the dust?
I’m not claiming LION Music is fated to fail. The vision of a fairer music industry is indeed an enticing prospect, and the technology is promising. We should be cautious about this and come with a healthy dose of skepticism. Decentralization is a tool, not a solution. It's up to the creators of LION Music to build a platform that's not only technologically innovative but ethically sound, and truly benefits artists and listeners alike. It’s not just financial diversification and operational resilience, but ethical resilience.
We should continue to ask the right, tough questions, require transparency, and hold LION Music responsible. To do that, we need to understand what went wrong with past tech utopias. Only then can we build an equitable music industry for all. Alternatively, we’ll be right back where we started — in a different key, perhaps, but with the same old song.
Innovation isn’t a bad thing, so don’t get me wrong on that. To conflate technological advancement with real progress wouldn’t be the first time we’d made the error. As we’ve learned, even the best-designed systems can easily be gamed. The future of music depends on it.
