Abstract

Blockchain technology is an intensely discussed enabler of large-scale societal and economic change, but the circumstances under which different industries succeed or fail in implementing blockchain are not yet sufficiently understood. One example is the music industry, in which the promise of blockchain is not yet fulfilled, despite a growing number of ambitious blockchain pro-viders. This paper explores the challenges and opportunities of blockchain-based music platforms. Grounded in an exploratory qualitative case study within the music industry at seven organiza-tions and related literature, we identify three main challenges for digital music business, namely: 1) Inconsistent and incomplete music metadata, 2) Historically grown complex licensing struc-tures, and 3) Inefficient and non-transparent royalty payouts. We provide insight into how block-chain may address these challenges by means of a decentralized global song database that allows for automatic royalty payouts. Our results inform researchers and practitioners how the music in-dustry may create value from blockchain-based music platforms. We offer a nuanced and bal-anced view on value creation with blockchain and outline a path for further research and devel-opment on blockchain-based solutions for the music industry.

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