TL;DR

Audius (AUDIO) is a blockchain-based decentralized music streaming platform. The project aims to give artists and curators greater control over their musical creation. When artists upload content to Audius, they can produce an immutable record of their work that will be secured by a decentralized network of nodes.

Audius eliminates the middlemen in the traditional music industry by connecting artists directly with their fans. Artists have sole ownership of their music and can decide how to monetize it on the platform. They can distribute music for free or set special fees for fans to unlock exclusive content.

Unlike other music streaming services, Audius doesn't take a cut of artists' earnings. Music curators can receive 90% of revenue in the form of AUDIO, Audius' native cryptocurrency. The remaining 10% will be given to stakers who support the Audius network.

AUDIO is an ERC-20 token that also serves as a governance token on Audius. Owners can stake AUDIO to help secure the network, participate in Audius governance, and access exclusive content. They can also get AUDIO rewards from staking.

Introduction

With the rise of music streaming platforms, listening to music has become more accessible. However, artists have always faced challenges in the traditional music industry, such as low revenues and transparency and minimal control over how their content is distributed or sold. Audius aims to overcome this challenge by supporting music creators and helping them monetize their content through its native cryptocurrency, AUDIO.

What is Audius?

Audius is a completely decentralized music streaming platform that allows listeners to support artists directly through its native cryptocurrency, AUDIO. As of December 2021, Audius had nearly 6 million unique monthly users and hosted more than 100,000 artists.

Audius, formed in 2018 by Forrest Browning and Roneil Rumburg, revolutionized the traditional music industry model by eliminating middlemen and record label barriers. Unlike other streaming platforms, an artist's earnings are not determined by the number of times a song is streamed. Audius gives artists exclusive ownership of their music and they can decide how to monetize their work. According to Audius, music curators will receive 90% of revenue in the form of AUDIO tokens, while the remaining 10% will be given to node operators (stakers) supporting the Audius network.

Audius is a layer 2 blockchain protocol originally built on an Ethereum sidechain called POA Network. Due to the increasing demand for streaming content, Audius experienced scaling problems and decided to migrate its content management system to the Solana blockchain in 2020 to improve its performance. However, the original cryptocurrency, AUDIO, remains on the Ethereum blockchain. AUDIO is an ERC-20 governance token that allows stakers to vote on proposals related to network changes and improvements. They can also unlock exclusive features by staking AUDIO coins.

Image from the Audius website

How does Audius work?

Audius aims to address the challenges faced by artists in the music industry, including music rights, royalties and ownership, by giving everyone the freedom to distribute, monetize and stream music. Audius eliminates the middleman between artists and audiences, allowing them to interact directly on the platform.

Unlike traditional channels in the music industry, Audius does not pay artists based on the number of plays of their music alone. Audius also considers an artist's activity on the platform, how they interact with fans, and overall engagement from users.

On Audius, artists can upload and distribute their songs with decentralized nodes. There are several ways for artists to generate revenue from their audio content without sacrificing ownership. They can get AUDIO by successfully reaching the Top 5 Weekly Trending Songs, 5 Weekly Trending Playlists, Top 10 Monthly API Apps, and the first song uploaded after verifying their social media account.

Audius also allows artists to engage with the community through artist tokens. Artist tokens give their owners exclusive access to token-restricted content, such as unreleased songs, remix competitions, etc. Sometimes, Audius plans to airdrop AUDIO tokens to artists based on the level of social engagement with fans and number of listeners.

In the future, Audius plans to add support for USDT and other stablecoins for fans to unlock paid content.

WHAT IS AUDIO?

Audius Token (AUDIO) is the native cryptocurrency that supports the Audius protocol. This token performs three main functions in the Audius ecosystem:

• Securing the network.

• Serves as a governance token.

• Provides access to exclusive features and content.

AUDIO is an ERC-20 token with a total initial supply of 1 billion and no maximum supply. As of December 2021, more than 500 million AUDIOs were in circulation.

Security

The Audius network is secured by decentralized nodes. Anyone can become a node operator by owning and staking AUDIO tokens. The greater the staking amount, the higher the chance of their nodes being used by fans to discover music content. By helping run the operations of the protocol, they can earn AUDIO from ongoing token issuance and pooled fee pools.

There are two types of nodes in Audius: content nodes and discovery nodes. Content nodes host, secure, and manage content on behalf of artists. Artists can also run content nodes to host their content, but this is optional. The discovery node indexes metadata and music uploaded to the Audius content ledger to enable fans to quickly search for artists or songs.

Nodes on the network will continuously send snapshots of artists' work to the blockchain. This can result in an immutable time-stamped record for that content.

Governance

AUDIO also functions as a governance token. As mentioned, AUDIO stakers can participate in the operation of the network as content nodes or discovery nodes. If users want to vote on proposals for future network updates, they can gain governance power by continuously creating value for the network.

At Audius, stakers don't have to run a node before they can express opinions. The community is encouraged to share their opinions regarding the protocol. One AUDIO token provides one vote. AUDIO rewards align with the incentives of artists, fans, and node operators, so they can enjoy a decentralized music streaming experience.

Access features

AUDIO tokens allow fans and artists to unlock exclusive features on the platform. Artists can leverage AUDIO to grow or increase fan base engagement. By staking AUDIO, artists can access content distribution tools to distribute artist tokens to fans. Then, fans who own artist tokens can unlock exclusive access to their unique content and experiences, such as listening to unreleased songs, entering remix competitions and more.

Users who have a certain amount of AUDIO in their Audius wallet can unlock 4 VIP levels to enjoy additional benefits. The more AUDIO you have, the higher the VIP level. After reaching the minimum threshold for a VIP level, users can earn a profile badge that grants access to new features as soon as they are released. The requirements and benefits of each tier are subject to change through community governance.

How is Audius different from other streaming platforms?

One of the main differences between Audius and other streaming platforms like Spotify is that Audius utilizes blockchain technology to run in a decentralized manner. This allows artists and content creators to share music with greater control over their content.

According to the co-founders, 90% of the platform's revenue will go directly to the artists. Compared to the typical figure in the traditional music industry, which is only 12% given to artists, Audius allows them to generate a more reasonable income.

Another difference is that Audius includes AUDIO token owners, both artists and fans, into the decision-making process for the network. By owning one AUDIO token, they get one vote to participate in protocol governance. They can vote for or against proposed changes to the platform. This is not something you get on other music streaming services.

Audius also shows that the platform has the ability to help artists grow their fan base and community. Audius is the first music streaming platform to partner with TikTok, a video streaming social media platform. This collaboration allows TikTok users to add songs on the Audius platform to their videos directly. Apart from TikTok, Audius has also integrated with the blockchain game DeFi Land in the form of an FM radio tower in the game's metaverse which can help promote artists.

Image from the Audius website

How to buy AUDIO on Binance?

You can buy Audius (AUDIO) on cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Binance.

1. Log in to your Binance account, then click [Trade] to select classic or advanced trading mode to start. In this tutorial, we will choose [Classic].

2. Next, type “AUDIO” in the search bar to see the list of available trading pairs. We will use AUDIO/BUSD as an example. Click to open the AUDIO/BUSD trading page.

3. Scroll down to the [Spot] box. Enter the amount of AUDIO to purchase. In this example, we will use a Market order. Click [Buy AUDIO] to confirm the order, then you will see the purchased AUDIO in Spot Wallet.

Closing

Audius may seem like just another music streaming service, but the platform presents new opportunities for the music industry and artists. Audius also shows how blockchain applications can be used in various aspects of our lives, both in real life and in the metaverse.