The music industry is well-known for being dominated by a few giant corporations that ensure artists receive as little as possible while they take most of the profit. The industry has a few high-profile artists earning millions, and millions of artists earning next to nothing.
The problem is so widespread that many have come forward about it , and it was exacerbated by piracy websites allowing people to use artists’ content for free. Streaming platforms like Spotify aren’t solving the problem, as they have specific problems of their own. Streaming farms, for example, allow fraudsters to cash in by artificially inflating the number of listens a song receives.
While there isn’t a perfect solution out there for the musing industry, there’s a way to use blockchain technology to return exclusivity and value to unreleased music, and the Dubplate Trade project is working on it.
Dubplate Trade: An NFT Marketplace That Supports Artists
The Dubplate Trade platform looks to take unique and original tracks and turn them into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that provide clear ownership to whoever buys them. Its goal is to give back to artists, who over the last few years have been struggling to deal with piracy, streaming farms, and venue shutdowns over the COVID pandemic.
It also gives back to music fans by allowing them to feel as close as possible to their favorite artists, letting them buy NFTs that can even include exclusive tracks only they can listen to. By empowering fans with these NFT Dubplates, the platform is ensuring the financial security of artists.
To do so, a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain ensures 10% of each NFT transaction goes to the artist behind it. Artists who believe in the platform’s vision can, as such, create unique and exclusive work for the fans supporting them.
Dubplate’s smart contracts not only share profits with artists, but it has also signed an exclusive deal with an up-and-coming music label in the United Kingdom to help them gain exposure, and is in talks with other labels and artists.
At the center of all this is the $DUB token. The decentralized cryptocurrency can be used by the community to trade collectible tracks on a decentralized application built on top of the Binance Smart Chain. DUB token holders who stake their holdings receive a share of the Dubplate Trade platform’s profits as well to ensure increase revenue to those who support the project.
The use of NFTs helps prevent piracy, as these tokens, taking advantage of Ethereum’s ERC-1155 token standard, make it easy to verify ownership through the immutable blockchain. To clone an NFT, an attacker would have to compromise the ETH blockchain, which as never happened before, despite the over $300 billion incentive it has.
How to buy $DUB tokens
A total of five million DUB tokens were created on the Binance Smart Chain as BEP-20 tokens. 30% are being sold to the public, while 30% are being distributed through liquidity mining initiatives. 10% are being used to fund the project, while 20% will be used to secure partnerships with blockchain-based firms and with music industry players. 10% were sold in a pre-sale.
Anyone can invest in DUB tokens using the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). To do so, all investors need is a wallet capable of interacting with that blockchain – such as MetaMask or the Trust Wallet – and some Binance Coin (BNB) tokens to move funds across the blockchain.
After downloading the correct wallet and securing it, head on over to Dubplate.trade’s website and click on “Purchase Tokens.” The button will launch a decentralized exchange called PancakeSwap, and a pop-up window will open. To proceed click “I understand.” Now a page where users have to unlock their wallets through a transaction that incurs a small fee will open.
After unlocking their wallets, users can select the amount of tokens they would like to purchase, and swap their $BNB for $DUB tokens. It’s important to use V1 of PancakeSwap to buy the tokens.
As a holder of DUB tokens, a user can vote on governance proposals to help the project move forward. In the future, the team plans to list the token on reputable exchanges to improve its liquidity.
You can find out more about Dubplate Trade on its website, or you can follow the project on Twitter or Telegram.
Important information: This is a sponsored story. Please remember that the value of investments, and any income from them, can fall as well as rise so you could get back less than you invest. If you are unsure of the suitability of your investment please seek advice. Tax rules can change and the value of any benefits depends on individual circumstances.
