Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing

The marketplace for music & visual creators to connect and collaborate in web3 | sync licenses for a variety of digital uses, and beyond 🎧

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

We've been cooking 🧑‍🍳👀 thanks for the coverage @billboard!

https://t.co/6L5cD2u643

[Keatly Haldeman @KeatlyKHZ]

Lol @stuartdredge there's no doubt that it's the first time you've ever written "one-stopify" but hopefully not the last!

Thanks @MusicAlly for the coverage!

https://t.co/RsFAxWaWI8

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

*DJ Khaled voice* "anotha one!" thanks @MusicAlly for covering our collaboration with The Rights! Excited to keep pushing forward in the quest for simplifying sync licensing for all.

https://t.co/nu3pM9600T

[Keatly Haldeman @KeatlyKHZ]

The vision for @Dequency_io has always been to modernize music sync licensing for audiovisual content, using the best technology available.

Partnering with The Rights is a huge step in that direction. We are building infrastructure to make the clearance process smooth for both rights holders and licensees.

Our platform allows labels & publishers, like our launch partner @kobalt, to keep up with the accelerating volume of sync requests. Licensees can onestopify complex, multi-rights holder commercial music. Both sides reduce costly administrative overhead.

Proud to announce this merger, launch our product, and continue building a revolutionary music licensing platform for the benefit of music creators, owners and users alike.

There’s still so much to do, but it’s times like these where we get to pause briefly and celebrate milestones along the way.

Thank you very much to @billboard and @theglennpeoples for telling our story.

[Keatly Haldeman @KeatlyKHZ]

There are many cases where “ask for forgiveness, not permission” is sound advice.

Using music without a license - whether it's sampling or sync with video - is NOT one of those cases.

It blows my mind that artists and labels still release songs without clearing samples. The biggest artists in the world do it too. One of the songs I used to publish was sampled in a Migos track, then released a year before it was cleared and the song splits were agreed to.

Once the song is released, the label/artist loses their negotiating leverage for sample licensing terms and opens themselves up to lawsuits and loss of income. This is just bad business, and is easily avoided.

At this point it's not reasonable to claim ignorance for unlicensed sampling, which means it's intentional. Trying to get away with it is actively betting against yourself: if your song is successful, you will absolutely be found out and forfeit your income.

Can someone explain the rationale for this? Is it a calculated bet that public exposure is worth the legal battle and loss of income? Do they really think they'll get away with it? Is it just sloppiness?

https://t.co/5Dg1wOGwiv

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

ai songwriting apps when they mash together a bunch of copyrighted works

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

us talking about our white paper and the power of a decentalized licensing environment with mechanistic user incentives to people who just asked "wen token ser?"

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

love the idea of redefining what makes a "charting" song — where it's not just big money + streams, but also fan engagement. bravo (as always) to @soundxyz_ for being thoughtful about this

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣|
| PEER TO PEER |
| LICENSING MEANS |
| ARTISTS GET PAID |
| ＿＿＿＿＿__________|
(\__/) ||
(•ㅅ•) ||
/ づ

[LATASHÁ @CallMeLatasha]

idc what ppl say this space is healing a lot of money wounds for creatives. this is really life changing and I’m forever grateful to be a part of it.

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

fast, secure, and low-fee music licensing ✅

[Li Jin @ljin18]

The most interesting question at the moment to me is: "What can only be built with crypto?"

These are novel user experiences that are unlocked by crypto, which aren't possible on traditional rails.

Examples of "Only with crypto":

@cryptothegame_ could have only bootstrapped its prize pool so quickly & disbursed payments to players around the world on crypto rails

@farcaster_xyz Frames passes a message containing users’ FIDs that can be linked to ETH addresses, enabling developers to personalize the experience for users regardless of where they’re interacting with the app.

DEPIN networks that bootstrap one side of the network using tokens before full marketplace utility is present (e.g. @Hivemapper @DIMO_Network @helium & many others)

@shibuyaxyz @TallyLabsNFT user-directed media with economic skin-in-the-game

Wallet-aware e-commerce, like @coinbase's Penny Hat which had a steep tokengated discount https://t.co/XJhzRmPB5x

This list is rapidly growing each day. What else can only be built with crypto?

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

rip to the other guys but we're different

[Keatly Haldeman @KeatlyKHZ]

This is a data point that cannot be ignored as we speculate the outcome of the @UMG vs. @tiktok_us feud: Indie music is more culturally relevant than ever and growing YoY.

Major label Universal is taking the position that its music is so crucial for the user experience that without it, users will be frustrated and the platform will suffer. TikTok is betting that its creators will be just as happy using alternative songs to their first choice and they have plenty of options to choose from.

Right now we’re only talking about UMG’s repertoire, so the sounds library still includes popular artists - for example @iamcardib might work as a fine replacement for @NICKIMINAJ. But if TikTok doesn’t see an engagement dip from the lack of UMG repertoire and squeezes Warner and Sony, they may choose not to renew their deals.

If it comes to that, will TikTok users be upset or will it accelerate indie music consumption? In any event, with the data already showing growing listener preference for indie artists, users may find their first choices for sounds are available after all.

What do you think? Does it matter that UMG is no longer on TikTok? Will the indies reign supreme?

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

you’re hiding 50% fees in your online sync marketplace, are you not?

[Keatly Haldeman @KeatlyKHZ]

"Get pitted"

What does that mean?

Do you remember the surfer who went viral explaining how he got pitted in the barrel? https://t.co/XAGYIguR1O

When we started building @Dequency_io, we were all new to web3 and the space was evolving rapidly. The only way we could build something authentic was to stay current with the news and dive deep into the philosophy, culture and technology. That meant going to conferences and events, listening to podcasts, reading and sharing the news, and going full degen on new dApps as they came out... truly immersing ourselves in the "ocean" of information.

We played this video regularly as a kind of rally cry — "get pitted" by going all in and absorbing everything blockchain, crypto, sync licensing and the where web3 meets music. This became one of our core values, and while it's hard to pick a favorite company value, this one was definitely the most fun.

What's your favorite core value - in and out of the office?

[Keatly Haldeman @KeatlyKHZ]

There are some interesting takes on the whole @tiktok_us/@UMG drama. Both companies have accused the other of being greedy and unfair, but instead of arguing over who the “bad guy” is in this situation, let’s take emotion out of it and look at the actual business dynamics.

TikTok is likely looking at a near-future IPO: In 2020 TikTok parent company @BytedanceTalk confirmed that the US subsidiary TikTok Global will have an IPO at some point and 4 years later, in an improving macro-economic environment, with the platform exploding in popularity seems like a good time to do it.

Universal knows this and is likely one of the reasons they are emboldened to negotiate more aggressive licensing deals now. But who really holds the better cards here: the TikTok platform as a culture-creating means of discovery? Or UMG, the gatekeeper of some of today’s most influential artists?

Now that Universal has pulled their catalog, Tiktok is on the hook to stay DMCA compliant. Will be interesting to see if TikTok can handle all of the take down notices UMG sends their way. If not, the social media company would be liable for copyright infringement, and a 9 figure lawsuit (like the NMPA's lawsuit against X) would be a drag on it's IPO valuation.

Music licensing can be a contentious, vicious game of chicken when there’s disagreement on key points (UMG cites compensation, AI and infringement as reasons for their withdrawal). However this turns out, it's likely to be a creative deal and set precedents for similar negotiations going forward. Often emerging tech platforms are making the rules up in real time - which leads to this type of thrash - but when there is music licensing harmony, artists, writers, publishers, platforms, and labels are all better off.

https://t.co/fZeXDOZD93 @billboard

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

"hey. seeing the news about UMG pulling away from TikTok makes me think about how I’m sorry I pulled away from you.”

[Keatly Haldeman @KeatlyKHZ]

Music licensing is complex, frustrating, and expensive... even for the biggest platforms in the world.

OG @YouTube got sued and spent many millions to get compliant, build up their music department and develop Content ID. They blazed the trail for social media music use and ultimately delivered billions to the music industry
A few years ago @onepeloton settled a 48MM lawsuit for unlicensed music usage.
X is under fire for the music usage on their platform.

Now @triller's run-ins with the music industry are getting fresh attention on the heels of its IPO filing, which shows a bill of more than 23MM in "outstanding music licensing payment obligations."

Even after settling and getting blanket license agreements (or covenants not to sue) in place, users and platforms get regular take down notices and lawsuits. Any usage that falls outside the narrow terms of the blanket license must be negotiated directly with music rights holders and there is no easy way to do that.

The sync licensing industry is painfully difficult to navigate and both licensees and licensors struggle with the mountain of manual work it takes to get a deal done. Licensing processes haven't evolved since the advent of email, yet the amount of content that uses music has exploded -- 82% of all internet traffic is video streaming!

What needs to happen for music licensing to become less of a minefield for platforms and a liability for creators? A few things:

- Easy clearance of complex multi-rightsholder copyrights with a coordinated process between all rightsholders of a song.
- Tools that reduce the manual work for licensors to eliminate the bottleneck and make small-scale syncs profitable.
- Automated and direct payments.

When this happens, licensees use their first-choice music, and for higher fees than production music. This benefits artists, writers and the music industry as a whole, as well as the media-consuming public who gets to enjoy better content.

This is what we are building.

#synclicensing #sync #musicindustry

https://t.co/xakkkOSAHK

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

“so this is like bitcoin?”

[Dequency | peer-to-peer music licensing @Dequency_io]

certain music industry execs when we talk to them about blockchain