3 Alternatives to Soundcloud or Spotify: Upload your Music and Earn Income

Thanks to blockchain technology, there are now emerging sites (live projects) where you can upload your music creations, mixes, audio files, and earn money or cryptocurrency.

 

Below, we'll take a look at 3 alternative options to uploading your music to Soundcloud, Google Play etc. those platforms that take large commission fees or benefit from streaming your music and giving little to nothing back to artists.

 

Early Days

 

First, remember it’s still early days, and there’s the hope these projects may on-board more users and even grow into well-organised community-run platforms, which evolve according to the wishes of its voting members (and crypto token holders).

 

Also, file storage is decentralised in some cases, meaning your music will not be hosted on one server and will likely never be lost or hacked. They can never be taken down or censored either, unless the community reaches agreement that moderation is required, for example due to copyright breach. From a data perspective, they promise to be more secure.

 

However, the most attractive part for budding musicians is getting direct sales when your music is bought or streamed, since the platform takes little or no cut.  

 

(Here at Prizes Drop, we’re always looking out for opportunities where you can get rewards online for things you love doing, or just to earn long-term or passively. Be sure to check out our previous posts on this blog, and sign up for your own dashboard where you can start completing our mini-tasks for points.)

 

So, let’s take a quick look at 3 blockchain-based music sites:

 

UJOmusic.com

 

 

This site is a little clunky and requires some patience, perhaps because it uses Ethereum blockchain which is itself still ‘clunky’ at this time. However, it allows you to easily upload mp3s (not large ones) and compile them into ‘releases’ you can sell directly. You’ll also get a secure streaming wallet, for rewards to artists you choose to stream in your Playlists, you can create. 

 

Extra features include the option to Tip artists directly, and buy a 'crypto-collectible' badge of the artist profile picture. 

 

If you’ve collaborated with other musicians on your tracks, or simply have fellow band members, then you can specify their Ethereum wallets on each track, so that each member receives a certain percentage share when a Release is purchased. 

 

Thanks to UJO, it’s never been easier to share your music and get direct sales. Imogen Heap has been an artist involved in UJO previously. Log-in is simple via we3 wallet MetaMask etc. Let’s just hope the platform receives continued development. 

 

[check out a sample profile page: 'emberTime' chill-out guitar.]

 

Emanate

 

 

The Alpha for this streaming site is up and running, and it has ambitions to become a full, community-run, token-based site, where crypto token rewards  (EMT, on the EOS blockchain) can be spent back in the ecosystem for other music-related services. 

 

You can start uploading and monetizing your music today, which means every time your music gets streamed, you actually earn something. It's easy to do so, and the design of the site is stylish and promising. 

 

You get an automatic EOS ‘ghost’ account, but you can also connect via Scatter if you already have one. 

 

[check out a sample profile page: 'embient' driving music.]

 

Audius

 

 

The biggest of the bunch, in that it’s the most exciting. However, the token earning model is not yet live, so it’s really just about getting on board at this stage.

 

The user experience and features are strong, clearly mimicking Soundcloud with profile pages, playlists, quick upload speeds etc. and all for free. This is a good sign they’ve been serious about their development and about catching a big user-base. This means you can already potentially be building more of a fanbase here.

 

The difference to Soundcloud etc. is your music will be stored decentralised and not subject to ‘take-downs’, which has been occuring on Soundcloud along with other criticisms. 

 

It also looks like it could become a good platform for collaboration with other artists. You can allow you music to be downloaded by anyone, or just by followers, and specify license attributes for all your uploads. 

 

[check out a sample profile page: 'emberTime' chill-out guitar.]

 

 

Summary

 

You could upload on one, or use all three, to start your migration away from centralised company sites like Soundcloud, who take a bigger cut in all the plays or buys of your music. That's not to say there's still something in being featured on more traditional music sites. 

 

Another option (especially if you have your own website) is to 'tokenise' your music or sounds, via sites like Mintbase, and host all the files yourself (or onto IPFS). This gives you even more control over rights to your music, registered globally onto Ethereum, and allowing buyers to own or trade your samples and songs on digital marketplaces. These are exciting times. 

 

Be wary of development and that all these 3 projects mentioned will need to grow and build a successful model for the future. But they’re all live today or up and running, at the time of writing and what they are offering is exciting and positive for creative musicians hoping to explore and capture a new fanbase. It could be just a matter of time before the next big, well-known artist emerges thanks to one of these platforms, which help them to hit the mainstream. It could even be you! And if it is 'you' reading this, then that means it's also thanks to us here at Prizes Drop, for highlighting these projects!

 

Stay tuned to Prizes Drop blog where now and then we explore opportunities online for artists and creatives able to earn more, often right now, thanks to cryptocurrency and blockchain. 

 

You can, of course, swap any points earned on our site for cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum and put them towards music tokens mentioned in this article (such as EMT or Ethereum or EOS).