A Sydney blockchain startup is powering a smart speaker that directly pays artists and doesn’t charge users

If you’re the kind of person to run a mile at the word ‘blockchain’ (content warning: article may contain traces of cryptocurrency), bare with us.

The battle of the smart speaker just got kicked up a notch.

Sydney tech startup Emanate aims to “bring the music industry into the era of decentralisation” – which, in plain English, means tapping into technology which empowers brands and communities to redistribute powers and functions away from a central authority or location.

In even more plain English: do stuff differently.

Enter Volareo, a Rotterdam-based organisation run by consumer electronics entrepreneur and former Startup of the Year Founder Nick Yap.

Last week, they launched their smart speaker on Indiegogo, touting it as a smart voice speaker which can stream music, video, podcasts, make voice calls and, usefully, buy crypto.

The launch was originally slated for May with delivery expected by October, but that’s since been pushed back to January 2019. They hit their target of $US22,000 (originally $US50,000) in under two hours.

How does it work?

The collaboration between Volareo and Emanate will see a speaker designed to reward the musicians it plays.

They’re basically forming a self-governed and decentralised technology network for the music industry that allows for the full creative workflow, including collaborations, to be monetised on an expedited pay-per-play basis.

The technology will enable music producers to secure their work and produce it on the Emanate platform, with all involved in the production logged into a ‘smart contract’.

By using Emanate’s ‘smart collaborations’, the blockchain-based contacts are designed to enable musicians to greatly reduce the time it traditionally takes to get paid for streams.

They’re using Musicoin blockchain – a music streaming platform built on blockchain that supports the creation, distribution and consumption of music in a shared economy, and pays some of the highest streaming rates in the world.

The speaker will bring together a number of different music platforms backed by the blockchain, which will give freedom of choice to users. Native integration with other services includes Choon and Soundeon.

Cryptocurrency is delivered to artists in real time, moments after a user hits ‘play’.

And the best thing? The user isn’t charged; Volareo will come with a lifetime of free music thanks to Musicoin’s economic model, which is tied to its cryptocurrency.

Users can also tip musicians with their voice, by clapping their hands, or using the (pretty gimmick) MagLove Clip on the speaker itself.

500 Musicoins ($US10) are preloaded onto every new speaker to use for tips.

This is how it’s expected to compare to Amazon’s Echo:

“In 2018 there are four billion internet users, but only two companies controlling more than 80% of digital advertising,” explains Nick Yap.

“Are we letting big corporations dictate what’s at the top and what isn’t? Is the open internet, really open? Together with Emanate we want to change that.”

He says that given the domination of the smart speaker and voice shopping market by Amazon and Google, “the existence of an independent alternative has therefore become urgent.”

“We take traditional blockchain smart contract, we configure it and we enable artists to work with each other from either side of the planet, free of trust, seamlessly and for the royalties from their music to flow back almost in real time as it’s consumed,” adds Emanate founder Sean Gardner.

Early birds can nab one off Indiegogo for $US89.

It’ll be interesting to see how many artists are brave/tech-savvy enough to jump on board.