How startup MODA DAO is set to usher global music biz into Web3

EDM producers deadmau5 and Richie Hawtin, and Australia’s UNIFIED Music Group, are among those forecasting that Web3 will be more significant to the music industry than streaming.

Artists have released their music and concert tickets as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) before.

But MODA DAO, the first Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO), is offering an inclusive framework through which artists can harness Web3 technology such as NFTs, micro-licensing, DAO governance and DeFi to evolve their careers.

It promises more democracy to the music industry, and greater power to musicians by allowing them to bypass traditional middlemen – including streaming services.

“I see the Web 3 ecosystem growing alongside streaming services, and eventually becoming more significant to the artists,” deadmau5 said.

“This new world is creating new ways for artists to take ownership of their music, but it will take a while to scare the Spotify and Apple Musics of the world.”

The strategy is for musicians, biz leaders and tech developers is to define the future of Web3 music ownership —which they call Music3.

Members will collaborate on new ventures, share music catalogues, and leverage their collective influence to introduce new practices.

This way musicians can connect more deeply with fans and unlock new means for value creation between creators and community.

These are the ways musicians and their business associates benefit from MODA.

They get a say in their royalties on the platform, which are split three ways – the artists, the rewards pool and a token buyback program.

They can use MODA’s upcoming decentralized finance-type lending program where they can loan against their musical IP on-chain.

They can access in-house blockchain products like its new “audio fingerprinting” technology, to create and sell raw audio files of songs as NFTs before they have been approved to be published on platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.

MODA is funding the expansion of its network after raising US$5 million in a private token sale.

The sale, in October, was backed by musicians deadmau5 and Hawtin and a number of venture capitalist firms as Outlier Ventures, Blocksync, FBG Capital and Double Peak.

MODA released some token supply on Fantom, Ethereum, Near and Polygon blockchains.

Its launch partners ranged from labels and management firms ONErpm, mau5trap, AYITA and UNIFIED Music Group, to Web3 start-ups PIXELYNX, Emanate and CreateSafe and hardware cos. SubPac and Rising Agency.

Their catalogues generate over 10 billion streams per month.

“MODA DAO was born from the belief that no individual product or blockchain will be responsible for musical evolution, but rather a sum of everyone’s efforts,” co-founder Sean Gardner said.

“MODA is designed to accelerate that and so we’re embracing the multi-chain world.”

Gardner stresses the importance of users having access to the MODA toolset regardless of what their network preference is.

“Launching on multiple chains will get us one step closer to redefining the future of Web3 music ownership, publishing and licensing via NFT standards.”