What if someone started a real underground music label on the dark web. Bitcoin only, no banks, no streaming and no middlemen. Artists could drop music, earn for say 5 or 10 years, then the rights go to the public domain. No corporate ownership, no lifetime contracts.
Could a label like that actually work?
Why would an artist sign with a label that has none of the marketing, distribution, or legal capabilities of a major label and serves an extremely limited/niche audience (bitcoin users)? Why would they give up their IP for free when it’s how they pay rent?
I think the system you’ve envisioned is unnecessarily limited and lacks the main reasons to sign with a label in the first place. I recognize labels are largely shitty and mistreat their artists, but they still serve a purpose.
most musicians don’t pay rent with IP actually. they do it by going on tours and selling merch at said events. they could keep selling their merch even if they made the designs public domain
I recognize that IP alone doesn’t make money, and that the vast majority of income for artists is via touring and merch sales. Controlling that IP, however, is what allows a band to protect its income streams- if I started selling merch with their brand on my website, none of that money would go to the band or pay their bills.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the copyright system we’ve come up with in the US is beyond fucked and generally favors large corporations over actual creators. However, as long as we continue to love in a world where basic necessities and dignity are not guaranteed, there needs to be something that allows those creators to protect their income from leaving, and publishing to the public domain does not accomplish this.
how does IP law stop that though? most art theft is done by large media conglomerates. it’s similar to worrying about petty theft when most theft is caused by employers stealing wages. the only way to enforce your property is to have a better lawyer than the media conglomerates violating your copyright, or to get lucky with a judge that can sympathize with your plight.
you’re right, and I didn’t mean to imply that making your work public would solve the issue of capitalist exploitation of artists. the way to solve it is to unionize, build mutual aid societies for your fans to donate to you, build more food banks, join a tenant’s union, making housing free or decriminalizing squatting. things like giving people a universal living standard instead of making them rely on money and predatory systems to survive
I think you’re describing an idolised world and ignoring the complications of resource allocation and practicalities around providing the trust required for efficient swapping of goods (ie. someone actually paying for the enjoyment of the music so the musician can eat).
most musicians are starving rn because of IP law and label monopolies on the industry. expecting this system to feed their bellies is the textbook definition of an idolized world
I never said the current system was perfect or that IP didn’t have problems that are frequently abused (including building monopolies and wrestling rights away from creators)
I just said the counterpoint being pitched has some flaws that I don’t think stand up to practice and included some processes that I think would be part of how it falls apart
More options for art is not a bad thing, constraints are.
Sure, but how is your proposal any better than an artist just releasing their work on bandcamp or soundcloud? At least those platforms accept common payments. I really think that your insistence on crypto tanks the whole idea, as it significantly limits who would actually get the music in the first place.
Releasing music isn’t like software development, the audience doesn’t have the familiarity with or, for the most part, the facility to use crypto. As far as the average Joe knows, crypto is the domain of scammers and criminals, and it’s largely not useable as currency in day to day life.
I just wonder what music culture looks like if you strip out banks, ads, and algorithms entirely. Not saying crypto fixes it, just that it changes who holds the keys.
“ability to pay for food” is not constraint