A CRYPTO music streaming service now has 7.5million listeners a month as musicians and fans buy in to decentralisation.
Audius was launched in 2018 as a new platform for music streaming that seeks to give musicians more control over their music.
And while most of the cryptosphere has taken a massive knock in recent months after May’s price crash, Audius continues to go from strength to strength.
“We’ve seen growth continue through this market cycle of sorts because the average Audius user is not even aware the crypto is there,” said Roneil Rumburg, the platform’s CEO, in a recent interview.
“They’re getting the benefits of decentralisation without having to be super aware of having to use a wallet.”
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Audius cuts out the need to record labels to allow fans to connect directly with their favourite artists – and for the music makers to keep more of the profits.
It can boast about being the home of one million songs from over 250,000 artists.
Big names backing the project include Katy Perry, Jason Derulo and Skrillex.
The Web 3.0 platform allows all musicians, whether they are signed to a label or are independent, to share their music.
Songs can be distributed for free or shared for a fee.
Users can buy AUDIO, Audius’ Ethereum-based cryptocurrency, to purchase exclusive content.
With the pitch for exclusive content, Audius aims to be different from other streaming platforms such as Spotify or Youtube.
Chief product officer Forrest Browning said earlier this year: “We’re not necessarily trying to attract 100 per cent of somebody’s fan base from a different platform.
“We’re trying to attract maybe the top 10 most engaged superfan.”
He added: “We kind of see it as laying out the breadcrumbs to help our mainstream, Web2 audience start to understand how to tip and how to support their favourite artists and a Web3 ecosystem.”
Just four years on from being set up and Audius already has a market cap of over $177million.