Web3 synchronisation platform Dequency has launched a new music licensing marketplace, which it says will "allow owners to set fees, eliminating third parties from music licensing transactions to increase speed of payments, and reducing costs."
"Built on Algorand, the marketplace is the only option for on-chain sync licensing for blockchain-native content such as motion-visual digital art, NFT projects, games, and metaverse productions," said a statement. "Analogous to Bitcoin’s trustless digital payments, Dequency eliminates third parties from music licensing transactions to increase speed of payment, reduce fees, and give control of the system to market participants."
Dequency CEO Keatly Haldeman said: “We use Web3 tools such as smart contracts and cryptocurrency, not to be part of the hype cycle, but because this technology enables unprecedented efficiency and control for licensing transactions and payment.”
Prior to today, Dequency released a beta product with a limited seed catalogue available to license. Today’s v1.0 launch creates a two-sided marketplace, allowing any music rights-holder that owns both the recording and publishing rights of a track to license their music directly to a licensee without an intermediary in between the transaction.
Music rights owners that use the Dequency marketplace are also able to set their own licensing fees.
Dequency executed the first sync license on a public blockchain last year when Late Night People by Goldfish ft. Soweto Kinch was licensed through the platform’s SmartSync contract for use in Algorand’s Decipher conference, which was held in Miami, Florida last November.
The company raised $4.5 million via an investment round led by Borderless Capital in February this year.
Haldeman said: “Our goal is to create a decentralised sync marketplace where artists and music rightsholders control their online licensing experience, thereby attracting the most discerning creators and copyright owners. Audiovisual content creators benefit from a uniquely diverse and elevated catalogur of music with easy licensing for their projects. Today, we’re one step closer to our vision becoming reality.”
Black Dave, a musician and Web3 music expert, and an early adopter of Dequency said: “Using Web3 technology to purchase, track and pay for licences for music is absolutely the future. Automating this process as much as possible via the blockchain allows for a new era of democratization of sync licensing, and I’m very excited to be a part of it."
