Audius is a decentralized music streaming platform that started on the POA network and has since transitioned to Solana. It was created to address the shortcomings of the traditional music industry, such as unclear ownership of music rights and the multitude of middlemen between artists and their listeners.
Audius seeks to create a harmonious ecosystem for artists, fans, and node operators through its platform, which is driven by the native AUDIO token. Artists are able to upload their music, which is managed and shared by content and discovery nodes, allowing fans to enjoy it at no cost. Currently, Audius incentivizes creators by featuring them in weekly trending lists. Looking ahead, the platform intends to incorporate stablecoins so artists can sell paid content, and it plans to introduce artist tokens that grant fans access to exclusive material, possibly in collaboration with platforms like Rally.
Who Are the Founders of Audius?
Audius was established in 2018 by entrepreneurs Roneil Rumburg and Forrest Browning, both based in California. Roneil Rumburg, a Stanford University graduate, co-founded Kleiner Perkins, an early-stage seed fund focusing on blockchain and AI. Forrest Browning, also a Stanford alumnus and recognized on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list, co-founded StacksWare, a platform for managing enterprise data centers. The team includes 21 additional employees and is supported by notable figures like electronic music producer deadmau5, Adam Goldberg, co-founder and managing director of Stanford Crypto, and Bing Gordon, a co-founder of EA Games.
What Makes Audius Unique?
The Audius platform is made up of four key participants: artists, fans, content nodes, and discovery nodes.
Artists can post their music on the Audius content ledger without any charges, with streaming quality at 320kbps, which is comparable to services like Spotify and Google Play Music. Given Audius's decentralized framework, there's no direct copyright protection, although they are working on a community-overseen arbitration system. The platform allows artists to test new ideas or share extra tracks, with plans to introduce artist tokens for monetization, contingent on artists staking AUDIO. Artists can also join reward programs where tokens are airdropped to the most popular creators.
Fans have the opportunity to enjoy music for free and may, in the future, stake AUDIO to support artists' development on the platform. They can also display their verified NFTs and earn various badges.
Content nodes ensure music availability on AudSP, an IPFS extension native to the platform. Artists' clients automatically select a set of these nodes to distribute music on their behalf, while fans' clients retrieve the content, submit proof, and request keys from content nodes. Artists could opt to manage their own content nodes for enhanced control over their music distribution. The content ledger maintains a comprehensive record and serves as the sole source of truth for all protocol activities.
Discovery nodes index metadata that users can query, effectively helping users find new music and acting as a content registry on the platform.
How Many Audius (AUDIO) Coins Are There in Circulation?
The total supply of AUDIO tokens is set at 1 billion, with approximately 411 million currently in circulation. The annual inflation rate is 7%, and 50 million AUDIO were allocated to the top 10 artists and fans, with artists receiving 75% based on streaming numbers. The token distribution is divided into:
* 23% for premined rewards and airdrops
* 36% for investors
* 41% for founders and the protocol itself
The token serves three primary functions:
* Securing the network
* Unlocking access to special features
* Serving as a governance token
Tokens can be staked as collateral for value-added services. Node operators are able to stake AUDIO to secure the network and manage the protocol, and each token carries governance weight that impacts the protocol's future.
How Is the Audius Network Secured?
Audius decided to transition to Solana due to increasing demand. The team highlighted several reasons for choosing Solana: it is cost-effective, with 1 million transactions costing only $10, fast with block times of 400 milliseconds and confirmations under a second, and decentralized with more than 200 nodes on its mainnet. Despite the move, staking and governance functions remain on Ethereum, as AUDIO is an ERC-20 token.
Solana is a layer-one blockchain using a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism with partial Byzantine fault tolerance. It operates with 200 nodes worldwide, capable of handling up to 50,000 transactions per second at peak performance. Solana achieves this impressive throughput through a series of coordinated optimizations and processes transactions in a multi-threaded manner, distinguishing it from slower blockchains.
Where Can You Buy Audius (AUDIO)?
AUDIO tokens can be purchased on exchanges like Binance, Uniswap (V2), BitStamp, and Gate.io.
