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What is Audius (AUDIO)?
Luis Clark
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Luis Clark
What is Audius?
Audius is a decentralized blockchain-based music streaming platform that allows listeners to support music creators via its native token, AUDIO, as they share and stream music.
Audius’ music streaming services currently supports more than 250,000 creatives in the music industry and receives over 7 million unique user visits monthly. Using Audius, music creators can interact with listeners and fans, as well as, have exclusive ownership over their tracks.
The crypto music streaming service also enables creators to get paid for their work via a unique engagement system. However, its difference from other music streaming services is that it offers a solution to music creators having to wait for extended periods to get paid as is common with other music streaming platforms.
With Audius, the power of decentralization comes into play as music creators are paid in AUDIO whenever a user streams their content. This enables artists to get remuneration for their work instantly without having to wait for the centralized platform to give them a cut on fiat currency.
The Audius network gives creatives in the music industry 90% of the revenue (in AUDIO tokens). The remaining 10% goes to stakers that support the platform, thus seeking to revolutionize the entire music streaming industry.
Who is the Founder?
Audius (AUDIO) was founded by Roneil Rumburg and Forrest Browning. Roneil Rumburg, a graduate of Stanford University in computer science, is the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Audius inc and Forrest Browning is the Chief Product Officer (CPO). The co-founders work with a broad team of engineers, audiophiles, entrepreneurs, and blockchain experts. Plus, a group of advisers, notably Bing Gordon (EA Games co-founder) and Justin Kan (Twitch co-founder).
The Audius network in its early days also received investor backing from crypto giants like Pantera Capital, Binance, and Coinbase Ventures as well as music industry leaders like Jason Derulo and Katy Perry.
How Does Audius (AUDIO) Work?
AUDIO, Audius’ native token serves 3 main functions in the platform’s ecosystem:
- It acts as a governance token
- Secures the network
- Offers access to exclusive content and features.
Here’s how this works practically:
Security
The token is staked by node operators to safeguard the network. The more they stake the greater the likelihood of their node being used by artists and listeners. The crypto music streaming platform, Audius, is wholly hosted and operated by its community. This creates a permissionless ecosystem in which node operators secure content for the music streaming protocol.
Feature Access
AUDIO functions as collateral that unlocks additional artist tooling such as artist badges, earning multipliers, and tokens. The music streaming service also plans in the future for listeners to be able to delegate AUDIO to specific curators and artists to be a part of the creator’s growth on the platform.
Governance
All AUDIO staked on the platform are assigned governance weight and they are used in shaping future iterations of the protocol. All aspects of Audius are governable with one staked token equalling one vote. The platform has stated that it envisions governance that focuses on operator incentives for a start with the goal of enabling passive fans to voice their opinion over feature upgrades and product updates. Audius’ choice to keep issuing tokens regularly grants greater authority to users who consistently engage the most on the platform.
Key Features of AUDIO
- AUDIO is a utility and governance token
- Holders can stake AUDIO to secure the Audius platform in exchange for a share of network fees and governance
- Get a higher likelihood of fan discovery for staking AUDIO
- Staking will unlock services like artist tokens and badges as well as receive voting power from fans that intend to share in an artist’s progress
- AUDIO is functional on the Ethereum blockchain
Weaknesses of AUDIO
AUDIO Offers Poor Governorship Distribution
The Audius platform is meant to be a decentralized project owned and operated by users due to the governorship function of the AUDIO Token. However, the token’s distribution and governance rules make this very difficult.
How? First, 10,000 users got the initial airdrop of the AUDIO token and then a tiny percentage, approximately 3% of those who received the initial airdrop staked their tokens. All together they have over 1% of the voting power for the whole project.
Second, as an AUDIO token holder, your wallet needs 1% of the vote to propose. This amounts to a couple of million dollars worth of AUDIO, which the majority of users will be unable to afford.
So while in theory, the voting power awarded to users is great, in reality, users have a limited voice, and only a handful actively participate in governance. For a community that is meant to be user-driven, this poses a huge problem. That said, with time this is a weakness that can be handled.
Proof of Work
AUDIO is a special type of token called ERC-20. It operates on the Ethereum network, which currently uses Proof-of-Work and is not very efficient. However, the Ethereum blockchain has recently made an upgrade to a more efficient system called Proof of Stake. This change has improved the overall efficiency of the network.
Price is Determined by the Number of Users and Node Operators
For regular crypto investors who intend to invest in AUDIO, it is important to know that the price of the cryptocurrency is directly influenced by the number of users on the Audius platform, as well as, the amount being staked by nodes. This means that if the Audius platform loses relevance the price of the token will be negatively affected.
The price of AUDIO can be affected by two important factors: the amount of coins being staked by nodes and the number of people using the Audius platform.
How is AUDIO Created?
Creating a utility token such as AUDIO with all the required features isn’t hard. However, before the creation of the token, the first step is to determine its blockchain. Like if the token is based on the Tron token standard or Ethereum token standard.
Because AUDIO is a utility token under the Ethereum open-source blockchain, the next step would be to determine the required ERC token standard.
At the moment, there are numerous ERC token standards in the crypto market like ERC 827, ERC233, ERC621, ERC1400, ERC20, ERC721, and more. That said, most utility tokens are ERC271 and ERC20 token standards. AUDIO in particular is under the ERC-20 standard.
For the next stage, experts in blockchain technology that have coding knowledge choose the desired programming language and begin coding the smart contracts. After the coding experts are done with the smart contracts, they begin testing them. Next, the crypto tokens are validated to see if they are working or not. Lastly, the team deploys the code in the specific token development platform chosen to create the AUDIO utility token.
In summary, here are the steps to creating the AUDIO token:
- The development team chooses a blockchain platform (Ethereum)
- The Ethereum token standard is selected
- The token name and symbol are determined
- The development team decides the number of tokens to make available for the market
- Functions like the ability to generate the token’s wallet balance and transfer tokens between wallets are determined.
Mining AUDIO
As AUDIO is a utility token it is non-minable like other such tokens. This is because utility tokens are created at once and distributed in a way deemed fit by the team behind the project. At the start of AUDIO, 1 billion tokens were pre-mined in 2020.
Which Blockchain Does AUDIO Use?
The platform for which the AUDIO token governs is a layer 2 blockchain protocol that was developed on the POA Network but has migrated to the Solana network. However, rising demand for streaming content and poor scaling capabilities compelled Audius to transfer its content management system to the Solana blockchain to boost performance. But this move did not impact its governing token as AUDIO remains in the Ethereum token under the ERC-20 standard.
How to Use AUDIUS (AUDIO)?
AUDIO is used as staking collateral for value-added services such as participating in governance or operating a node. As a reward, stakers earn governance weight, access to exclusive, and ongoing insurance.
Audius has also stated that in the future its native token will govern a global fee pool from value transactions within the network.
The goal of the token is to ensure that AUDIO coins are consistently directed to the top value-added actors. This is achieved via ongoing issuance using on-chain metrics as a measurement to reward active participants rather than actors holding the most AUDIO.
AUDIO is also used as a reward token.
As stated above, the Audius platform offers music streaming services that enable artists to stream and share their exclusive content in exchange for instant offers payments in the AUDIO token. Fans can also create and share their playlists in exchange for the AUDIO token as a reward.
Beyond these platform-specific use cases, AUDIO can be traded by crypto investors in the market of cryptocurrencies to generate a profit on the difference between the buy and sell cost.
How to Buy AUDIO?
To buy Audius (AUDIO) you’ll need to go to cryptocurrency exchanges like KuCoin, Bitstamp, Binance, Houbi Global, etc. This is either to buy it directly to store on the cryptocurrency exchanges wallet or to buy USDT on one of the crypto exchanges to exchange it for AUDIO on a decentralized exchange like 1inch. The second option will require a MetaMask wallet. Let’s look at 2 practical options.
How to Buy AUDIO with KuCoin and MetaMask - Long Method
For this method, you’ll need a MetaMask wallet and a KuCoin account. You can open KuCoin here and download MetaMask from Google Chrome’s store. Plus, you’ll need to ensure that you have adequate Ethereum in your MetaMask wallet to pay network or gas fees.
Once you’re through with the above, it is time to purchase AUDIO. To do so, you’ll need to buy the USDT (Tether) stablecoin to swap it for AUDIO on 1inch.
First, sign into your KuCoin account then click Buy Crypto then Credit/Debit Card.
Then pick your preferred method and payment channel.
To confirm you now have USDT in your account, go to Assets – Trading Account. It may take a couple of minutes to see it in your account.
After your USDT appears, tap or click on Transfer. Ensure that the direction of transfer is Trading Account – Main Account.
Next, open your MetaMask wallet but keep the KuCoin tab open. Ensure you select Ethereum Mainnet at the top. Under Ethereum Mainnet, tap or click your wallet address. This will automatically copy it to your clipboard. Next, click Add Token, enter USDT, and click it.
Go to your KuCoin account again and then head to the Main Account under the Assets section. Hit on Withdraw beside your purchased USDT.
Paste your MetaMask wallet (the one copied) and choose ERC-20 under Network. Click on Max under USDT amount. Hit confirm and follow all prompts to finish the transaction.
Now head to the 1inch decentralized exchange. Hit on Connect then Ethereum and MetaMask. Adhere to the prompts to connect your MetaMask wallet to 1inch.
Go to the main page of the exchange then type USDT under “From” and AUDIO under “To”.
Finally, tap on Swap then Confirm Swap. A MetaMask window will appear and request that you accept the transaction. Adhere to the prompts and you should now have AUDIO in your wallet.
Buy AUDIO on Binance - Short Method
To buy the AUDIO coin on Binance, create an account with the cryptocurrency exchange then sign in. Next, choose the advanced or classic mode to begin.
If you opt for classic, follow the steps below:
Type AUDIO on the search bar to view available trading pairs. For example, AUDIO/USDT. Tap on it to open the trading page for the pair.
Go down to the Spot box and type in the amount of AUDIO you wish to purchase. Choose Market Order, then click Buy AUDIO to complete the order. You should see your purchased AUDIO in the Spot Wallet.
How to Store AUDIO
There are multiple options to store your AUDIO tokens after purchase. However, the safest and most recommended mode for storage is a hardware wallet. Hardware wallets like Trezor and Ledger both support AUDIO and help you keep your tokens secure offline and typically offer a secret recovery seed phrase to help you recover your funds.
You can also store your AUDIO tokens on non-custodial mobile wallets like Trust Wallet and Atomic wallet. This means that you’ll have complete control over the private keys of your wallet (you’ll be the only person who can access your wallet, not even the platform creators) and can recover your funds using seed phrases.
Lastly, you can store your tokens with online exchanges like Binance. However, this is the least recommended option as using online crypto exchanges means that you will not own the private keys of your tokens. Security is also a huge concern with online cryptocurrency exchanges as they frequently get hacked.
Best Place to Stake AUDIO
What You Need to Know about the Future of AUDIO
The predictions for the AUDIO token primarily have an upward trend. Some cryptocurrency experts have also offered very attractive prognoses stating that by 2025 the token will break the $10 mark. With regards to usability, the Audius platform also intends to increase governance capabilities for all stakers (which is one of the platform’s major weaknesses).
Conclusion: Should You Put Your Money in AUDIO?
The AUDIO token offers a potentially good investment according to most price predictions. Some even place the price of one AUDIO coin between $9 to $15 by 2025.
Risk Investing in AUDIO
As with any cryptocurrency, before putting your money in you must analyze your risk tolerance. Cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and pose a huge risk. So you should only invest money in AUDIO that you’re willing to lose in the worst-case scenario.
Our extensive analysis of the different Cryptocurrencies doesn’t stop here. You can also check out our “What is Kadena?” guide to know more about this Meme Coin that Skyrocketed in 2021.
FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
Spotify is a centralized music streaming platform. However, Audius is a decentralized music streaming protocol. Also, with Spotify artists are paid based on the number of streams but with Audius music creators get to choose how they monetize their content.
Yes, artists are paid in AUDIO based on the number of social metrics they have. This means the number of reposts, plays, likes, and follows an artist receives. Also, there are metrics for collaborations or compositions with other artists. That said, the frequency with which artists are paid isn’t certain.
In summary, artists are paid based on the total engagement listeners have with their content and the kind of content they create. Artists can also keep getting issuance of AUDIO if they opt to stake it.
In the future, Audius may replace Spotify in the music industry but currently, the blockchain music platform has a lot to improve on like clarity on artist remuneration, spreading governing, etc.
Audius is good for artists in the music industry because of its overall objectives.
The first objective of the Audius network was to provide a solution to the obstacles faced by creatives in the music industry such as ownership rights and royalties. To achieve its goal, Audius eliminated the intermediaries between music creators and their fans. This enabled the 2 parties to interact directly.
The second objective is to improve the monetization challenges faced by artists. To do so, Audius pays artists not just based on the number of times fans stream their music but also on the creator’s activity on the platform, total user engagement, and creator/fan interaction.
Due to the scaling issues faced by Audius as it tried to satisfy the growing demand to stream content, the platform migrated its content management system to the Solana blockchain in 2020 (the platform was initially built on an Ethereum sidechain – the POA Network). However, AUDIO stayed on the Ethereum blockchain.
You earn AUDIO tokens for your social engagement on the platform as a music creator. Also, the top 5 tracks and playlists per week receive rewards in AUDIO at 100 $AUDIO and 100 $AUDIO respectively. Music creators can also receive 500 $AUDIO as a reward for being a top 10 monthly API app for driving traffic to Audius.
Audius is a self-governing and self-sustaining platform. Their early investors and employees are indeed incentivized with AUDIO tokens for their contributions.
Audius is funded by 23 investors with the majority being from the music industry; Coinbase Ventures, Jason Derulo, Pantera Capital, Nas, Chainsmokers, Katy Perry, and Multicoin Capital.
Audius is supported and secured by 2 types of decentralized nodes which include discovery nodes and content nodes. The discovery nodes index musical vibe content and the content nodes serve as a host to the musical contents.
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