Audius (AUDIO)

Audius is a decentralized music platform designed to provide a community-owned and artist-controlled music streaming service. It aims to serve as a blockchain-based alternative to traditional platforms like SoundCloud, operating on an open protocol governed by a decentralized community of artists, developers, and listeners. Audius allows users to create immutable records of their music, secured by a decentralized network of nodes, and connects artists directly with their audiences.

Overview

Audius was established in 2018 by Ranidu Lankage, a Sri Lankan hip hop artist known for his pioneering Sinhalese-language songs played on major networks like BBC and MTV. After his successful music career and experience with tech projects post-Yale University, Lankage partnered with CTO Roneil Rumburg, who has experience in building crypto wallets, to create a platform that empowers artists to turn their creative works into sustainable careers.

Contract Addresses
Ticker	AUDIO
Category	Music
Website	https://audius.co/
Twitter	@audius
Reddit	https://www.reddit.com/r/audius/
ethereum	0x18...98Copied!
energi	0x2c...b3Copied!

Goal

The main objective of Audius is to eliminate intermediaries in music streaming, ensuring artists receive fair compensation. It enables creators to generate secure, timestamped, and immutable records of their works using blockchain technology. The platform is designed to be user-friendly, allowing listeners to enjoy music without needing to understand blockchain intricacies. Audius also offers open-source capabilities, encouraging developers to build custom listening clients or payment schemes.

Features

Audius offers a transparent network that directly connects creators with consumers, fostering discovery and verification of new content through a clear attribution system.

Creators

Audio file hosting and streaming

Audius simplifies the process of publishing audio content.

Creator dashboard

Users can access their accounts to view analytics such as listens and popular geographic regions.

Instant payment

Artists receive real-time royalties as their content is streamed.

Attribution friendly

The platform recognizes new content sampled from users' uploads and allocates a share of royalties accordingly.

Listeners

Seamless experience

Listeners can access popular content without downloading additional software.

Support the community

Proceeds from the platform support creators directly.

Exclusive content

Audius hosts exclusive content from various creators, providing unique access for listeners.

Funding

Audius has successfully raised significant funding through multiple rounds. Initially, it secured a $5.5 million Series A led by General Catalyst and Lightspeed, with contributions from Kleiner Perkins, Pantera Capital, 122West, and Ascolta Ventures. Subsequently, it raised $9.8 million, including $1.3 million from Binance's VC arm, with earlier contributions from Multicoin Capital and Blockchain Ventures. On October 23, 2020, Audius launched its native token, $AUDIO, on the mainnet.

Artists

Audius incentivizes artists with tokens, encouraging early adopters to popularize the platform and maximize their earnings. The platform aims to be artists' preferred choice for sharing links due to its higher potential for revenue.

$AUDIO

AUDIO is an ERC-20 governance token that enables holders to vote on network proposals and access exclusive features by staking coins. At its launch on October 23, 2020, Audius distributed 1 billion AUDIO tokens, with allocations to the Foundation Treasury, team and advisors, and investors. A portion of the tokens was released to the community, enhancing engagement and platform recognition. Upon its introduction, Audius celebrated with a livestream event featuring prominent artists, leading to increased platform activity and mobile app popularity.

Use cases

Secure the network
Act as a governance token
Provide access to exclusive features and content

Audius collectibles

Audius introduced its Collectibles feature on April 8, 2021, bringing NFT collectibles to artists and fans directly through the platform. Artists can showcase NFTs on their profile pages, allowing them to personalize content and offer exclusive items to dedicated listeners. Fans can explore collectibles directly from artist profiles, easily connecting to marketplace listings for purchases. The feature supports NFTs from platforms like SuperRare, Zora, Foundation, OpenSea, Rarible, and KnownOrigin.

Core team

Roneil Rumburg - Co-founder & CEO
Forrest Browning - Co-founder & Chief Product Officer
Sid Sethi - Senior Engineer
Hareesh Nagaraj - Senior Engineer
Julian Baker - Sound Designer
Christian Rowland - Head of Operations
Dheeraj Manjunath - Head of Engineering
Ray Lee - Business Development
Ray Jacobson - Tech Lead - Product Engineering
Joey Lee - Engineer
Alex Park - Community
Michael Piazza - Engineer
Clayton Blaha - Artist Relations
Vicky Guan - Engineer
Cooper Turley - Strategy & Cryptocurrency