Audius - Decentralized Music Platform | Crypto Academy / S5W3 | Homework Post for @wahyunahrul
Introduction
Hello crypto Lovers,
It is another wonderful week in the steemit crypto Academy. This week marks the 3rd week in season 5. I am Kehinde Micheal and my username is @msquaretwins here on this great platform. I have gone through the lecture presented by professor @wahyunahrul on "Audius - Decentralized Music Platform" in the intermediate class. Therefore, in this post, I will be answering the questions posted in the homework section. Happy reading!
1. What do you think about the presence of the Audius platform in the music industry?
Music is one of the best form of entertainment and many people like it because of how it can reduce stress. In fact some, people listen to music to sleep to tell you how important music is. Many get inspiration to work or do some other things only when they listen to music. Some people feel relaxed and comfortable when they listen to music. Music is use for spiritual worship and it makes people to be connected to the spiritual realm. Therefore it can be say that music is part of life because it is play everywhere. It is play in the barber shop, in the car while driving, use in the spiritual house, used for advertising and even used for background for movies.
The music industry consist of all the bodies involved in getting a song across to the audience. This industry consist of music artists, writers, music composers, creators, associations and companies that promote their songs and concerts.
Technology has revolutionized almost every field of the world and thanks to blockchain technology which has been a blessing to every fields. The music industry has also receive a touch of blockchain technology. Thanks to the Audius platform which is a blockchain platform that has been contributing to the world of music industry. The presence of Audius platform has added so many things to the music industry, some of which are listed and explain below.
Ownership of Work: There is always issues of song theft in the music industry. This is a situation where other musicians will still a song compose by their fellow in the industry and this has a long be an issue of concern. Because Audius platform is a decentralized platform, it makes it possible for song owner to have ownership right to there songs. So the presence of Audius platform has in a way provide solution to the issue of song ownership in the industry.
Claim 100% of Profit:- Before a song is released to the public, musicians normally work with music label and the profit they will get depends on the condition of this music label because it is this company that will help them get the copyright of their work. The profit the music creators get for their work is often small compared to the effort they have put to work, the label company gets most of the profit which ought to go to the song creator. But with the presence of Audius platform, song creators need not to depends on any label company to get copyright of their song and as such they can have access to all the reward therein.
Monetization and Globalization:- Thanks to the world of blockchain technology that makes it possible to monetize artistic work. Audius platform is a decentralized platform and as such monetization of work is made possible in this platform. This makes it possible for song creators to monetize their work and get full control of their work. Apart from this, Audius platform is a global platform, song creators who use this platform also have a high chance to be known all over the world.
Short time and Less cost:- The traditional method of taking the songs to the fans often cost a lot. As we have discussed earlier, the before a song can get to the public, it has to reach the centralized bodies that in control of the music industry and as such, there is always delay and additional cost is always required. With Audius platform, the cost of taking song to the fans is minimally reduced and it is very fast which in turn makes it possible for music lovers to get access to many songs and listen to them.
2. With the governance system used by Audius, do you think that system has made Audius a fair and fully decentralized platform? If not, please provide your personal suggestions for the system that Audius uses to make it more fair and decentralized.
With the governance system used by Audius platform, I think the system has made Audius fair and fully decentralized platform. This is because Audius platform makes it possible for user to take part in the decision process and this is one of the core quality of decentralization. Users can do governance voting on the platform. This means that every user can have a say on the platform simply by holding the AUDIO token. Users can vote for future development, features and any relevant update on the platform. I believe this is giving power to to the to the music lovers which is not so in the centralized music industry.
Another important thing to note concerning Audius platform is that it is very transparent unlike the centralized music industry where there is no transparency and the artist is even denied of the amount paid into the centralized companies in case of any concert done outside and even with little or no knowledge of song creators' payout. This is one of the anomalies the Audius platform is solving. Therefore I agree that the Audius platform is fair in decentralization as transparency is also part of the core feature of decentralization.
Furthermore, decentralized system abolish the use of third party in centralized system and this is the core value of audius platform. Audius platform makes it possible for song creator to get access to their copy right and to claim ownership of their work without relying on the centralized body. With this, intermediary in music industry like label music companies are removed. This is also without any doubt make me belief that Audius platform is fair and fully decentralized.
Another important reason why I believe Audius platform is fully decentralized is the blockchain on which it is built. It is built on the ethereum blockchain which is the second largest blockchain and one of the secured blockchain. ERC-20 token which is called AUDIO is used as a security mechanism on the platform and this makes it very secured. When considering how fully decentralized a system is in the blockchain world I think how secured a platform is cannot be removed from the criteria. Therefore, it is indubitable that Audius platform that the governance system used in Audius is fair and fully decentralized.
3. Explain how to do 2 types of staking on Audius complete with illustrations. (Image Required)
There are two types of staking on Audius platform. The two types are node operator staking and staking delegation
Operator Staking
As we have discussed earlier, Audius platform is a decentralized platform that was built on Ethereum blockchain. The data and the information on the Audius platform is stored and recorded by node operators. For continuance operation of the network and to maintain data and contents store on the Audius platform, network operators are expected to stake AUDIO token for healthy system of the protocol.
The staking done by the node operators is the first type of staking on the platform. The security of the platform increases as node operators stake more AUDIO token. This type requires that users get sophisticated hardware system and computer and of course buy many AUDIO tokens for them to partake and function as node operators.
Node operator can either choose to do content node or discovery node. They are also permittef to do both. They have to supply minimum of 200,000 AUDIO token to perform this task.
Staking Delegation
Because it is very expensive to stake as node operator on the audius platform, then the two types of staking is introduced. The second type of staking on Audius platform involves delegating AUDIO token to node operators and then the reward gotten from staking the token delegated to the operator is distributed accordingly to the delegator. This type is cheap and it allows every user to join staking in their little way.
The steps to follow for staking delegation is highlighted below
Step 1. Download metamask wallet or any wallet that support ERC-20 token. But i recommend Metamask because it is simple and easy to operate. After that, get Audio token and send it to Metamask wallet. Nore also that you must have ETH for gas fee.
Step 2: Then go to the protocol dashboard of the Audius platform by clicking this link Audius dashboard. From there, go to the "service tab" and connect your metamask wallet by clicking "connec to metamask" at the top right corner
Audius dashboard• Then click "open metamask", then metamask will be open for you, input your password and then click "unlock"
Audius dashboard• Then click "open metamask", and then click "connect wallet" as indicated in the screenshot by a yellow box.
Audius dashboardThen click next and the then the metamask will be connected and you will be taken to the operators.
Audius dashboardStep 3: After wallet connection, on the service tab, a list of node operators will be displayed, then click the first one "figment" as indicated by a yellow box in the screenshot below
Audius dashboardStep 4: After the step above, then click "delegate" as indicated in the screenshot below.
Audius dashboardStep 5: Input the amount token you want to delegate. Note the minimum token you can delegate for this node operator is 5,000 tokens.
Audius dashboardStep 6:Then you will be required to confirm the transaction with metamask. Click "confirm with metamask" as displayed below.
Audius dashboardStep 7: The lastly, pay network fee and confirm transaction as displayed below. The network fee for this transactio is $427.45 as indicated by a blue box in the screenshot below.
Audius dashboard4. Show the steps to create an account on Audius. (Screenshot Required)
To create account on the Audius platform, I am going to be explaining how to do that step by step below. Please follow it closely.
Step 1: Go to playstore on your smartphone and search "Audius music", then it will be displayed for you as seen below. Click install as indicated in the screenshot below.
Step 2: After installation, click "open" as indicated in the screenshot below
Step 3: Then, the first page of sign up page will open for you. As seen in the image below, there is a place to provide your email, kindly put your email address. After that, "sign up" button as indicated by a black box in the screenshot below
Step 4: The next page is the page you will be required to set password. In the first box, type your password. Your password must contain number and it must be at least 8 characters. After that, retype your password in the second box provided below the first one. And lastly, click "continue" to proceed with the registration.
Step 5: In the next page as shown below, you will be requested to link one of your social account with Audius. If you are willing to do that, link one of your social media account. If not, you can click "i'd would rather fill my profile manually" as indicated by a red box in the screenshot below to fill your details manually.
Step 6: The next page is where you will set your profile manually if you clicked "manually" in the previous page. In the first box, put your display name and the second box is where you will put username with tag @. Then click "continue"
Step 7: Then another page will be displayed for you. In this page, you will be mandated to follow at least 3 artists to get started. To continue with the registration, you must follow at least 3 artist. After which, click "continue".
Step 8: Here, you will see a notification that your account will soon ready. Wait for it while the system proces your registration.
Step 9: Success! Here you will see that your account has been created and that you can now do any activity within your capacity on the Audius platform.
5. Explore and explain the features available on the Audius application or website. (Screenshot Required)
There are so many features available on the Audius platform. These features are displayed and explain below.
Feature 1- Profile Page: Profile feature has an image icon on the Audius music Application has indicated by a red circle in tje screenshot below. There are so many sections on the profile page. It has "edit profile" section where adjustment can be made to the profile like updating profile picture, editing name etc.
Also, it has "playlist" section where you can view all your track. It also has "follower" and "following" section where you can view your followers and those you are following as indicated by red and blue arrow in the screenshot respectively. Another section under profile page is "upload track" section which helps user to upload any track on the platform. Lastly, all the repost done by user can also be viewed in profile page as indicated by a blue box in the screenshot.
Feature 2- Favourite Page: This feature is designed with a love icon as indicated in the below screenshot by a red circle. This page is designed for users to see and checked tracks, albums or playlist the have favourited. As you can see, I am a new user, I have not favourited any track or album or play and that is the reason why you see the statement "you haven't favourited any track yet". There is a separate section for track, albums and playlist. To see each, we click it as indicated in the screenshot by a red, blue and black box respectively.
Feature 3- Explore Page: The explore page is where users can explore so many things about track, album, and artists. The picture uploaded below on the left side is "For You" section of explore page. In this section, that the contents are displayed and curated base on the user likes, the people he or she follows etc. So user can explore that. The second picture on the right side is the mood section of explore. Her,e, users can explore music, or track based on mood as we see that there are many mood available to choose from like, chill, intense, upbeat etc.
• The next two section of the explore page are uploaded below. The one on the left side is playlists and the one on the right side is artists. When you click playlist, you can explore a list of song that you can play as seen in the screenshot. Also, one can explore artists on the platform to know their details, track they have uploaded, their followers and following etc.
Feature 4- Trending Page: This page is where trending artists are displayed and the numbers of plays is also shown. This is in three categories. weekly trending, monthly and yearly. The top trendimg artists for this week is lane lily.
The two pictures uploaded below below show the trending artist in a month and in a year. The name of the top trending artist for this month is Lolo Zuoai and the top trending artist for this year as at the time of writing this task is Cardi B.
Feature 5 - Feed Page: This page is where user s can see all post on the Audius platform. They can interact with all post found in this page. Users can repost, favourite and like track or music in this page.
Feature 6 - Search Button: Another important feature on the Audius platform is search button. This feature is used to search for users, songs, track etc. To use this feature, from the feed page, click search button at the top right corner of the page as indicated by a red arrow in the screenshot below.
Now, let's use the search button. In the search tab, search "@wahyunahrul" as seen in the image below. Then we can see result, I then click the name as indicated by a red box in the screenshot
We can see the result in the image uploaded below. Then we can see the profile page of professor @wahyunahrul, we can see every of his activities and we can follow him.
Feature 7 - Notification Page: Notification page is where users can see all notifications coming in for them. To see this, click an icon at the left corner page of the feed page as indicated by a red box ad arrow in the screenshot.
clicking the icon said above, then the notification page was displayed for me as uploaded below.
6. Explain in detail how the mechanism of uploading music content on Audius
In Audius platform, the content creator initiates the the uploading process by uploading it to the content node. The content node receive the content from the creator and store the data. By the help of content node, the music uploaded is processed and validated and then transfered out as a unique code. This unique code is called reference code and it makes it possible to identify the content uploaded by individual creator on the Audius platform.
The data from the content node is then duplicated to other two content nodes on the network. After this, the transaction is recorded on the Audius blockchain which indicate that the track or the content uploaded by the content creator is is registered on the Audius blockchain and that the content or track is fixed or linked to the user profile.
After which, the discovery node take the transaction or data on the onchain and then hash and index it. The discovery node store the data and affix it to the profile of the content creator so as for the creator to claim the ownership of his content. Then after this, the discovery node will notify the creator that the content has been successfully uploaded.
For more information, check the picture of the upload process uploaded below
7. Upload your original music to Audius and show the proof using a block explorer. (Screenshot Required)
To upload music to Audius platform, we go to
audius platform. I signed in using my email and password.
The from the profile page click upload track as displayed below in the screenshot.
• Then click browse to upload as seen in the screenshot below.
Then, pick a mood and genre for the track and then add artwork. You can also tag people. Then after that, click continue
After that, the artwork you uploaded will be displayed for you as seen in the scrwenshot below. Then click continue
Then the track will upload. It will take a few minutes before it will complete. Wait for it to upload as seen in the screenshot below.
Wow! The track is now uploaded successfully as seen in the screenshot below.
The picture uploaded below shows that I have uploaded my first track on the Audius platform.
Conclusion
It is indubitable that Technology has revolutionized almost every field of the world and thanks to blockchain technology which has been a blessing to every fields including music industry. With the Audius platform, the issues of song theft in the music industry will be a thing of the past because nobody can claim content or track that belongs to others.
Monetization of music and track that comes to being as a result of Audius platform is also a thing of joy for artists and song creators because they can now claim their profit without relying on music label companies. More so, with the presence of Audius platform, song creators need not to depends on any label company to get copyright of their song and as such they can have access to all the reward therein
Special thanks to Professor @wahyunahrul for this great lecture. I hope to participate in your next lecture.
cc:-@wahyunahrul
Thank you professor @wahyunahrul for the review. For club 75, I don't know it has to be 2 months, I taught it is 1 month. Sorry for that please