TuneFM is using crypto to pay artists up to 100X more than Spotify
What is Tune.fm? The Web3 music streaming and collectibles platform has secured $50 million in funding that could result in much higher payments to artists.
The news of Global Emerging Markets (GEM) Group’s capital commitment comes just eight months after Tune.FM shared it had raised $20 million.
What is Tune.FM?
Tune.FM describes itself as a decentralized Web3 music-streaming platform built atop the Hedera Hashgraph blockchain with a mission to help artists earn more in royalties from their music by “streaming royalty micropayments and digital music collectibles.” Payments are made in crypto via with its native JAM token.
Fans can pay with these tokens to listen to music and artists can expand their fanbase by promoting their music with JAM. So first-time listeners can also play-to-earn JAM to discover promoted music. This then allows artists to earn an ROI on their promotion as new fans discover and stream their music.
Tune.FM will soon launch a desktop application for Mac and Windows to complement its mobile iOS and Android apps.
What Musicians earn on Tune.FM
Artists earn one cent per minute when their songs are streamed on Tune.FM. That compares to the $0.003 to $0.005 per total stream that Spotify pays. The exact amount of the payment varies depending on the type of subscription (Premium or Free), the country of the listener, and the specific agreements Spotify has with artists or their labels.
By one calculation, Tune.FM pays artists up to 100X more on stream than Spotify alongside the sale of music collectible. The startup says it will soon launch a desktop app for Mac and Windows to complement its iOS and Android mobile apps.
Of course, the value of crypto can be volitile and it all sounds a lot more confusing than it is. But Tune.FM is on to something worth watching and if your an artist worth experimenting with.
Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.
