Category Archives for "AIP News"

With the current rise of streaming services (DSPs) the music industry reinvented itself after a disrupting decade of illegal downloads and free online music. It is obvious that the established major players in the industry invested heavily to keep their predominate position in the market. With massive IPOs of streaming-music giants Spotify and Tencent in 2018, the music industry has become a bullish place with high interest from investors. 

Meanwhile, under the surface of this success, the backbone of the music industry keeps evolving from the inside out. Its content creators, solution-driven start-ups and smart businesses are investing heavily to become the next big thing. 

With the rise of blockchain technology, smart contracts and the possibility to tokenise content and revenue, the music industry is firmly adapting towards today's technology, Simultaneous with the apparent financial success of the majors and the high-tech unicorns, part of the industry is demanding more decentralised systems, transparent royalty collection and equal distribution of revenue towards every part of the supply chain. 

Let's be fair about this. The majority of the established major players are not interested in a completely decentralised and transparent market. The core of their business model is simply based on the fragmented, grey area of royalty collection, strategic partnerships and ownership of copyrights. It would be impossible to request a profit-driven company - and its shareholders - to give away their dominant market position to benefit "the people".

Nevertheless even the biggest player can not stop technical development, eventually. Also, investing in technical development is necessary to secure any future position in the market. If you do not do it, somebody else will. Therefore new opportunities arise and we consider the current success of the streaming unicorns - the showpiece of the music industry - as the start of a prosperous decade for the business of music. 

What is actually happening in the music industry now and what will be the opportunities of tomorrow? To answer this question we identify three main topics as the most important fields of development for the next years.

1. Technical development and the online world

2. Decentralisation vs centralisation

3. Globalisation and emerging markets

In the next part of this article we will try to identify the opportunities and threats based upon above mentioned bullet points. Herewith we want to provide a better insight in the future chances and changes in the music business.

It is obvious that the development of the online world, especially down- & upload speed and storage capacity, has had a tremendous effect on the music industry.

First of all it brought us a new format, the MP3. As with the arrival of the CD, this new direction has had both negative and positive consequences. In the one hand music has a much wider reach nowadays, fulfilling the opportunities of globalisation. In the other hand it brought us illegal downloads and a massive decrease of turnover for the entire industry. 

Today we celebrate the success of DSPs. New markets get within reach. Streaming services delivered us the first increase of turnover and other financial successes in about a decade. We need to celebrate that. But the MP3, the upgrade in storage capacity and the speed of the internet are almost in the past. Today there are new technical developments which must be on your radar.

Lately it was all about the rise of blockchain technology. As disruptive as it seemed for the financial markets, with the arrival of cryptocurrencies and especially bitcoin a few years ago, at this moment it is a bit silent from that corner. Everybody has an opinion on this matter. We intend to look at the opportunities and we noticed many start-ups using the ICO as a way to fund their new born business models. Blockchain technology is luckily much more than cryptos. It offers decentralisation, transparency and security. We have to be highly alert to ensure the wise use of this powerful technology.

Think about the way the price of a crypto coin is established during the ICO period? Is this really decentralised? Think about the massive changes in value? Is this really secure? Think about the benefits it offers for criminal organisations? Is this really transparent?

Although many claims are being made, we did not see any real changes, yet! We have to give blockchain more time to mature, as we believe this is just the beginning. What we encounter today is just growing up and the hard needed maturity process.

Thinking about decentralisation we automatically think of blockchain. Blockchain and decentralisation go hand in hand. At one side we see the opportunities delivered by smart contracts. At the other side we question the credibility of major players in the crypto market. 

The call for more power to the people and working class is not new. It has been around for ages. The same goes for the music industry. With the immense power of major records labels, publishers, PROs and now DSPs, the hard working content creator is still not in charge. When looking at a decentralised system we can question of this will ever really happen. We believe that at this moment, today, the technology is already available. We are still in an early stage.

We already discussed that the established players in the market have raised the bar and make it complex to create a decentralised system as a counter part of the current centralised industry. When discussing centralisation in the music industry, we must not forget that one major influence in centralisation is the pro rata model. This model is used by PROs as well as DSPs as a formula to calculate the royalty revenue towards the copyright owners. It favours the most popular artists. These artist are most of the time signed by the major labels. Which have a huge influence in the decision making at PROs and DSPs.

We can conclude that the current industry is heavily centralised and looking at the trend of decentralisation. We are just getting started. There is yet much work to do and we have to seriously consider that for some reason it will just stay this way. If we want to make a difference, we have to do the work to make it happen. 

Globalisation of markets has been around for quite a while. The internet offers an amazing reach. For instance with services like Soundcloud and Bandcamp artists can get in touch with a worldwide audience. Well, mainly in the Western world. Also, with the rise of social media services such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, it has become more easy to communicate with a worldwide audience. Especially the development of live streaming spreads a whole new light on how the music industry can extend the opportunities of live performances and music videos. 

With the arrival of DSPs such as Spotify a new way to monetise music arrived. Through digital distributors such as Tunecore and Distrokid it is easy to get your songs online and start monetising. This is all good. We believe that there is more to come. What we miss in DSPs is a way to activate the audience and actually the distance between artist and fan has become bigger. Why? Because the music fan now pays a subscription to Spotify or agrees to listen to advertisements by a sponsor. This means that a music fan is not at all paying or investing in an artist but it is in the streaming service. 

Also, we noticed that other markets emerge. With the interesting IPO of Chinese Tencent a first step has been made. This is amazing. Now Western artists have an opportunity to reach Chinese music fans. We can ask ourselves which market is next? Is it India or Africa? We do know that revenue out of streaming is at the beginning of its growth and there is yet more to come. 

This article is meant to give a better insight in today's music industry. It provides a vision of new developments offering many opportunities and also some threats. Therefore we have to carefully craft the next steps. 

Looking at DSPs, blockchain technology, emerging markets and decentralisation we can conclude that we are at the beginning of a new era. This results in an interesting opportunity to start investing in music. At the same time we see a quest for decentralisation and troubles when it comes to the direct connection between artists and fans, especially looking at fan activation.

We at AIP are a new arrival in the industry. We intend to create an additional revenue stream for any form of copyright owners, ranging for the creating artist to the releasing record label. Our intention is not to compete with any part of the supply chain. We want to add value to this chain by creating a new way of earning revenue.

With today's technology we are building a platform where you can invest and trade in the future earnings of music, songs and its creators. We believe, looking at above mentioned opportunities, that we are at the beginning of an exciting new era of the music business. Therefore it is now the time to start investing.

At AIP a part of the future earnings of a song is offered to the public. The public can now start sharing the musical content to playlists and just listen to the music on its preferred DSP. This will generate revenue for both the owners of the copyrights as well as the shareholders of the future earnings. ​

By doing so we build a direct connection between creators, or any other copyright owner, plus a shared interest in their business model, This leads us to a mutually beneficial approach and a connection between shareholders and copyright owners, We believe that this partnership delivers an impressive fan activation opportunity, while creating an additional revenue stream. 

What do you think?

Independent artist Shook will offer 20% of the future earnings of his latest song Survivors to the public. The first phase of the public offering, the NSO stage, will be open for public investment from the 18th of December 2018 until the 21st of January 2019.

During the NSO period every new registrant will receive US$5 of free credit offered by our main sponsor CME and the Xkey wireless midi keyboards.

Mid 2016, independent artist Shook was diagnosed with Pancreatitis. Because of this, he struggled with this illness for almost 2 years. The song “Survivors” was especially written with his illness in mind and how complicated life for ill people is. Your investment into Shook's song Survivors will support independent artist Shook and the Support Casper project.

Shook is an independent producer, composer and musician based in The Netherlands. Shook’s’ music is inspired by producers such as Nujabes and Yellow Magic Orchestra. In 2013 Shook released his self-titled debut album and later released the synth-pop and jazz funk inspired 'Spectrum' in 2014, from which 'Milestones' was featured in the very first episode of Netflix series 'Better Call Saul'. Remix works were commissioned from him by major artists as Kimbra, Jamiroquai, Phoenix, Ellie Goulding and many others. 

The song Survivors is a melodic electro pop song with a deep appreciation for human life. It is especially written for people who need support while dealing with chronic and acute illnesses. They are fighting to survive. They are the survivors. By supporting this song, you directly support the Support Casper project.

You can make your first investment between December 18, 2018 and January 21, 2019. During this period, the NSO period, you will receive US$5 of free credit offered by our main sponsor CME and the Xkey wireless midi keyboards. Just visit the investment page using the button at the end of this article. Follow the three easy steps to become an investor. It only will take you 60 seconds.

You can get your hands on more credit by inviting your friends to join the NSO. For every new registrant you activate, you will receive an additional US$2 of free credit to invest on the AIP platform. Read further about the AIP Ambassador program here.

Artists, labels, and other song copyright owners can launch a New Share Offering (or NSO) to sell shares of future song earnings to music lovers and investors. With the tokenisation of songs AIP is the place where music fans become an essential part of the business of music. After the NSO period ends, the price per share is determined and the shares are ready for trading on the online trading platform. Therewith AIP is the global music exchange for trading royalty shares. Read more about AIP's NSO here.

With your investment you will buy shares of the song Survivors by Shook. During the NSO period 20% of the total value of the song Survivors is offered to the public. This is divided into 20,000 shares. During the NSO period we cumulate the total amount invested. 

With a simple calculation (total of investments/total shares = price per share) we now can determine the price per share. Next we can determine the number of shares you will receive from your invested free credit. 

After the NSO period you own shares of the song Survivors. This gives you the right to collect the future earnings of this song from your AIP account. The value of the shares consists of master recording and songwriting royalties generated by digital downloads, streaming. usage in Tv, commercials, games and broadcasting by radio stations. Actually, every time you push play on your streaming service, or add Survivors to a playlist, as a shareholder, you earn. 

There are a lot of opportunities offered by the technology behind AIP.  First and far most you support your favorite artist by investing directly into a shared earnings construction. You now have a mutual business interest with the artist and song you invested in. Every time you listen to the song it generates revenue. Therefore every time you listen, you earn.

Start promoting the songs on your social channels and add it to as many playlists as possible. Grow the potential revenue and online reach by sharing the song as many online environments you can think of. Every effort you make will grow the potential revenue of the song and, as a shareholder, you can collect future earnings on AIP.

The shares you own have a value based on these future earnings of the corresponding song. We call these assets. Because of the current value of these assets (royalty revenue) and the future opportunities, there is a market for buying and selling these shares. Based on supply and demand every share has a dynamic trading price. AIP is the online platform (exchange) to buy and sell these shares. 

During the NSO period all the shares where divided over the investors, determining the price per share. After the NSO period ends, the trading is open to the public. As the demand for shares rises, the price per share will rise. This provides you the opportunity to start trading your shares, make smart investment decisions and start earning with your music (royalty) shares portfolio.. 

You can promote the song and collect royalties, but you can also promote the shares. Every new registrant you get on AIP will earn you an additional US$2 of free credit. Also (remember!) the more registrants are willing to buy shares, the higher the value of your shares will be. Start inviting your community and join the trade,

At AIP we develop a totally new approach to the business of music. Our intention is not to compete with any existing streams of revenue. We keep that in place and take it from there. Our mission is to add a new form, a complementary revenue stream, with the tokenisation of your songs. Does that sound interesting?

Yes! With the arrival of the streaming services the music industry is closing the gap left behind by illegal downloads. Now we see, finally, increasing revenue and higher profits in the industry. At this point the future value of your music copyrights might be the most interesting asset to invest in, today!

As we can read in the Techcrunch article by Eric Packham, the war over music copyrights has just begun. With AIP we are creating a way to offer artists and content owners an opportunity to directly benefit from this new situation. By activating the online community and with a focus on the long-term market growth, we are creating a win-win situation by offering a direct connection between content creator and fan.

With the growing revenue due to streaming services, the new sync opportunities with AR, VR and gaming, and talent scouting by music fans and investors it becomes more and more interesting to invest in music. 

A fan or smart investor who purchases some shares can now - with AIP - benefit by listening to the song, share it on socials and playlists and create other forms of promotion. This is the kind of activation we all have been looking for. With AIP we give the control over their future earnings and promotion to artists and their fanbases. Now it becomes interesting to invest in music and bridge the gap between passive listening through advertisement and subscription models and actively promoting music investment towards and together with the community. 

Besides this crowd activation and growth hacking of social reach, we also are sure that the growth of revenue in the music industry, is just at the beginning. According to Billboard in the US alone there are now over 51 million paid subscribers for streaming services. Globally the entire industry grew a stunning 8% last year to $17.3 billion according to the IFPI. 

Looking from a traders perspective we found that this visualisation by Nick Routley of Visual Capitalist provides the main reason to start investing in royalty shares today. The image shows that the all time low of the past decade is at its end. At the horizon we see growth coming forth out of the success of streaming services. Better yet, who expected that the segment of ringtones has been such an influence in the global revenue? This brings us towards to five (5!) main reasons to start investing, today!.

1. The trend of growth after an all time low. Buy cheap, grow fast!

2. The substantial effect of streaming and chances in emerging markets.

3. The ability of AIP to activate music fans and investors to benefit equally.

4. The opportunity of potential investors to scout the next superstar.

5. The opportunities of future developments like streaming and ringtones have proven before.

Doing our research we found out that we are not alone. In an article by Cherie Hu in Forbes it is ready for us to read that many companies and entities are getting more and more interested in an investment in royalty shares. The question Cherie asks is one that is very accurate. Is now the best time to invest in music royalties? 

The most interesting statement Cherie Hu makes in this article is given by the data provided by professional music investors. "Within the music industry, publishers are acquiring legacy catalogs for unprecedented, multimillion-dollar prices. According to Billboard, a songwriter’s catalog typically sells for 10 times its net publishing share (NPS), but that multiple has increased to 12x or even 16x in recent years amidst a seller’s market.". We can question if these acquired investments are smart and in line with the current state of the industry. We also must acknowledge that these are the professionals. The top of class in music investments and music copyrights. Did they actually make a wrong move? Or is there more to come and can we use this as inside information?

No one can predict the future. We can analyse the past and look at what is happening today. We can investigate the opportunities of tomorrow and the activity in the market. This is why we did more research on companies currently active in the field of music royalties investments and music copyright investments. We consider the current market for royalties and music copyrights as one of high value. By giving the opportunity to copyright owners to activate their audience with royalty shares, we are getting ready for a prosperous decade. Read further and find out what is actually happening in the music business of tomorrow.

Currently there are many concepts, ICO’s and new royalty formulas visible online. The most evolved platform is Royalty Exchange. This is a winner takes all auction platform with a working and active model. It is an online marketplace connecting rights holders and private investors for buying and selling royalties through auctions.

What actually happens is that rights owners sell their ownership or part of it by auctioning their registrations at PROs like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. This means that Royalty Exchange really sells ownership. Furthermore it is only ownership of already existing catalogues. What is the main reason for the current owner to sell this? The registration at the PRO also means that it is only focussed on performance rights generated by for instance radio and other forms of broadcasting. 

Royalty Exchange unsuccessfully launched Royalty Flow,  Royalty Flow has tried to launch an IPO on NASDAQ. The company was looking to raise between $11 million and $50 million via a Regulation A+ crowdfunding effort that, if successful, would result in the purchase of a portion of the income stream derived from Eminem's music. The plan was to give fans and investors a way to share in the income from the royalties through dividends paid by the company.

The latest news about Royalty exchange is that it took a new direction when acquiring a co-publishing share of Cage the Elephant's catalog. This is interesting and it shows that there is a growing interest in trading royalty shares. It also shows that Royalty Exchange is getting closer to another fascinating company also known as Hipgnosis.

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited is an investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange. This music IP investment company was co-founded by Merck Mercuriadis (Iron Maiden, Elton John, Macy Gray, Mary J. Blige). Hipgnosis acquires song catalogues and associated musical intellectual property rights to benefit their investors. The company aims to provide investors with an attractive and growing level of income and capital growth through acquiring songs and associated copyrights. It raised an amazing 200 million pounds in there move to their public offering in London City.

Vezt offers an active platform open to public and connected with real assets and artists. It recently launched a well designed mobile app where everyone can purchase a part of a song.  Vezt is a modern version of Royalty Exchange, offering ISOs (a centralised initial song offering), which provide partial ownership of the PRO registration at ASCAP, BMI or SECAM.

What happens is that parts of ownership of existing songs are being sold by one particular and registered rights owner. Although we think this approach is interesting we do consider who benefits here and why current owners are selling part of their ownership. As a buyer it must interest you that you purchase a portion of ownership for a very short-term ranging from 3 to 5 years based upon the performance royalties only. 

Together with SingularDTV the US based electronic artist Gramatik launched his own token GRMTK. Gramatik is renowned for his passionate approach for decentralisation of markets and especially when it comes to the grey area of the music industry, royalty collection and intellectual property ownership. 

SingalarDTV claims many concepts in this article. In other articles on Medium and by the BBC the launch is mentioned to be a huge success with multiple millions raised. That was back in the days when everything connected to cryptos was instantly a success. These days are over at this particular point. At this point the crypto-madness is more focussed on the immense downsizing of market caps. Although we think this is part of the maturity process we also have been looking at the GRMTK token on etherscan.io. We see that there are about 1140 holders and about 2 trades every month. This is exceptionally low for a token that claimed to raise 24 million US dollar. Also it is publicly shown that 90% of the tokens is owned by two parties. We have no clear or transparent view on the success or current status of this project. So if anyone knows, let us know.

AIP is a platform where artists, labels, managements, publishers and any other form of copyright owners can offer a part of their future earnings to the public. With the tokenisation of songs we create a place where your fans can become an essential part of your business model. Fans can now become your investors and with this mutual interest they become your best promoters. We all benefit.

The main difference between Vezt and Royalty Exchange at the one side and AIP at the other is that AIP does not sell ownership. We think it is very important for artists to keep what they have and secure their assets for the future. We offer a tailor-made product to the public, consisting of a range of future earnings through royalties. We like to call this shared profit. Furthermore AIP is developed to benefit rights holders with the activation of share holders. AIP delivers an additional revenue stream, while increasing overall turnover with a viral exponent. AIP is the tool of the future to growth hack the music business model with the power of the crowd.

With the tokenisation of songs you can monetise music creations in the most direct and independent form. The purpose is to connect your music with your fanbase and create growth with this mutually beneficial model. This is the ultimate win-win situation. Think about it. Music fans can now actually earn while listening to music on any given streaming service. Furthermore they have a shared interest in distributing the songs on their social networks, into the media and on playlists. Therewith we build a stronger position for music productions. We increase the reach of promotional activity. We generate an increase of revenue on the long-term and a direct pay-out on the short-term.

We believe that with AIP you will activate the community, while keeping 100% ownership. Keep control. Start today,

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