DSNP and the Music Industry

DSNP (the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol) enables verifiable, consensus system-based social interactions. The open, free and permissionless protocol can be adopted by platforms, organizations and governments to create integrated social experiences across diverse sectors like media, ecommerce, mobility, education and more. DSNP works by allowing applications to compete in an interoperable ecosystem and an open marketplace. DSNP users have a universal identity that stores relationship data (their social graph) in an independent data layer. Users have complete control over which applications may access this layer, how much data is shared, and when that access may occur. This allows users to move freely among DSNP applications without losing control over their online relationships or following. This is particularly helpful to the music industry, which values one-to-one relationships between individuals and artists.

Fan Engagement

Musicians can use DSNP to build connections with their fan bases in a number of ways. They may simply choose among various DSNP social media applications to find one that best meets the needs of their growing communities or they may have a custom application built with the specific features they choose. In either case, musicians can rest assured that they will never lose access to their fan base, as DSNP allows them to bring their social graph (the connections they have with their fans) from one application to another. Essentially this means they can never be deplatformed: should one application not work out for them, they can access their fan base from another application without penalty.

DSNP also allows musicians also to have a degree of algorithmic independence. With centralized social media, musicians are subject to the whims of whichever search algorithm is deployed by the controllers of the platform. Whether relevance in the search engines is purchased or gained organically, the artist has two choices: deal with the current algorithm or leave the platform and all their fan relationships behind. In the DSNP ecosystem, artists may encourage their followers to use applications that share their values and appropriately highlight their work. This is likely to lead to a more competitive marketplace for artists and more specific and finely tuned choices for audiences. What’s more, DSNP applications could allocate on a very granular level the types of fan interactions that are available for each artist and each and every fan.

Authentication

AI has completely changed the playing field for composers, musicians and other artists. Inexpensive or free online tools now allow anyone to create a sound or a style that mimics a famous performer—including their speaking or singing voice—or compose a song that sounds nearly identical to that of another songwriter. With some descriptive text and a few clicks, even non-musicians can create compelling copycats. DSNP’s attestation feature will allow musicians to prove that a particular song has been written and/or performed by them. DSNP attestations provide a permanent record of authenticity that can be created for and travel with such music. Also, in the days where a few wrong words in social media platforms can be incredibly damaging to an artist’s career, DSNP can help establish that words written and/or spoken by artists actually originate from them. Artists are likely to direct their fans to platforms that only allow verified sources of their content and serve as a source of truth for the worlds and actions of these artists in the outside world.

Fan Power

DSNP can also help music fans avoid lock-in on a single platform. Many current centralized social media platforms allow music fans to receive perks or other rewards for loyalty to the artists. As such, fans who contribute a lot to these platforms can achieve preferred or “superfan” status. However, should they leave the platform, they will also lose access to the rewards and status they built supporting that artist. With DSNP, users may take their social identity—including their status and reputation—from one application to another. DSNP attestations also provide a framework for users to earn interoperable status badges they could bring with them. In an open, interoperable marketplace where users always have the opportunity to vote with their feet, fans can be courted by music-centric social applications offering various types of rewards.