Money Can't Buy Love Decentralized Song Release Case Study
2023-12-12
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Imagine an internet where people can share upside together, where incentives are strongly aligned, and where consumers get something they want––which is also fundamentally new. SHARE protocol allows for setting custom prices for products, immediate payment to digital property owners, and the unique opportunity to share revenue directly with community members using realtime liquid royalty splits. This article is a full breakdown of how my own release using the technology came together, and how revenue sharing in the digital economy fundamentally changes the incentive dynamic between creators and consumers.
500X Revenue-Per-Stream and 200X Faster Time-To-Revenue
Recently, I released my song "Money Can't Buy Love" using a smart contract as a way to manage the rights more efficiently and with no central authority. This enabled me to set my own price, get paid instantly, and share revenue with anyone in the public.
Within the first 24 hours, the song generated $160 in revenue on 100 streams. The revenue was generated by customers paying $7 for 3 days access to the song. Top streaming platforms today pay around $0.003 per stream, meaning this release achieved a 500X increase in revenue generated vs. those streaming platforms. And, since payments were instantly received at the time of each transaction, the speed at which I received the revenue was 200X faster.
Even with these advantages, what's even more exciting is the power of revenue sharing and how it fundamentally changes the dynamic between creators and consumers.
Revenue Sharing "Splits" Create Demand
Splits are ownership shares in properties that generate revenue. "I'm at the cap table what the splits is"––JAY-Z. Splits are very common in music, but really can represent ownership in anything. For this song, I invited people to join splits with me.
35 free splits were claimed in minutes, first come first serve, live during a Twitter space with 194 attendees.
The feeling was that splits demand is higher than song demand, for example people bought the song but were disappointed they did not get in on splits. As an artist this felt like a new dimension to create demand with and a new dynamic to offer.
Revenue Sharing Multiplies Reach and Aligns Incentives
I used the following strategy to fill the splits:
Link clicks went up by 5000% and impressions went up by 177%.
People are Making Passive Income
Within 12 days, the song generated $700 in revenue (an additional $540 after the first day), and 60% was distributed across all 35 people participating in the splits – that’s $420 in passive income for the community.
As a result, not only did I generate revenue but I built stronger loyalty and connections with the people that care about my work.
More Meaningful Creator & Consumer Dynamic
As a result of the ability to join revenue splits for the song, 35 people opted in to provide their email addresses for future communication. Since we're mutually sharing in the success of the song and its financial upside, the conversation is drastically different and more meaningful than if the relationship were simply one-sided where the audience is only "consuming" things I've produced.
These touchpoints give me the ability to make money with people, to communicate with them, and to build real community in a multiplayer internet. It's a repeatable way to grow a community. Imagine applying this to bigger artists and brands. Imagine joining splits on hundreds or thousands of properties.
Participation Should Be Rewarded
One thing we learned here is it is important to use the demand for splits to reward the right people. This is where the opportunity for rewards based on provable history and loyalty come into play––more engagement and more loyalty should increase opportunities to join splits on revenue-generating properties.
Without this piece, we did observe that a certain percentage of people received revenue share but did not participate meaningfully in the distribution. On the next release, I'll use history from the prior releases to offer the opportunity to participate in splits to the most engaged participants.
Since I know who the buyers are, I can use smart contracts to make future drops free and offer new rewards like early access to splits. People who believe early on and take risks with me should benefit from that history––this is possible today using blockchain technology.
In fact, I messaged all buyers of Money Can't Buy Love with a free reward here:
This is a Multiplayer Digital Economy
Thinking beyond this initial release, the real power is gained when you multiply revenue sharing by an infinite number of digital properties. If you're a co-owner receiving revenue from splits on hundreds of digital properties, the economics become very significant, and because of the nature of open blockchain technology, splits can be sold on secondary markets.
This is what we call a multiplayer digital economy. Where people can share upside together, where incentives are strongly aligned, and where consumers get something they want––which is also fundamentally new.
We've started with music but I'm excited about this because it extends beyond music. It can be applied to any product, service, or business and ultimately fundamentally changes the social dynamic between creators and consumers on the internet.
That's what SHARE protocol is––a set of building blocks for digital rights management and revenue sharing in a multiplayer internet.
To learn more, reach out to us at creators@formless.xyz
-Brandon
Stream "Money Can't Buy Love", powered by SHARE protocol.