Armed with $150,000 in seed funding from private UK investors, a Sydney startup is using blockchain technology to empower music artists through a platform expected to hit the market this August.
Zimrii Music co-founder and chief technology officer Mohammed Jalloh has been playing in the world of tech and startups for years, with his latest venture bringing him to the intersection of bleeding-edge technology and artists.
“I have many friends in music. To see them trying to establish their music career and also sustain [it] is an interesting problem,” Jalloh tells StartupSmart.
Jalloh says the biggest challenges for emerging artists are usually exposure to fans and funding, but he believes he has found a unique way to tackle these issues.
“I saw how music and blockchain could be married together to solve some of these problems,” he says.
Using the ledger system of blockchain, Jalloh says Zimrii Music will enable artists to clearly record and manage ownership of copyright to earn and distribute royalties in a more fair and transparent way.
With large record companies around the world dominating music copyright and royalties, Jalloh says the “music value chain” as it is now gives artists the least amount of value for their work.
Using blockchain code to develop smart contracts will also enable artists to deploy receipt of sales straight away and split royalties effectively with producers and any other agreed parties, he says.
“Every time your music…