Remember the days, not that long ago, when a flurry of blockchain music startups emerged with promises to revolutionise the industry, sweep away the middlemen, and lead artists into a new, tokenised paradise of fairly distributed revenues?
Those visions didn’t come to pass, in part because musicians needed full control of their rights to sign up, and also because it was often vague where and how they’d be able to exchange the tokens they’d be paid in for ‘fiat’ currency.
Blockchain certainly still has lots to offer musicians and the music industry, but the revolutionary rhetoric has been dialled down by more recent startups, in favour of solving real problems and working with the industry.
Potentiam feels a bit like a blast from the past, then. “A new online platform that aims to redesign the music landscape,” is its pitch. “Will guarantee fair compensation for artists, transparent and reliable payment rules, and extensive music content… Artists can advertise, distribute their music, meet potential collaborators and earn rewards in the form of PTM tokens.”
There’s even a mention of “greedy middlemen” on its website. How it plans to avoid the pitfalls of past blockchain startups remains to be seen.
