Music Maker is the term we use for Artists in Bittunes. We had originally intended to provide the Bittunes service only to those Artists that fully owned all rights to their music, but after much research and consultation with leading figures in the independent music sector we have decided to broaden this category considerably.
How does the system work?
The diagram below illustrates the way the system will run. Royalties are split between music makers and music movers, and we as an organization will only take a percentage when a song reaches the top 100 in a particular genre.
We want to flatten the music value chain as much as possible
One of the most important aspects of the bittunes philosophy is to create an ecosystem that rewards recording artists fairly for the music that they make. Too many commercial music services available today a great job of this, and a large part of the reason can be seen by clicking this link. too many pigs with their head sin the trough) If you would like to look deeper at what’s been happening to the music ‘value chain’ over the years, you can follow this link, but if you already know about this we can cut straight to the point. Bittunes is all about flattening that value chain as much as possible.
How it will work ~ for the Band/Songwriter (Music Maker)
1. The Artist or Band representative signs up for a ‘music maker’ account.
2. They must affirm that they are the legitimate copyright owner, (or official representative of the copyright owner/s)
3. They upload the original music work with Bittunes.com + cover art, music genre, (hip hop, electronic etc) and some bio details (band website) about the band or songwriter.
4. The uploaded song is checked for the presence of any ISRC and ISWC (Recording Industry codes) as a first check to determine that it is not encumbered by existing rights agreements.
5. The Band or songwriter pays a one-off annual subscription fee of price to be determined, but will be fair, (to cover the cost of Bittunes handling, checking and encoding of the songs and artwork) (*during Beta period these costs waved, so if you want to have your songs traded on the bittunes network when the app is released, you might consider uploading them to us now, as you will then avoid that cost)
6. The Copyright owner will receive notification by Bittunes shortly afterwards, when the song is available on the network.
7. The Content Provider will then be able to log into their account at bittunes.com and view management, statistics and earnings pages, and start seeing their Bitcents rolling in.
All songs will be purchased denominated in $US, but all royalties will be paid in bitcoin.
How to get involved now, and use the application
We have spent considerable time refining the Bittunes Android application, which is still in Private Alpha in the Google Play Store. If you have a compatible Android device (phone or tablet) and would like to be an be an Alpha tester of the Bittunes app, then please contact us. We will probably ask you to provide some evidence to confirm your real identity, like details of your Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter Account.