DIGITAL ASSETS TRANSMISSION BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONS: MUSIC INDUSTRY CASE

Abstract

This research addresses the following experiences as a contribution to the topic of Blockchain applications. First, the modeling of a Music Industry revenue distribution problem. Second, the Integration of Blockchain platforms and Legacy software. Third, the design of an algorithm that solves the distribution of Digital Assets across organizations within the Music Industry. Ultimately, the analysis of the Performance of Blockchain platforms (Ethereum and Hyperledger) in terms of Latency and Throughput. Additionally, the purpose of the research is to show that the modeling of a Music Industry payment system is possible using Blockchain Technology. Therefore, the old business model of the Music Industry, which possessed flaws and inefficiencies, could potentially change into a trustless environment benefiting all the participants y paying their contributions instantaneously. Moreover, the necessity of a solution is reinforced by an internship experienced in a MITACS project in conjunction with a company called Membran to design and implement a Blockchain solution that shortens the gap between Spotify and the payment to the Labels and Artists. The system distributes value by automatically calculating payments whenever the Digital Assets (Music Tracks revenue) are imported. The application defines specific roles and variables to simulate the Music Industry. For example, Distributors as an entry point and Artists at the end of the chain. Although, any participant within the network can create agreements and benefit from the distribution. The implementation of this research took the Hyperledger Composer framework to use the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain as the Private Distributed Ledger, and the public Blockchain Ethereum with the Ganache Client for development purposes. Extensive research of the strengths and weaknesses of these technologies included the descriptions of features like the consensus algorithms, modular architectures, and smart contracts. Ultimately, the performance of these technologies compared Hyperledger Composer and Ethereum in terms of Latency and Throughput. The conclusion of this research pointed that Hyperledger Composer with features like the role-based architecture for applications, Programmable ChainCode (Smart Contracts), and Business Network Definitions, is better suitable for modeling customized solutions and outperforms Ethereum in terms of performance when testing the same number of transactions, the same logic of the chain code and the same machine environment.