Imogen Heap and Mycelia

I, admittedly, approach any article about the optimistic future of the music industry with great skepticism but this Jamie Bartlett piece for The Guardian has me intrigued; Imogen Heap: saviour of the music industry? The piece investigates the current state of the music industry and explores a new software development from Heap that leverages the Blockchain called Mycelia. At its most basic, it's a transparent way to see where a piece of music is being consumed and reused with the ability to instantly payout licensing and royalty fees.

When asked if listeners would pay for something they get for free, her response is pretty brilliant:

"I don't think it's that simple," she says. "It's not about paying or not paying, it's how and who gets what. There is plenty of money being made out of the music that we make, but it isn't getting back to us. It's about creating a fair trade industry for music, an ecosystem that makes sense. If people knew a radio station, a platform or a device was using a fair system, and that artists were being recompensed for their work directly, they'd go for it over another that didn't."

I'm not sure I have as much faith as she does in the behaviors of music consumption but the idea that artists have a bright future ahead - not a bleak one - because of the potentials of software is a headspace that I can get behind.