Self-sovereign verification of music credits
Sector: Tertiary sector · Industry: Film and music industry · Organisation: Mycelia, The Creative Passport · Maturity level: Pilot
Mycelia developed The Creative Passport as a creator-controlled profile for verifiable data on people, works, contributors, credits, identifiers and business partners. An initial beta of the app was made available during international Change Maker Forums and developed further with music creators. This individual case does not claim automated royalty distribution or widespread production use of blockchain.
Documentation status
- Project status: Pilot — Beta app and international co-creation testing; no proof of widespread production operations or automated royalty distribution.
- Evidence: Evidence medium
- Editorial review: pending
Description
With the Creative Passport, the organisation Mycelia conceived an application intended to restore music creators' sovereignty over their own professional and work data. Many artists face the challenge that credits are recorded incorrectly and revenues cannot be properly allocated due to incomplete identifiers. The initiative relies on tamper-proof registries where creators bundle their verified profiles and contributions, sharing them with publishers and partners in a controlled manner.
As part of the Mycelia initiative, a digital passport was developed that enables artists to manage identity data, catalogues of works, and industry-standard identifiers in a decentralised manner. The solution was mapped into a mobile beta application and practically tested in the context of international workshops and events with musicians and producers. The project aimed to create a reliable dataset directly at the source of creative work in order to eliminate media disruptions in existing accounting systems. However, fully automated royalty distribution via smart contracts or unrestricted commercial production operations were not part of the demonstrated scope of this pilot project. The insights gained highlight in particular the challenges of integrating new identity standards into the traditionally fragmented IT infrastructure of collective management organisations.
Perspectives
B2B — organisations perspective
Music publishers, collective management organisations and distribution platforms can directly access reliable information on authors and contributors via verified datasets. This enables the reduction of manual research and erroneous metadata transfers for new releases.
B2C — consumers perspective
End users and fans benefit indirectly, as accurate contributor details on streaming services facilitate the discoverability of musical works and the discovery of participating session artists.
Employees perspective
Music creators and their management receive a centralised tool to authoritatively record work contributions and contact details. This reduces administrative overhead when passing on profile data to changing business partners.
Benefits
General
- Increased data integrity through direct verification by creators
- Better discoverability of contributors in digital catalogues of works
- Structured bundling of existing industry identifiers in one place
B2B — organisations
- Reduced research overhead for music publishers when matching works
- Faster clearance of copyrights in collaborations
Employees
- Transparent documentation of one's own contributions to music productions
- Increased self-control over shared contact and business data
Challenges
General
- High fragmentation of existing databases and interfaces in the music industry
- Lack of comprehensive acceptance of decentralised standards across all major collective management organisations
B2B — organisations
- Effort required to integrate new identity formats into proprietary legacy systems
Employees
- Required additional effort for continuous independent data maintenance
Technology foundation
Decentralised registry and identity structures for the tamper-proof bundling of metadata, creator proofs, and industry identifiers under the direct sovereignty of creators.
Implementation examples
The Creative Passport Pilot Project
Incorrect or incomplete metadata regularly results in revenues in the music industry failing to be allocated to the actual creators or incurring substantial research costs.
Mycelia provided a beta version of the Creative Passport app to test verified data on music creators, contributors, and identifiers in a collaborative trial.
The Mycelia team implemented the Creative Passport as a mobile application and presented a beta version as part of international events. The central focus was the objective of providing artists with a digital identity through which work metadata and business contacts can be reliably stored. The trial took place in close dialogue with songwriters and producers to verify the suitability of data reconciliation in everyday practice. Full integration into existing exploitation systems for automated royalty distribution was explicitly not implemented as part of this project.
Resolution of a lack of transparency in contributor credits as well as linking fragmented industry IDs under the direct release control of artists.
Tags
Metadata, Copyrights, Digital identity, Music industry, Credits