Remember that old audio player back in the time? Yes, I am talking about Winamp. It was extremely usable and popular player that being used by many and it served in support of many audio platforms on the web. And then suddenly audio industry took a hit since napster and other open economy issues which slowly ended the demand for the desktop based player. Instead people moved to apps and web based streaming.
Rolling the time forward in 2022, Winamp is now alive with the version 5.x or something. And they are now trying to become a platform for the creators in the Audio industry.
So what are some of the things Winamp is offering to the creators and the fans? What is changing?
Basically creators, musicians, labels and publishers can now sign up at their platform. And now they will get the tools for the various creator growth just like youtube has it in it's studio.
Some of the features include YouTube content ID royalty, so that when creators stream their music in the videos, they too earn the royalty based on the plays. And that's not all, the illegal copying of the music would be cleared easily without much efforts on the creators part. This means the license issue is also taken care of.
Fans can also support you through tipping and other means through the fanpages for the artist. And that means we are going to see mp3.com's 90s like era where the music could be purchased track by track basis along with the poster and art etc. I am sure this type of monetization can extend to merchandise and dropshipping.
On the top of this, there is also growth for the NFT based audio tracks. So you could take that music anywhere you wish and feel good that you are owning the official copy and not rip off. Which also means they could track the plays and even be able to get royalty if the NFT tracks are resold in the secondary market.
Currently the fees are low from the winamp platform but as the income rises so does the fees and also may open up more opportunities with the time. So you may want to look at their growth and the official blog for any changes on the platform and the monetization side.
Good days are coming for this industry. Artists just need to focus on the output and value to the listeners, rest will work out.
