What if someone started a real underground music label on the dark web. Bitcoin only, no banks, no streaming and no middlemen. Artists could drop music, earn for say 5 or 10 years, then the rights go to the public domain. No corporate ownership, no lifetime contracts.
Could a label like that actually work?
Seems too niche to be worth the time and money. However, advertising music only available for bitcoin on the dark web could work as a marketing tactic if the music appeals to that niche audience.
Thing is, I’m on the dark web, I use cryptocurrency and I like underground music, and this doesn’t appeal to me. In my mind, I’m wondering why they didn’t just build and host their own website instead, and sell their album for crypto. I would question why they only accept bitcoin if they’re trying to be subversive. I go to the dark web for drugs, not music, and would be paying in Monero.
Alternatively, some artists have already NFT’d their music so people can purchase it for crypto. And, long before that, radiohead released In Rainbows independently through their website, which only took donations. So there are ways to skip the middlemen without the gimmick.
Could it work? Yeah, it could. I don’t think it would work very well.