Arts Management Commons^™

The Budding Disruption Of Blockchain Technology Upon The Current Structure Of The Music Industry, Bradley Rauman

Senior Theses

One of the most pertinent opportunities within the music industry, and many other industries as well, stems from the use of blockchain technology. Blockchain’s core technology, which enables smart contracts and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), could be used to restructure and decentralize the music industry to be in alignment with the best interests of artists - the individuals responsible for driving the success of this industry.

The current system is outmoded. It evinces a disparity in the level of information held by artists and intermediaries (i.e. labels, publishers, and streaming services) and this disparity enables intermediaries to deduct egregious fees that …

Sample-Based Hip-Hop Music And Fair Use Laws In The Age Of Streaming Services, Michael Vanbuhler

Senior Theses

This thesis takes an in depth look at the history and processes behind creating sample-based music. Sampling was popularized during the beginnings of hip-hop music and now a wide variety of genres use samples or techniques created by sample-based music. Early hip-hop beats took samples of drum breaks or a portion of a track from another artist or band. As hip-hop grew in the late 80s and early 90s, the use of samples became a question of intellectual property rights and if it was acceptable to sample someone’s copyrighted work. Lawsuits in the early 90’s helped to create new caselaw …

The Supply Chain Of Digital Music: Empowering Independent Artists Through Availability And Accessibility, Justin Reed

Senior Theses

The process of creating and sharing digital music can be viewed from the “supply chain” perspective: identifying the resources and value-adding tools that ultimately result in a final audio product. By researching and documenting the steps involved in this process, I identify this supply chain as a series of steps, an itinerary, or process model of digital music creation. Moreover, I found that each step in the process can be assess for its accessibility and usability by independent artists. I conclude by exploring how this democratizes the music industry by affording independent artists the necessary tools and empowerment to create …