MODA DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) created to bridge the legacy music industry into the latest Web 3.0 entertainment world, announced that they’ve acquired $5 million via a private sale of their MODA token, with musicians Joel Zimmerman (deadmau5) and Richie Hawtin joining the DAO with VCs Outlier Ventures, Blocksync, FBG Capital, Double Peak, among others.
MODA aims to bring DAOs to the music industry by establishing a framework through which artists are able to leverage Web 3,0 tech like NFTs, micro-licensing, DAO governance and DeFi to transform their music business. With the completion of the $5 million private sale, MODA is “releasing the governance token on November 10th via SushiSwap’s MISO platform.”
Created by the MODA Foundation, MODA DAO aims to serve as an open and inclusive music industry DAO “designed to connect independent artists, leaders in the music industry, and technology innovators to define the future of Web3 music ownership —- something they call Music3,” according to an update shared with CI.
Members of the DAO will work on new ventures, share music catalogues, and leverage their collective influence to “introduce new practices around music distribution and licensing.” MODA aims to “remove the middlemen of traditional streaming services and allow artists to connect more meaningfully with their fans, unlocking new means for value creation shared between creators and community,” the announcement noted.
DAOs, decentralized autonomous organizations, are the “latest innovation out of Web3 to gain traction.” DAOs may be considered “an alternative to LLCs or corporations, allowing members to pool together resources and make decisions based on smart contract agreements.”
DAOs help with establishing new models for collective ownership and investing and are “most prominent in the NFT and DeFi spaces,” the announcement explained while adding that MODA is also leveraging smart-contract and legal frameworks and “expertise previously used by Australian DeFI project Synthetix.”
The DAO has a list of launch partners, from labels and management companies such as ONErpm, mau5trap, AYITA and UNIFIED Music Group, to Web3 start-ups such as PIXELYNX, Emanate and CreateSafe.
Music hardware firm SubPac and Rising Agency also “show the breadth and depth of industry involvement at MODA’s early stage.” At present, the MODA DAO partners “manage catalogs of music that generate over 10 billion streams per month and a pilot group of these artists are expected to release songs later this year via the new ‘Music3’ blueprint.”
Electronic musician Joel Zimmerman, otherwise known as deadmau5, remarked:
“I look to partner with places where the future is being built with technology as equally as exciting as the music. MODA is mission-driven – buying back power to the hands of musicians. The decision to join MODA on their journey to decentralize the future of music was an easy one. I’m excited to contribute and begin working with this group of individuals.”
MODA is set to release more than $1 million worth of creative and technical grants “over the next two years to individuals and teams who put proposals into the DAO,” the announcement confirmed while noting that applications are now open on the website.
The globally distributed DAO is using their treasury “across a research and innovation lab, new Music3 tools and services and by providing creative and technical grants to complimentary projects.”
Currently in development is an on-chain audio fingerprinting tool and a cross-chain Audio NFT aggregator that will “allow NFTs to replace MP3-downloads and the default way to directly support independent artists,” the update revealed.
Sean Gardner, MODA DAO project lead, stated:
“MODA is ready to tackle the bottlenecks and middlemen of the Web2 music space. The big streaming platforms have unintentionally killed the collectibility of music, and after years of distraction we are bringing it back. The creative Web3 world has a passion for the power of NFTs and decentralized governance, and we see the focus starting to spread from visual art and profile pictures to assets like music.”