Canadian Blockchain Music Startup Looks East

By Siddhant

Beatdapp Software, Inc.,a blockchain-enabled music tech startup with offices in Vancouver and LA. They have recently been in the news for raising $3.2M and adding some well-known names to their advisory board, such as the former Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. Beatdapp’s technology is highly scalable and if the barrage of demo requests from around the world is any indication, it seems to be in demand.

Asian markets such as Japan, India and S. Korea are booming and this Canadian startup is betting on their need for solutions to streamline a component of their supply chain. But despite their high demand tech, Beatdapp's advisory board might be the real catalyst for deals abroad.

Morgan Hayduk and Andrew Batey, two of the three co-founders of Beatdapp joined me over a call between meetings with prospective clients in Nashville and explained how their proprietary blockchain-enabled ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) is promising to solve a $4 billion music industry problem. Beatdapp’s third co-founder and CTO, Pouria Assadipour, led the development of its core and now patented, blockchain technology.

Over the past two years since its inception, Beatdapp's team has been hard at work with a sharp focus on solving a little known music industry problem - inaccurate digital play count data. According to the founders, it’s very common to find inconsistencies in master and publishing statements and logs from streaming services and distribution companies. On average, 15% of the plays go unreported and hence are not monetized. That is estimated to be $4 billion worth of unreported plays every year globally.

Beatdapp hopes to be the authoritative source of digital play count data to be used as reference by the stakeholders. Their business model is an annual fee based on the incremental revenue generated and added value their service provides, negotiated on a client-by-client basis.

According to the founders, their software integration allows a publisher and a streaming service to “participate in a network where no one has the thumb on the scale or any undue influence on what the accurate account is; because everyone is on a concensualized network, participating and agreeing in real-time on everything that plays.”

On one hand, the software helps the publisher have undisputable third party data and on the other, it relieves the streaming services of the expensive administrative burden of play count auditing.

But what makes blockchain the most suitable technology for this application?

The use of blockchain creates a decentralized automated system where plays over 30 seconds in length are written to the blockchain as a definitive account where all three parties (rights holder, DSP or Beatdapp) agree in real-time, all while respecting the user’s privacy. These entries are time-stamped simultaneously and there’s no way to amend or remove them. Beatdapp’s system is capable of processing an astonishing 1 million transactions per second.

With an efficient technology in place and several interested parties in North America such as Entertainment One, the founders are now aiming for global expansion.

Beatdapp has built a solution that is highly scalable, has strategically partnered with advisors and is now eyeing some of the fastest growing markets. The majority of the recent funding will go towards server fees while the rest will be used for expanding the team. As a part of their multi-pronged strategy to access international markets, in addition to building the infrastructure to support the expansion, Beatdapp’s founders are also focused on understanding these regions’ market needs and the policy framework around the music industry. This should allow them to customize their tech to better cater to international clients and find success in those markets.