Decentralizing the Music Industry: Empowering Artists through NFTs, AI-Enhanced Creation, and Decentralized Crowdfunding

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Myles Gamez

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

mylesngamez@gmail.com

Additional applicants

None. Active seeking and in talks to expand the team!

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

5

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” .

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

No

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

The project will be partially open source. For security purposes, the web app code will be closed source, however the majority of all events on Mozi will be verifiable on the blockchain. For example, if there is any suspicion about the results or transactions involved in a crowdfund, the crowdfunding smart contract and all transactions involving it are public on the blockchain for anyone to see. All transactions in general involving Mozi will be verifiable on the Cardano blockchain.

Open source:

• Smart Contract code

Closed source:

• Web app backend: Includes user authentication code, KYC process, API keys, etc
• Web page layout/styling code

[METADATA] Category of Proposal

dApp

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

The problem: The music industry is dominated by outdated, centralized models that favors intermediaries over artists and creators. Record label deals and funding deals in general within the industry are often opaque and one-sided resulting in unfavorable terms for artists. Artists often find themselves in a challenging position, losing ownership over their music and receiving only a small fraction of the revenues their music generates. Artists' creative control is also undermined, restricting their ability to freely express and distribute their work.

The core issue is that artists need viable, alternative options to: 

1. Get funded without loss of ownership
2. Distribute their music 
3. Connect with fans at scale

This is what our proposal is all about. 

Our proposed solution, Mozi, is a revolutionary platform designed to democratize and decentralize the music industry by empowering artists to be their own label. To achieve this, we're developing a suite of tools and features including:

• Enabling artists to mint their music as NFTs that are streamable and mintable,
• AI-powered studio for creating and editing music
• Decentralized crowdfunding for direct fan-to-artist funding
• Exclusive artist content and events unlock-able by NFTs

Our aim is to empower artists to perform all functions of a record label and more, while directly interacting with their fans and retaining full rights and ownership of their music and earnings.

Decentralized crowdfunding is one of our flagship features and something we’re most excited about. We believe in the power of communities and the bottom line is that we don’t think fans are as greedy as record labels and big companies are. We think if fans had the opportunity to collectively fund their favorite artists like record labels and big companies do, artists could receive the same or great amount of funding without having to sacrifice their rights and ownership of their music. The Mozi platform will aid artists in creating and deploying the crowdfunding smart contract to the Cardano blockchain and fans can interact directly with it to fund their favorite artists and get records of their contributions in the form of NFTs. Mozi will simply be an interface for artists and fans to interact with each other via the blockchain. 

We will demonstrate our impact by tracking a range of metrics like the number of artists using our platform, the amount of revenue they generate, fan engagement, and the overall growth of our user base. 

What's unique about our solution is its use of blockchain technology to give artists the tools they need to be autonomous, including the ability to crowdfund their projects, retain full rights to their music, and interact directly with fans. This solution aligns with Cardano's ethos of democratizing finance and creating a more equitable system. By utilizing Cardano's advanced blockchain infrastructure, we can build an innovative platform that not only empowers artists but also contributes to the wider adoption and utility of Cardano. 

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

The benefits that Mozi brings to the Cardano ecosystem are manifold:

1. New User Acquisition: Mozi will attract a wide range of artists and music lovers to the Cardano ecosystem, increasing the number of active users and the overall adoption of Cardano. Within the first six months, our goal is to onboard tens of thousands of artists and fans
2. Transaction Volume: Artists minting music NFTs, fans purchasing these NFTs, and the decentralized crowdfunding aspect will all contribute to an increase in transactions on the Cardano network.
3. Real-World Use Case: Mozi presents a concrete, tangible use case for Cardano's blockchain technology, demonstrating its capabilities to a wide audience. This will help increase awareness and trust in the technology, as well as inspiring further innovative applications of blockchain.
4. Educational Opportunity: Artists and fans new to blockchain will learn about the technology through their interactions with Mozi. This will spread blockchain literacy and demystify the technology for a broad audience, aiding in its adoption.
5. Ecosystem Diversity: By extending the use of Cardano's blockchain to the music industry, Mozi diversifies the ecosystem's applications and enhances its resilience.

Mozi will not only help solve a key issue in the music industry but will also bring new users to Cardano, increase transaction volume, and provide a tangible use case, enhancing Cardano's growth and diversity. We aim to be a key player in Cardano's mission of democratizing social and financial systems.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

Data points:

1. User Acquisition: Number of artists and fans who join the platform
2. Transaction Volume: NFT sales, crowdfunding contributions, and fan tips, etc
3. Funds raised: The amount of funding raised by artists through the platform shows the effectiveness of our solution in addressing one of the primary issues artists face: getting funded without losing ownership

In the short term, Mozi's impact on Cardano's growth would primarily be through an influx of new users and an increase in transaction volume, promoting the adoption of the Cardano blockchain and its native ADA token.

In the long term, Mozi contributes to Cardano's mission of democratizing social and financial systems by transforming a key creative industry, music, into a more equitable, decentralized space. By demonstrating a successful use case for Cardano's blockchain, we hope to inspire more innovative, decentralized solutions, driving the overall growth and development of the Cardano ecosystem.

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

Our plan to share the outputs and results of the Mozi project spans a wide array of platforms and stakeholders, ensuring broad dissemination and awareness.

1. Sharing with the Music Industry: We'll promote the results of our project within the music industry to demonstrate our solution's viability and the potential benefits for artists and fans. This will involve reaching out to artists, record labels, music-related organizations, and industry media. We'll also attend industry conferences and events where we can present our findings and establish connections.
2. Community Updates: We'll share regular updates with the Mozi community, including both artists and fans on the platform. These will take the form of newsletters, blog posts, and social media posts, and will cover progress updates, success stories, and new feature launches.
3. Cardano Ecosystem: Given that we're building on the Cardano blockchain, we'll share our milestones and results within this ecosystem. This could be through Cardano community forums, the Cardano subreddit, and other related channels.
4. Web3 and Blockchain Communities: To raise awareness among those interested in the intersection of blockchain and the arts, we'll share our progress with web3 and blockchain communities. This could include speaking at related conferences, participating in podcasts, and publishing articles on platforms like Medium.

The results from this project will drive our further research and development activities. User feedback and platform data will guide our future development roadmap and feature enhancements. Additionally, we plan to expand our work on music NFTs and blockchain-based crowdfunding to other areas of the arts such as writing, film, and visual arts, creating potential for new projects and initiatives. Our mission is not only to transform the music industry, but to redefine the relationship between artists and fans across all creative disciplines.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

Landing page: mozimusic.app

Demo: Coming soon!

Github: https://github.com/mylesgamez

About me:

• 4x LinkedIn Engineering intern: I worked in Search Infrastructure throughout all my internships where I formed a strong foundation in managing complex projects and gained hands-on experience across diverse domains including big data pipelines, optimization, automation, API development, and dev tooling. I learned and worked with a variety of langauges, distributed systems, and cross-collabarated between several teams when needed.
• I completed three developer training programs created by IOHK to train developers to build on Cardano including the Plutus Pioneer, Atala PRISM Pioneer, and Marlowe Pioneer programs. Throughout these programs, I honed my knowledge and skills in blockchain technology, smart contract development, and self-sovereign identity systems.

Aside from my technical experience, I've identified the key challenges in the current music industry and envisaged how blockchain can address these issues, I believe we have a clear view of the market as I've described in the proposed solution. The combination of my technical skills, project management experience, and deep passion for revolutionizing the music industry position me uniquely to successfully execute this ambitious project.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

1. Democratizing Music Ownership and Distribution: We will measure the number of artists who mint their masters as NFTs, manage their own distribution, and successfully monetize their music on our platform.
2. Artist Revenue: We will measure how much artists earn and earnings growth from the variety of monetization methods
3. Facilitating Decentralized Crowdfunding: We'll track the number of crowdfunding projects initiated, the total funds raised, and the number of unique backers, to validate the effectiveness of this approach.
4. Enhancing Fan Engagement: We'll evaluate our success based on metrics like the number of unique fan interactions, the amount of exclusive content shared, and the number of NFT tickets sold for virtual and live events.
5. Implementing AI-Powered Tools: User engagement with these tools and positive feedback on their utility will serve as key success indicators.
6. Providing Real-Time Insights: We aim to help artists make data-driven decisions. We'll assess this goal based on artists' usage of the dashboard and any subsequent decisions or changes we make informed by their feedback.
7. Ensuring Timely Artist Payments: Our goal is to enable artists to get paid directly and promptly in crypto. We will validate this by monitoring the frequency and promptness of payouts, as well as the overall satisfaction of artists with the payment process.
8. Increasing Adoption of the Cardano Blockchain: In alignment with Cardano's ethos of democratizing finance and creating a more equitable system, we aim to onboard a vast number of users to the Cardano blockchain, thereby contributing to its growth and wider adoption. Success on this front will be indicated by the number of transactions conducted on our platform that utilizes the Cardano blockchain.
9. Establishing a Competitive Position in the Music Industry: With our unique, artist-centric approach, we aim to gain significant market share and emerge as a robust competitor to existing web2 music streaming platforms like Spotify and SoundCloud. We'll track our growth in user base, both artists and fans, and measure the volume of music streamed on our platform.

While our goals are largely qualitative, they are all measurable through specific key performance indicators. As we strive to enhance the user experience, both for artists and fans, we'll continually seek their feedback and adjust our strategies accordingly.

From a technical standpoint, our project is driven by innovative blockchain technology, combined with AI tools for creative processes. Our team is well-versed in both blockchain and AI technologies, and we are prepared to handle any potential technical challenges that may arise during the implementation phase. We are also committed to conducting ongoing technical audits to ensure the robustness of our platform.

Through these strategies, we believe we will validate the feasibility of our approach and confirm the achievement of our objectives.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

Given the scope of the Mozi project, it's crucial to structure our goals into measurable milestones. Each milestone will help us assess our progress, keep the team motivated, and ensure that we are heading in the right direction. Here is the proposed breakdown:

Milestone 1: Beta Launch (1 month)

• This phase focuses on launching the basic functionality of the Mozi platform, including NFT minting and streaming and decentralized crowdfunding. Key activities in this stage will include coding the beta web app, integrating Cardano blockchain functionalities, and testing the app.
• Success Criteria: Completion of platform development with all stated features, successful beta testing with a limited group of artists and fans to refine the user interface and user experience.

Milestone 2: Compete Adding Beta Features & Testing (1 month)

• This phase involves launching the AI Studio and Insights Dashboard features and enabling artists to start creating and sharing exclusive content which fans can unlock by owning the artist's NFTs. Key activities will involve software development, integration, testing, and deployment of these new features and functionalities.
• This phase also involves officially ending the beta phase and launching the platform publicly enabling artists and fans everywhere to sign up and use the platform. Key activities include marketing campaigns to attract artists and fans to the platform, providing support for the NFT minting process, and facilitating artist-fan interactions.
• Success Criteria: Successful launch of the platform with minimal technical issues, acquisition of a target number of artists (for example, 200 or more artists) onto the platform.

Milestone 3: Expansion of AI Tools and Insights Dashboard (1 month)

• In this phase, we'll focus on expanding the suite of AI tools and further refining the insights dashboard and all other features based on user feedback. Key activities will involve software development, integration, testing, and deployment.
• Success Criteria: Successful deployment of new AI tools, positive artist feedback, and increased usage of all features.

Milestone 4: Fan Engagement and Artist Monetization (2 month)

• At this stage, the focus is on enhancing fan engagement, promoting artist-fan interaction, and facilitating effective artist monetization through NFT sales, tips, crowdfunding, and exclusive content access.
• Success Criteria: Increase in the number of active fans on the platform, growth in artists' revenues, and successful crowdfunds for artist projects.

Milestone 5: Scaling and Improvement (Ongoing indefinitely)

• This phase will focus on scaling the platform, attracting more artists and fans, making continuous improvements based on user feedback, and evolving the platform further. Key activities will include marketing, outreach, and continuous development and updates.
• Success Criteria: Steady growth in platform user base, positive user feedback, and continuous improvement in user engagement and artist revenue generation.

Our project implementation strategy is based on the Agile methodology which allows us flexibility and rapid response to any changes or issues. We understand that funded proposals will be required to submit a Statement of Milestones, and we're prepared to provide it as per the project's progress.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

For each milestone, we've identified specific deliverables, outputs, and intended outcomes that we aim to achieve:

Milestone 1: Beta Launch

• Deliverables: Beta version of the Mozi platform featuring NFT minting, streaming, and decentralized crowdfunding functionalities.
• Outputs: Source code of the platform, testing results and improvement documentation, user feedback reports.
• Intended Outcomes: Functioning beta platform, early user feedback to inform improvements and adjustments.

We'll track progress by monitoring the completion of coding tasks, successful integration of Cardano blockchain functionalities, and feedback from beta testing.

Milestone 2: Completion of Beta Features & Testing

• Deliverables: Full launch of the platform including AI Studio and Insights Dashboard. Marketing materials for platform promotion.
• Outputs: Codebase updates, feature documentation, marketing campaign results, user registration and activity data.
• Intended Outcomes: Increased user registrations, successful engagement with new features, growing artist-fan interactions.

Progress will be tracked by measuring the completion and deployment of new features, user registration, engagement rates, and overall feedback.

Milestone 3: Expansion of AI Tools and Insights Dashboard

• Deliverables: Additional AI tools integrated into the platform, enhanced features based on user feedback.
• Outputs: Updated codebase, user feedback reports, feature usage statistics.
• Intended Outcomes: Improved user experience, increased feature usage, positive user feedback.

We'll measure progress by the successful development and deployment of additional tools, user feedback, and feature usage statistics.

Milestone 4: Fan Engagement and Artist Monetization

• Deliverables: Marketing campaigns to boost fan engagement, new features or improvements facilitating artist monetization.
• Outputs: Marketing campaign results, new feature documentation, revenue reports.
• Intended Outcomes: Increased fan engagement, growth in artist revenues, successful crowdfunded artist projects.

Progress will be measured through fan engagement statistics, artist revenue growth, and the success rate of crowdfunded projects.

Milestone 5: Scaling and Improvement

• Deliverables: Continuous platform development, user acquisition strategies, regular updates, and improvements.
• Outputs: Updated codebase, marketing campaign results, user growth and engagement reports.
• Intended Outcomes: Steady growth in the user base, positive user feedback, continuous improvement in user engagement and artist revenue.
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We'll measure progress by tracking user growth, user engagement metrics, artist revenue, and feedback-based improvements.

In terms of project management, we'll employ tools like JIRA for task management and tracking, and GitHub for version control and codebase management.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

1. Platform Development (100,000 ADA), Includes cost of the following:
2. Engineering
3. UX/UX
4. R&D
5. Cloud Compute and Security
6. Data Storage
7. Ongoing maintence including server maintence, bug fixes, and software updates to keep the platform running smoothly
8. New hires to aid in development
9. Legal and Compliance (25,000 ADA), Includes cost of the following:
10. Privacy Policy
11. Terms of Service
12. LLC formations
13. Staffing (25,000 ADA), Includes cost of the following:
14. User support and customer service
15. New hires
16. Marketing and Promotions (10,000 ADA), Includes cost of the following:
17. Social media management and promotions
18. Live & virtual networking and promotional events

Our aim is to provide an efficient and cost-effective solution for artists and music lovers. Each budget allocation has been carefully considered to ensure we maximize value and deliver an exceptional product and service to our users. Our team is committed to managing these funds responsibly and transparently, ensuring the best possible outcomes for our platform and community.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The costs associated with the development and implementation of Mozi represent an exceptional value for money for the Cardano ecosystem for several reasons:

1. Technology and Infrastructure Development: The heart of Mozi is built on leveraging Cardano's unique smart contract capabilities to disrupt and democratize the music industry. It's a complex task that requires expertise, time, and financial investment to build and maintain robust, secure, and user-friendly interfaces. We are employing cutting-edge technologies such as NFTs, AI-powered tools, and blockchain-based crowdfunding platforms, all of which need proper development and maintenance.
2. Economic Impact: Mozi aims to overhaul a multi-billion dollar music industry, providing direct financial benefits to artists and offering fans unprecedented access to content. By doing so, we will drive more usage and adoption of Cardano, thereby increasing the overall value of the Cardano ecosystem. While our initial costs might seem high, the potential returns in terms of increased adoption of Cardano and the economic activity generated by Mozi are considerable.
3. Industry Collaboration: The cost also accounts for active discussions and partnerships with music industry professionals, who bring insider knowledge and a unique perspective that will help Mozi navigate the complex landscape of the music industry.
4. Legal and Marketing Costs: Operating in a decentralized web3 space, there are significant legal hurdles and marketing efforts required. It's crucial to ensure Mozi aligns with all relevant regulations and reaches its target audience. The costs related to legal compliance and marketing are aligned with the typical rates in the industry.

Overall, the cost of developing Mozi is directly proportional to the immense value it brings to the Cardano ecosystem. While it requires substantial investment, it holds the potential to revolutionize a major industry, thereby driving significant adoption and usage of the Cardano blockchain. This, in the long run, will serve to increase the overall value of the Cardano ecosystem, providing a significant return on investment.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept