This article originally appeared on Medium, as part of the Open Music Initiative.
Writing music is an act of inspiration. A lifetime of listening to Jimi Hendrix’s solos, Dancing out to Tom Waits’ Hell Polka and a deep appreciation for Rihanna’s vocal expression are bound to show up somewhere in your creative output. Could these connections point Hendrix’s fans towards your work? Steer Rihanna’s fans to jam out to your Tom Waits influenced Halloween music? Could your work bring together fans of otherwise conflicting genres?
For music creators, the prospect of keeping their ownership database organized as an incentive for potentially higher monetary compensation is an enticing one yet not sufficient for them to undergo the boring process of filling spreadsheets or altering their workflow. OnRecord operates on the basis that the financial incentive should be second to the idea that music can better connect an artist to their fans by sharing stories about their inspirations.
OnRecord is a plug-and-play music authorship experience that works by identifying the characteristic features on your music similar to the way fingerprint scanning technology works. These custom “soundprint” files are captured by OnRecord’s Oz Plug which then assigns them to your pre-loaded Identity profiles and uploads both to the OnRecord database thus securing your authorship from the moment music comes out of your instrument.
The “Oz Plug”
This could add value to an artist in the form of increased discoverability, e.g: “Dobbie Don’t you Dare” (an up and coming band) share similar guitar sounds with one of their greatest influences “Young The Giant” (a pro band). First one of their fans tells Spotify that the guitar sound during the second chorus is the single element he values the most about one of their songs. Spotify could then use the OnRecord database to not only bring the musician associated with it to light but find other songs with a similar “soundprint” and suggest them to the fan, creating a browsing experience based on the musical elements people love the most.
All of a sudden “Dobbie Don’t You Dare” becomes an automatic suggestion based on this criteria.
This two sided phenomenon lies at the core of OnRecord’s philosophy. The seamless recollection of “soundprint” data challenges platforms such as Spotify or Soundcloud to craft innovative fan experiences which in turn generates even more data. This technology incentivizes artists to use OnRecord’s services in order to grow their fan base, connect and collaborate with musicians around the globe who are producing similar soundprints or allowing individuals to discover the moments and sounds that inspired them to create in the first place.