Cadence

Our psychedelic theme brings out the abstract beauty in music
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Inspiration

Ever faced copyright strikes for including just a few seconds of Taylor Swift's music in your totally viral school video project? Did you find the perfect Joji song for your transition, but can't possibly buy the rights to use the song without millions of dollars and a legal team? Cadence transcends these boundaries to our content creativity. We want to incentivize both musicians and content creators to work together, in order to bring purchasable high quality music to the ears of millions. Our program enables creators to purchase a music key, which allows you to use a specific piece of music for one video or similar project. This token system is akin to renting the music per unit, without overpaying for an absurd licence. PLUS, the profits go directly to the music artist instead of any middleman like Spotify or Youtube -- the artist agrees to the rate, and the blockchain guarantees this return. Welcome to Cadence, the decentralized music buying and selling platform.

What it does

Cadence provides a platform where music creators can upload their compositions and set a price and/or rate in NEAR tokens. Once uploaded, the one-time right to use their music is converted into a non-fungible token (NFT). This NFT allows buyers to use the music only once at a cheap price as it is a single unit price by providing them with an encrypted authentication token. Once the music is used in a video or project, the buyer needs to repurchase the NFT to use it again. Multiple users can purchase multiple NFTs of the same piece of music, leveraging our blockchain technology.

The advantage of utilizing blockchain technology is that music artists receive the profits directly, bypassing intermediaries. At the same time, the blockchain ensures the transaction is decentralized and transparent, and NFT regulations and technology allow for extremely straightforward methods of ownership identification.

How we built it

For our backend, we used Near as we were attracted to its beginner-friendliness and organized documentation. It played a really big part in helping us come to understand blockchain, NFTs, and smart contracts. Jackal was employed to ensure secure peer-to-peer transactions and store the music data. These frameworks were actualized using TypeScript and JavaScript. To generate NFTs, we leveraged Pinata, Alchemy, MetaMask with a Goerli address, and HardHat. Finally, our frontend was created using ReactJS.

Challenges we ran into

While developing the Cadence platform, we encountered several challenges. Here are a couple of examples:

Compatibility with Windows: One challenge we faced was that the NEAR protocol, which we used to create smart contracts and handle transactions, did not have comprehensive support for Windows operating systems. This limitation made it difficult for Windows users to interact with the platform seamlessly. The team had to find workarounds or alternative solutions to ensure cross-platform compatibility and provide a smooth user experience for all users, regardless of their operating system.

Confusing Jackal Documentation: Another challenge we encountered was the complexity and ambiguity in the documentation provided for Jackal, the technology we utilized for secure peer-to-peer transactions and music data storage. This required additional research, experimentation, and communication with the Jackal development community to gain a deeper understanding of the technology and successfully integrate it into the Cadence platform.

Overcoming these challenges required perseverance, resourcefulness, and collaboration within the team. We had to explore alternative solutions, seek support from the NEAR and Jackal communities, and adapt their approach to ensure the functionality and usability of the Cadence platform.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We take pride in our determination as we navigated the utilization of NEAR and Jackal technologies within the Cadence platform. Integrating NEAR's smart contract capabilities and Jackal's secure peer-to-peer transactions were nothing short of huge hurdles for a couple of nerds who couldn't even comprehend the concept of blockchain on Friday.

Additionally, we are proud of our innovative solution. By simplifying music licensing through non-fungible tokens (NFTs), we have reduced complexity and costs in legal use of copyrighted music. Our use of blockchain technology promotes decentralization, transparency, and a fair distribution of revenue towards artists, whose incomes are surprisingly little after production teams, directors, and other middlemen are paid.

What we learned

Blockchain Basics: Developing the Cadence platform introduced us to the fundamentals of decentralized networks, smart contracts, and transaction immutability. This newfound knowledge empowered us to leverage blockchain for music licensing and distribution. Exploring the benefits of tokenizing music rights into NFTs expanded our understanding of ownership verification and simplified licensing, opening up possibilities for digital assets and intellectual property.

What's next for Cadence

Cadence's future plans include:

Diversifying Content: Expanding beyond music to include audiovisual assets, static graphics, and behind-the-scenes exclusive content.
Add more ways for audiences to interact with the artist if they choose to, such as through cameos, messages, etc.
Strengthening Security: Implementing advanced encryption, robust authentication, and rigorous auditing to ensure the security of user data and intellectual property rights.
Allow greater compatibility with a greater range of chains.