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Issue106

Monthly newspaper and online publication targeting 18 to 35 year olds. The ultimate guide to the hottest parties, going out and having fun. Music, fashion, film, travel, festivals, technology, comedy, and parties! London, Barcelona, Miami and Ibiza.

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Each piece of information stored is self- validated by a network of computing points (also called nodes) every few minutes. Imagine a file that is duplicated across a network of computers which is also designed to securely update and store this file. This is where blockchains hugely differ from other technologies, because the information distributed by blockchains cannot be controlled by one single entity. Basically, blockchains act as a distributed ledger that underlies all cryptocurrencies. It provides us a way to save and share data in a sheltered and safe manner. All data we input in blockchain technologies is verified and protected using cryptography, making them very hard to be hacked. This process of decentralization combined with the fact that blockchains have no single point of failure make them a source of hope for many industries. Which is where smart contracts come in. Smart contracts are also known as self-executing or digital contracts. They are essentially coding functions which can help us exchange money, shares and property. Smart contracts are autonomous in that everyone is free to make their own arrangements, which are then automatically managed by the network. These type of contracts would allow musicians to get paid directly from their fans without having to give up a large share of their revenue to third parties. Of course, smart contracts are far from perfect. They lack the economical and legal credibility that "regular" legal contracts hold. This means that in a court room, standard paper contracts would still be better than their digital relatives. Nobody has yet addressed these issues as of yet. Nonetheless, each new change come with its problems, and we should not dismiss the potential of smart contracts (or blockchains) just because we are presented with difficulties. Interestingly, a handful of companies have picked up on the possibilities that blockchain present. Such as the first decentralised music platform by Opus based on Ethereum and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). A peer to peer hypermedia protocol that aims to make the web faster and more open. Opus's mission is to replace platforms like Apple Music or Spotify who many feel take advantage of artists, keeping up to 80% of artists' revenue. The music industry might indeed be revolutionised by blockchain technologies perhaps in more unexpected ways than one could think of. ISSUE 106 / 2018 TECHNOLOGY What makes this technology so dynamic is that it allows digital information to be distributed equally to several computers at once through a series of set algorithms. 16 CAN BLOCKCHAIN REVOLUTIONISE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?

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