Decentralized Music

This book offers a thorough exploration of the potential of blockchain and AI technologies to transform musical practices. Including contributions from leading researchers in music, arts, and technology, it addresses central notions of agency, authorship, ontology, provenance, and ownership in music. Together, the chapters of this book, often navigating the intersections of post-digital and posthumanist thought, challenge conventional centralized mechanisms of music creation and dissemination, advocating for new forms of musical expression. Stressing the need for the artistic community to engage with blockchain and AI, this volume is essential reading for artists, musicians, researchers, and policymakers curious to know more about the implications of these technologies for the future of music.

Paulo de Assis is an artist researcher based at Orpheus Institute, operating at the intersection of music performance, composition, critical thought, and contemporary philosophy. Active as pianist, researcher, and author, he wrote Logic of Experimentation-Rethinking Music Performance through Artistic Research (Leuven 2018). Recent artistic-research projects include experimental performance practices on music by Beethoven, Schumann, Nietzsche, and Luigi Nono. Adam Lukawski is a pioneering music composer and computer programmer, innovating at the nexus of computer-assisted music composition and posthuman artistic research. His work, deeply engaged with aleatoric and generative methods, explores the integration of AI and blockchain technologies for creating novel compositional frameworks and enhancing musical interactivity.

1. From the Work Concept to Hypermusic: Rethinking Musical Objects in-and- for Blockchain Technologies, 2. Performative Transactions: Artistic Collaboration of Humans and AI Agents in Decentralized Creative Networks, 3. Integrating Generative AI and Blockchain Technologies to Create Musical Objects with Agency, 4. Valuing Web3 Music: From NFT Prices to the Quadruple Bottom Line, 5. From Blockchains to NFTs: Decentralized (?) Platforms for Unique (?) Content Distribution, 6. Art, People, Museums, and the Promise of Blockchain, 7. Can't Knock the Hustle: NFTs, DAOs, and Creativity, 8. Breaking the Fifth Wall: The Transformative Power of Blockchain in Virtual Music Performances, 9. Hypermusic Experiment 0.9: Modeling, Mapping, and Prototyping the Future, 10. Decentralized Transindividual Collaborative Experimental Musicking