Everything You Need to Know
About NEWM Studio
General Overview
Stream Tokens are digital tokens that show that the owner has bought, and is entitled to receive, a percentage of streaming royalties (sometimes with additional perks and experiences, depending on what the artist decides).
When a fan collects the Stream Tokens for a song, they’re able to claim a portion of the royalties generated by streaming the song, which they begin to accrue from the moment the tokens are in their wallet.
Minting a song means permanently recording it on the blockchain. When you mint an NFT (Non-Fungible Token), it includes all the essential details about the song, such as the actual music, royalties, agreements, and other relevant information. This process makes the streaming royalties available for purchase in our music marketplace (coming soon) and facilitates automatic distribution to your account.
- Transparency: No more being left in the dark when it comes to music revenue. Music RFTs (Rich Fungible Tokens) provide musicians with full transparency for all transactions on minted songs ensuring every artist is fairly compensated.
- Royalties and revenue: Fractionalizing and selling streaming royalties of a song provides you with a new source of revenue while allowing your fans to support you directly, while getting the chance to earn a percentage of streaming royalties on their favorite music. Plus, once our music marketplace goes live, you'll automatically receive a percentage of all subsequent sales on royalty streaming rights that get sold on secondary markets.
- Direct fan engagement: NFTs facilitate direct interaction between artists and fans, as fans can own and trade unique digital assets associated with the song enabling artists to build stronger relationships and offer exclusive perks, experiences or content.
- Increased exposure: Minting a song as an NFT can attract attention and exposure from the growing NFT community, potentially reaching new audiences.
Creative control: Artists can set specific conditions for the NFT's use, such as licensing terms or access to exclusive content, giving them more control over their work.
Minting and distributing music on NEWM takes (on average) 11 days per song, but could take up to 15 days, depending on the quality control checks by our distribution partner.
The basic use of the NEWM Studio platform is complimentary, meaning you can create your profile and upload songs, or join as a collaborator for free.
However, the use of song distribution services costs 14.99 USD (currently discounted to 9.99 USD for a limited time) per track. In addition to this, to complete the song minting process for each composition, a transaction fee of 6 ADA is required, with an additional 1.7 ADA per extra collaborator involved. In the future we’re planning to roll out multi-tiered subscription plans to best meet the needs of our users.
You can sign up for NEWM Studio and navigate the platform without connecting a wallet, however, in order to distribute and mint your songs you will need to connect an ADA-compatible wallet. We currently recommend Eternl, Vespr and NuFi.
To mint and fractionalize the song you upload on the Cardano network, you will need ADA to cover the associated network fees.
Yes, the KYC process is performed to prevent illegal activities in return protecting both company and clients. But don’t worry, your information is safe. Our partner, iDenfy, securely manages all user data related to KYC, while upholding stringent data protection practices. Notably, iDenfy is certified under ISO 27001:2013, demonstrating their commitment to maintaining the highest standards of information security.
Once distributed through NEWM, your music will be available on a variety of streaming and download platforms through our distribution partner. These platforms include, but are not limited to:
7 Digital Exlibris, Adaptr, Airtel Wynk Music, Alibaba Music, Altice Music, Amazon, Anghami AWA, Apple Music/iTunes, Audible Magic, Audiobyte Songclip, AudioMack, Beatsource, Bitel Musica, BMW, BrandSpins, Brisanet Music, Broadtime, BYO, ByteDance TikTok/Resso, Claro Musica, Contestone/Ringbacktone, CUR Music Freeform, Deedo, Deezer, Digicel d'Music, DigiMusic Rappi Music, Digster, Dwango, Electric Jukebox/Roxi, eMusic, Facebook/Instagram, Fan Label, Gaana, Global Eagle Moodagent, Global Radio, Global Tel, Grandpad NEC, Grruv, Huawei Music, Hungama, ImageSound, Imbee JoMedia, iMusica, J:COM, Jaxsta, Jazzed Soundmouse, JioSaavn, Joox, Jumamo, Kakao Melon, KDDI, Keefe Group, KKBOX, Klassik Radio, Kolbi Musica Movistar Musica, Kuack, LifeScape, Line Music, M'Beats, MePlaylist, MixCloud, Mora Qualitas, Muda, MUMO, Mus.uy, MusicJet, Muud, MuzArcade, My Playlist NicheStreem, Napster, NetEase Cloud Music, Now Music A1/Mtel/VIP, NSM, Nuuday TDC/youSee, Orange Virgin Lola Music Viva Hype Music Vodafone Music, Peloton, Qobuz, QQ/Kugou/Kuwo/WeSing/Joox, R&R, Rakuten, RcrdClub, RecoChoku, SFR, Shazam, Sirius XM Pandora, Slacker, Snap, SONOS, Sounday, SoundCloud Go, Soundhound, Soundtrack Your Brand, Spark.dj SuperCloud, Spinlet iHeartRadio, Spotify, Telefonica, Telmore, Tencent, The First Club ToonGoggles, TIDAL, TrackDrip, Transsnet Boomplay, Trebel Music, Turkcell fizy, United Media Agency, Univision, Vibes, Weltbild Radio, Xite, Yandex Music, YG Plus, You42, YouTube Music/Content ID, Zonga, Zvooq
If you have already distributed music under the stage name that you registered on NEWM Studio, we highly recommend that you provide the Artist Profile URL for each outlet (DSP) in the artist information section of your profile. Doing so will ensure that your music and artist profiles are linked, and help mitigate issues and/or confusion if there is another artist by the same stage name.
If you are a first-time distributor, or are distributing music under a new stage name and do not have any artist profiles, simply continue the minting and distributing process and the artist profiles will be generated for you.
Most profile links can be found by going to your personal profile on the DSP (Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, etc.). Simply click the three dots on your profile, then choose share and copy the provided link. Alternatively, you can locate your artist profile using a desktop browser. Just go to the designated DSP, search for your artist name, and copy the profile URL from the search bar.
- Content Restrictions: Cover art should not contain additional information such as roles, instruments, "Produced By," "Presents," track lists, logos, barcodes, social-media information, production details, ads, audio format logos or information, release dates, contact information, codes, or URLs.
- Misleading Content: Cover art must not be misleading. For example, it should not prominently depict or reference an artist who does not perform on the album.
- Adult Content: Cover art must not contain explicit images or any URLs leading to websites with explicit content.
- Parental Advisory Tag: While the parental advisory tag is no longer mandatory, if included, it should adhere to the standard Parental Advisory Label or be omitted altogether.
Platform Details
First, it's important to understand the distinction between "Distributing" and "Minting." Distribution is the process of getting your song onto streaming platforms, while minting involves creating digital tokens with certain characteristics. In this case the tokens created will represent a specific percentage of streaming royalties.
Here's the step-by-step explanation of the minting process with NEWM Studio:
- Uploading: The artist initiates the process by uploading the audio file of their song along with relevant metadata, which includes song details, album artwork, and other pertinent information.
- Collaborators and Splits: If there are collaborators (i.e. people who helped create the track and are entitled to a percentage of royalties) involved, the artist sets up the collaborators and defines their royalty percentage splits.
- Quality Control: NEWM submits the song, along with all the relevant data, to our distribution partner for quality control checks. This ensures that the song meets the necessary standards for distribution.
- Distribution: Upon passing quality control, the distribution partner proceeds to distribute the song to a variety of streaming services (as well as generate any specific number codes if needed).
- Notification and Updates: At this point, NEWM is informed of the outcome of the distribution process. If successful, the platform automatically updates the song's metadata and status.
Minting: As soon as NEWM is notified, the system simultaneously initiates the minting process and creates digital tokens representing streaming royalties for your uploaded song and distributes them to their respective owners.
Various minting statuses appear throughout the minting and distributing process to help you track your song’s progress. Here’s a quick explanation of each status on NEWM Studio:
- Undistributed: The song has not yet been sent for distribution.
- Awaiting Collaborator Approval: Distribution is on hold until all collaborators approve their roles and splits.
- Distribution/Minting in Process: The song is actively being distributed and minted.
- Distributed: The song has successfully reached streaming platforms, but minting is still in progress.
- Minted: The entire process is complete, and the tokens representing streaming royalties have been successfully minted.
- Declined: Distribution or minting may be declined due to various reasons, and further action is needed to resolve the issue.
An error occurred: This status signifies a problem in the distribution or minting process that requires investigation and resolution.
There are two copyrights you will either need to hold yourself, or have acquired the proper permissions and/or license(s) from the copyright holder(s) in order to mint:
- Sound Recording Copyright (℗)
- Composition Copyright (©)
The sound recording copyright covers the recording itself. It does not cover the music, lyrics, words, or other underlying content embodied in that recording. This copyright is often owned by the artist and/or record label.
The musical composition copyright covers the music and lyrics, if any, embodied in that composition, but it does not cover a recorded performance of that composition. This copyright is often owned by the songwriter and/or music publisher.
If you are not the copyright holder for ALL of the sound recording (i.e. this recording is a remix or uses samples from other sound recordings), and/or if you are not the copyright holder for ALL of the song composition (i.e. this song is a cover or uses composition parts from other works), you will need to secure and provide the proper permission(s) and/or license(s) from the copyright holder(s) in order to mint and distribute this song.
If you need more information, or if you have secured the necessary permissions/licenses, please reach out to [email protected] to proceed.
All rewards will be paid out in $NEWM tokens (you will be able to trade/sell these for USD on a designated DEX or CEX). However, royalty claiming will not be available until the release of our marketplace, but don’t worry – any royalties from streaming will continue accruing until they can be claimed.
Once claiming is available, the projected timeline for royalty payouts is around six months, but this may vary depending on streaming platforms. More details on the claiming process will be made available once the marketplace goes live. In the meantime, be sure to join our communities (links in footer) where you’ll be the first to receive a notification when claiming becomes available.
Upon completing the minting process, you will have access to your legal agreements for songs where you own splits. Before minting, you will be able to view and download a version of the agreement directly. Alternatively, you can also find a copy of the legal agreement included in the token metadata associated with your music after the minting process has been completed.
Of course! NEWM Studio supports both streaming and the distribution of digital downloads, allowing you to cater to different preferences and revenue streams. Whether your fans prefer to listen on the go or keep your tracks for offline enjoyment, we've got you covered.
No, we don't retain any of your streaming intellectual property (IP) – and we never will. At NEWM, we prioritize and respect your creative rights. When you use our platform to distribute your music, you retain full ownership and control over your intellectual property, as you rightfully should. Your creative work is yours to protect and profit from as you see fit.
Not at all. Once you've distributed your song through NEWM, your music will remain distributed on streaming platforms in perpetuity, ensuring your fans can continue to enjoy it without any additional charges to you.
Troubleshooting
Don't worry, this happens fairly often. First, try refreshing the page a couple of times. In many cases, this is all that’s needed to trigger an automatic connection between your wallet and the platform.
However, if you've tried refreshing without success and your wallet still won't connect, please reach out to our dedicated support team at [email protected] for further assistance.
Unfortunately, no. If the creation of your song involved collaborators who should receive a percentage of streaming royalties, then every collaborator will have to accept your invitation and set up their own profiles on NEWM Studio in order to mint. If a collaborator has not yet accepted your invitation, try resending the invite or reaching out to them personally.
To remove your music from NEWM Studio, you'll need to submit a "takedown request" through our support channel at [email protected]. However, it’s important to note that you can only request a takedown if you own 100% of the stream tokens associated with the music, or if you have received consent from 100% of the stream token holders through a vote.