As cliché as it sounds, music plays a big role in everyone´s lives… Recent studies indicate that 82 % of teens and young adults listen to music for up to 2 hours every single day, and that overall, 90% of the world’s population listens to music in general. illustrating just how powerful and influential the industry really is.

Music festivals, merchandise and online streaming platforms have been rapidly and consistently increasing in demand; people are more eager than ever to spend money on anything music related. The entertainment industry is doing a great job at advertising their lifestyle and services; and we are doing an even greater job at helping them increase their revenue and general public outreach – But where does the recognition and money really go?

According to multiple articles published by newspapers and magazines such as The Guardian, Meanjin and The New York Times; Music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music have almost completely replaced the consumption of physical albums- taking away what once was a vital source of an artist´s income.

With the development of technology, the way we consume music was subsequently bound to change; but when it comes down to it, artists rely too much on streaming enterprises that simply do not support them. Musicians are heavily dependent on live shows to earn a half decent wage.

In England, stars like Kate Bush, Paul McCartney, and Sting, signed a letter directed at Prime Minister Boris Johnson, requesting reforms in the streaming economy; and in the US, the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers has launched a campaign against Spotify, demanding higher pay-outs; enhancing the fact that this is in fact an ongoing issue.

To put things into perspective before going further into what Mellody as a project is aiming to accomplish, we must also address that in Portugal Multiple news outlets have been tackling troublesome facts. With Expresso magazine publishing an article stating that after the sanitary crisis, artists have been facing poverty and serious artistic difficulties, with over 1000 of them, even depending on Cultural solidarity funds to continue working.

What is Mellody and how are they planning on better supporting musicians in a time of hardship?

Mellody was created and founded By Gualdim Ramos and Filipe Ferreira in Lisbon, Portugal earlier this year. This is a blockchain platform where artists will be able to create and sell unique NFT´s and where music fans will get the chance to interact on a deeper level with multiple musicians.
This project aims to build a community where artists are rightfully appreciated and compensated, and where music fans get rewards for voting in digital contents.

For those who do not know much about crypto currency and Blockchain, and are finding it hard to get into it, Mellody´s youngest CEO Filipe Ferreira gave us a brief explanation – NFT´s are digital assets that once bought by someone, become fully owned by them, usually related to topics such as music, arts and gaming; and blockchain is a decentralised technology that allows everyone freedom of access and is notoriously known for its safety and transparency.

According to Mr Ferreira, Mellody´s biggest aim is to support and compensate all artists who join their platform. They want to give all types of musicians the same opportunities, and truly believes the project will tackle what he calls ´waste of talent´ which happens when talented artists who unfortunately do not have enough funds, fail to put their music out in the market.

Mellody is a project with an honourable and innovative mission, and if everything goes according to plan, their platform fully launches towards the end of this year; right now they are focused on building a community and looking for new artist partnerships, so if you want to be a part of Mellody or get to know more about the project, get in touch with them on their socials @mellodynft and follow them for updates.

Words by Sofia Mendes.