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A Field Guide to Music’s Potential Crypto Boom. Part 4. Who’s standing in the way? The tech is all there. But ultimately, all of the potential applications for crypto in music have to pass the same hurdle: acceptance from the juggernaut of the music industry. Senderoff points out that the music business still has yet to agree on basic concepts like copyright terms and communication between music publishers and Performance Rights Organizations (PROs). “If within in a room where a song is created, we don’t even properly set out the splits in the right way — and then we therefore don’t add features, we don’t negotiate with lawyers with more leverage to change those splits — it’s all messed up,” she says. “You can never get to the technology piece because you’re still in the piece of what happened in the studio, which is a human piece.” “The music industry has failed to innovate forever, and its failure has nothing to do with lack of technology,” adds Katz. “There are a gazillion different ways for the music industry to modernize every single thing that we’ve been talking about if it wanted to. The tech companies are coming along and saying, ‘Hey, we’re seeing all your pain points. You guys are so outdated in the way you report, for example. What do you mean artists are getting paid every six months? What do you mean an artist has to trust the music company that pays them?'” Katz says it’s not just about the technology existing; there has to be a plan of adoption. “You’re asking people to change their behavior. The problem with innovation is lack of incentives. Let’s have an honest conversation. Why would a music company want to pay somebody every single day when, if they can hold onto the money for six months at a time, they can earn interest on that money? Why would they want to modernize?” Many crypto advocates are placing faith in indie artists and smaller companies or industry figures — and if they’re successful in getting enough players on their side, the giants might not have a choice but to come on board.