Huldunótur / Invisible NotesIntroductionCase Studies Selections
Innovation, Strategy, Design2026-v1RKV / BOS

10


OPEN MUSIC INITIATIVE


    • In the digital era, music consumption shifted from “ownership” to “access,” disrupting the traditional revenue base of the industry as the lines between creators and consumers blurred. The industry's response to innovation had been artist development, lacking mechanisms to address this shift.

    • In 2016, I co-founded the Open Music Initiative (OMI) with Panos A. Panay and Dan Harple at Berklee College of Music, collaborating with the MIT Media Lab and Harvard Law School. OMI aimed to create an open-source protocol for identifying music creators and rights holders, ensuring real-time payments to song contributors and investors. This approach was a significant departure from traditional methods that involved lengthy processes to identify and compensate rightful parties, often leading to unclaimed funds.

    • OMI was a grassroots organization that brought together independent and major labels (Universal, Sony, Warner), publishers, artists, technologists (IBM, Intel), lawyers, industry experts, and streaming services (Spotify, Pandora, YouTube). These stakeholders formed working groups to develop the protocol, resulting in a developer API for blockchain-based information sharing.

    • We also initiated student-driven summer labs to explore new innovation paths for OMI members. Supported by IDEO, students developed over 20 services and products using the API, investigating how accurate creator data could enhance fan experiences. These labs provided weekly updates and helped shape additional features for the Open Music API, demonstrating how clean data and open access could benefit members by creating new consumer experiences.

    • The public release of the API coincided with the Music Modernization Act's approval in 2018, mandating payment distribution in line with OMI's vision but using less efficient technologies. Berklee and the MIT Media Lab developed RAIDAR, a student-centered music licensing platform, to showcase blockchain's effectiveness in implementing the law’s requirements. With its goals achieved, OMI concluded its operations.

    File Under: ENTREPRENEURSHIP, B2B, Open INNOVATION, labs, IDEO, BERKLEE, MIT