Ujo Music Founder Says Blockchain Can Fix the Music Industry
*By Jacqueline Corba*
The music industry is broken because artists are not getting paid what they should, said Ujo Music's co-founder Jesse Grushack, and he can fix it with blockchain technology.
Ujo Music is part of the Consensys studio, led by Joe Lubin, the co-founder of the blockchain-based computing platform Ethereum.
More than 80 artists, including Imogen Heap, RAC, and Giraffage, are on Ujo Music's platform. No money can be exchanged yet, but Grushack said eventually artists will be paid with Ethereum.
"What matters is the artist is getting a fair value for use of their song," Grushack said Thursday on Cheddar's The Crypto Craze.
Through Ujo Music, creators can maintain control of their licensing agreement and set their own price and rules for how their own content can be used. Grushack said the goal is to create an ecosystem in which no matter where content lives on the web, artists get paid.
"A lot of people have grand ideas in blockchain, but the pipes to build all that stuff aren't quite there yet," said Grushack. "Consensys allows us to play with ideas, play with tech, and provides us with services such as marketing and diligence."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-ujo-music-is-leveraging-blockchain-to-pay-artists-fairly).
Amid a string of recalls for their electric cars, Tesla is also facing a lawsuit over workplace discrimination. The electric automaker is being accused by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing of a pattern of racial discrimination against Black workers. Caleb Silver, Editor-in-Chief at Investopedia, joined Cheddar News to discuss the numerous technical and safety issues that led to the recalls and the allegations of systemic racist abuse at its Fremont plant. "Tesla disputes these claims, but still you can’t avoid the pattern," he said.
The Super Bowl is only a few days away, and the game is currently tracking to be the most expensive one ever.
Gametime, a website and app for last-minute tickets, says the average ticket price for the NFL's championship game is $9,502.50, with the most expensive seats costing nearly $38,000. That's a far cry away from the average ticket price of the first-ever Super Bowl in 1967, which was only $12. The average ticket price increased by more than $8,000 in just the past decade. Matt Rados, Senior Operations Manager at Gametime, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Earlier this week, digital investment advisor Betterment announced that it has hired Makara, a company known for its management of cryptocurrency portfolios. Sarah Levy, CEO of Betterment, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she explains why crypto represents such a promising long-term play and how her company stands to benefit from this latest move.
At-home medical labs company Getlabs raised $20 million in a Series A round, led by Emerson Collective and the Minderoo Foundation. Getlabs aims to be the boots-on-the-ground partner to telehealth. The company says more than 70% of medical decisions still require collecting diagnostic tests in person, and that it fills that void by delivering health care directly to their patients' homes. Founder & CEO of Getlabs Kyle Michelson joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The White House laid out plans for a $5 billion investment into a national network of charging stations to ease EV driving anxiety. Bruce Brimacombe, CEO of EV infrastructure GOe3 joined Cheddar News to discuss how much needs to be done for drivers to get over the fear of running out of energy. "People need to be able to do what they're doing now," he said. "But that is the way that if you're going to buy an electric car, you got to feel like you're not changing your world." Brimacombe noted that building out the infrastructure between cities was GOe3's own focus.
Sonos reported better than expected Q1 earnings amid chip shortage with the release of its Roam product. CFO Brittany Bagley joined Cheddar News to discuss the smart speaker maker's successful report and its plans to hit its 2024 targets as people leave their homes as pandemic restrictions ease. "Even as people head out in the world, it doesn't mean they don't like to listen to music at home or watch a streaming movie at home," she said. "So there's still a real role for us and our products in peoples lives, sort of, no matter what else they're doing."
Kalle Marsal, Chief Operating Officer at PetDx, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how next-generation sequencing technology is being used to detect cancer in pets early.
