Ditto launches Opulous DeFi scheme for musicians

The company says Opulous is the first DeFi offering backed by music as an asset class. The service is not limited to Ditto users and will function as a loan pool, which musicians can borrow from and contribute to.

“For those artists looking to borrow money, the loan is guaranteed against the artist’s past streaming revenues with the copyrights they own held as collateral,” Ditto said. “Meanwhile, artists, and other investors, will also be able to pay into Opulous’ Music Copyright Pools, earning 10% per annum on any contributions they make.”

Opulous will use blockchain technology to connect investors to artists who need a loan. The platform will also employ smart contracts, which will automate monthly premium and interest repayments and direct profits straight to the investors.

Opulous has already raised $1.5m in its seed round of funding, with support from Borderless Capital, Elastos and TrustVerse, among others.

“Musicians are often largely overlooked when it comes to traditional banking loans, or the terms are so unfavourable it isn’t worth their time,” Ditto CEO Lee Parsons said. “Using DeFi, Opulous cuts out traditional banking, providing musicians a platform with minimal interest payments, while giving investors the chance to stake a claim in one of the most exciting and fastest growing financial industries in the world.”

Borderless Capital CEO David Garcia said: “Using blockchain technology to democratise the access to the music’s capital markets is really disruptive and unique. We are excited to back the Opulous platform and for the opportunities this is bringing to investors and music artists. By building on top of the Algorand blockchain, the Opulous platform will perform as one of the first real world DeFi applications.”

The Opulous idea was inspired by Ditto’s more than 250 000 users, many of whom hold their streaming revenues in their accounts and may not be eligible for financial support through traditional means.