Chaos One-Stop & Web2 Release Catalog

Review this doc for the full proposal: https://songcamp.notion.site/Chaos-One-Stop-Web2-Release-Catalog-a8be0f89d2944946a2d847f7f302b6db

Background

There has been talk about finding a way to pursue sync licensing and traditional web2 related opportunities (i.e. distribution, playlists, music placements, etc). One way we could pursue this path as a network would be to decide on a collection of songs which all writers feel comfortable being utilized in specific and pre-approved ways. The proposal is essential to create a “one-stop” catalog of Chaos songs for sync and web2 releasing. Given that as a group of 77 artists we have a wide range of comfort levels and various ownership stakes of the body of work (visuals, music, etc.) I think it makes most sense to designate a smaller team to steward the discovery and agreement process. The team’s goal would be to determine the common ground and a path which the rest of the network could decide to opt-in or opt-out of. This team would be responsible for executing the steps described below.

Summary

The proposed path is to create a 1-stop catalog of Chaos songs+artwork and a catalog of songs approved to move forward with a DSP release strategy. The expectation is this will allow the sync pitching and web2 distribution plans to move forward simultaneously. The desired outcome would be to bring all Chaos songs and artwork to a larger audience, generate awareness and attention back to the Chaos NFT collection, and create new revenue streams for the creators of the work as well as the Chaos network as a whole.

Step 0: Team: Approval from the Chaos network of the designated team to steward this project.

Step 1: Scope: Define the proposed scope and usage of the music and artwork for sync pitching and web2 releasing. The deliverable of this step would be bringing a proposal to the Chaos network that wins a majority vote to proceed. The proposal should include at a minimum:

• Economics: The proposed revenue splits for streaming royalties and sync licensing fees (including compensation plan for visual artwork)
• Credits: Proposed attribution options for DSP release (i.e. Chaos as artist? Main or featured artist? etc.)

Step 2: Survey: Determine who is interested in their works being included in this scope for web2 release and sync licensing opportunities via a poll/survey.

Step 3: Catalog: Build the catalog of songs and art pieces available for use in the defined use cases (via associated artists responses). This is where the release plan roadmap can be developed as we’ll know which songs are cleared for release.

Step 4: Agreement: Create a 1-stop agreement which all folks in this newly created catalog may sign to give authority to each other (or designated party) to pitch and distribute the music+artwork. This step may also require a vote on delegates to make sync and web2 distribution decisions on behalf of the writers.

Step 5: Go: Rollout strategy and sync pitching begins! As part of the final deliverable for this team we should have a document that is shared with the Chaos network that would outline the strategies being implemented as well as a new proposal to request any additional start-up funds needed (bank account, distributor fees, sync catalog management etc.) - see “money” below. This proposal will include the roles and responsibilities of any artists that “opt-in” to the catalog.

Timeline

Below is a proposed timeline aiming for the sync pitching and web2 release execution (sending to distributors, pitching etc.) to begin at the end of November 2022:

• Step 0 (team) confirmed via emoji vote - September 9th
• Proposal temp check vote passed - September 14th
• Proposal snapshot vote passed - September 25th
• Step 1 (scope)
  • Draft presented - October 4th
  • Final scope proposed and passed temp check - October 12th
  • Snapshot vote passes - October 23rd
• Step 2 (opt-in survey) complete - November 1st
• Step 3 (catalog) complete - November 8th
• Step 4 (agreement) complete - November 17th
• Step 5 (go) complete - November 22nd

Resource Requirements

Less tangibles: Buy-in from the Chaos members interested in web2 and sync. Trust in the designated team to represent and utilize the approved Chaos catalog.

Money now:

• $5k to fund the designated team’s effort and time. It could make sense to utilize coordinape for this smaller team's efforts. Given that we don’t fully know how needs of the team might evolve, it might be good to allow the team members' engagement to emerge and have compensation emerge along with it. If coordinape is the route forward, then each team member will be required to articulate the work they have completed for each epoch (work timeblock). We could also go more traditional with roles assigned and a salary attached to each role.

Money later:

This is a rough estimate of funds that may be required as a next phase of the rollout plan. This money is NOT included in this proposal. It’s simply a heads up that there will be more expenses in the future should we decided to move forward with the plan that this rollout team builds.

• $162 annual fee for Disco.ac subscription (for sync pitching)
• $2k for Revelator access to distribute royalties and sync fees
• $150 for fiat bank account set-up (complete estimate idk actual cost)
• $1k for legal counsel (I think this would be good to do before- $100 annual fee for Distrokid or whichever tool we use

Risks

The biggest risk as I see it would be that we are unable to come to a decision on what usages and release strategies could be “pre-approved.” Once this proposal is approved there is no guarantee that the Chaos network can come to a meaningful catalog of songs which the creators are comfortable with assigning 1-stop authority. There are certain economies of scale that we can tap into with a larger catalog (like utilizing Revelator for splits, or having a more structured release plan on DSPs over a longer period of time).

Optimal Outcome

• How will we know if it was beneficial? What stories do we expect to hear?
  • If we are able to successfully start releasing songs to DSPs
  • If we land a sync placement
  • Generate new awareness and hype for the Chaos project from new more traditional audiences.
  • New revenue sent to song and artwork creators as well as being added to the Chaos fund.
• What are the learning metrics that can be applied to measure success?
  • Did we release music into traditional distribution channels (spotify, etc.)?
  • Did we complete the steps in the estimated timeframe?
  • What percentage of the Chaos network voted on this initial proposal?
  • What percentage of the Chaos network voted on the formalized scope?
  • Upon the deliver and presentation of the release plan (see Step 5) we will schedule a retrospective to determine if the goal of this proposal was met.
• How does this impact the community?
  • This impacts the Chaos community because we will be able to share the art we have all created with a wider audience.
  • It can also create new revenue for members of Chaos as well as the less tangible ability to become more publicly associated with the Chaos project.

Should we implement this proposal?