Dequency is the world’s first web3-enabled music rights portal and licensing system, allowing music rightsholders and visual creators to connect, collaborate, and transact directly with one another.

Our mission is to combine cutting-edge tech with our decades of music industry experience to create the most seamless peer-to-peer music licensing experience on the web. On-chain sync licenses allow us to remove the middle man and keep transactions fast, cheap, and easy for both licensors and licensees.

Sync licensing is the licensing of music for use in visual media (NFTs, video games, TV, advertisements, etc.). When you hear music in a film, or at your favorite metaverse fashion show, for example, the copyright holders of the musical recording and composition licensed that music to the creator of the visual project.

We initially launched as a web3-native platform to service blockchain-based media, games and metaverse. We have now expanded so music rights owners can offer licenses for a broad range of usage types which includes: podcasts, digital ads, web3 media, conferences and live events, social video, and more!

Dequency’s goal is to make audiovisual collaboration easier and take minimal fees so musicians keep nearly all of the money earned for licensing their music.

Historically, finding high quality music to use in visual projects has been a cumbersome process involving many different music industry players. It can be difficult to negotiate licenses and can also take a long time for creators to get paid.
Online platforms make it easy to license music, but they often impose onerous restrictions and fees on artists, leaving less money for music creators to earn a living.

Because Dequency sync licenses are smart contracts that eliminate third parties, we are able to facilitate instant payment to creators with very low fees, while ensuring the songs are properly licensed for users.

Dequency is a two-sided marketplace where sync licenses are executed in a “peer-to-peer” fashion.

Musicians & rightsholders make their music available for licensing by adding it to the Dequency marketplace. They retain their rights and control how the music is priced and where it’s used.

Visual creators obtain licenses directly from music rightsholders via the Dequency marketplace, and download the corresponding audio files to use in their projects/platforms/metaverses.

Copyright laws require that any time music is “synced” with visual media, such as a motion graphic NFT or a metaverse fashion show, the creator of that visual media must obtain approval from the music’s copyright holder(s) to use the music. Unless the music being used is bespoke (created specifically for that visual project), this is done via sync license. Securing proper licenses for collaborative projects ensures that all parties involved are legally protected and fairly valued.

Right here!

On Dequency, musicians and music rightsholders can upload music and make it available for licensing. Visual creators can explore and obtain licenses to use music in all types of digital media.

Absolutely — it’s growing every day! We’ve recently opened the rightsholder portal, giving music artist and rightsholders the ability to upload their music onto the platform and make it available for sync licensing. Our hope is that the increased control we offer artists will attract amazing music from both emerging and higher-profile rightsholders.

Get in touch on Twitter and Discord to share what you’re listening to and let us know what music you’d like to see on Dequency!

Simply upload it! Okay, not simply — make sure you’re aware of a few *need to haves*:

1. All copyright owners (including featured artists, writers, producers, etc.) of the music must approve its listing on Dequency.
   1. If you worked with other artists, writers or producers to make your music, make sure you have their written and signed approval before submitting.
   2. If you are signed to a label or publisher, you may not be the copyright owner of your music. Check with your label and/or publisher before submitting your music.
2. Music on Dequency must be of professional quality – put any finishing touches on your mix before submitting! Please note we will not accept demos or unfinished works.

Have more questions about our requirements? Get in touch on discord and we’ll respond as quickly as possible!

Yes! While Dequency licenses live on the Algorand blockchain, the rights included are not blockchain-specific. If you want to mint a project on Ethereum (or any other blockchain) using a Dequency license, you are free to do so!

Yes you can! We offer the option to pay using Stripe. Paying in crypto is cheaper and faster (it’s why we’re bullish!) but if you’re into that “card” lifestyle, we support you.

We’ve recently introduced tiered pricing for expanded license types. This makes it easier for rightsholders to know how to price their licenses across different media, and keeps the pricing somewhat normalized so that license seekers can quickly find what they’re looking for within a fair price range.

While many rightsholders will still opt to create their own pricing (“tier 3”), tiers 1&2 are suggested prices from Dequency HQ. How did we do it?
– We analyzed the market rate for licensing music from up and coming artists, legacy catalog and production music to determine reasonable high and low prices for each use case

-We looked at the most common uses outside of big productions and aimed to group them in a way that makes it as simple as possible for content producers and advertisors to license music

We’re open to feedback as we evolve the tiered pricing program, but we hope it helps both licensors and licensees navigate the process of listing and licensing!

We got you! Email us: hello@dequency.io