Decentralized music sharing platform Audius has raised $5.5 million in its Series A funding round. Audius seeks to be a musician-owned platform that will allow artists to publish their own work, interact with fans, and receive secure instant payments as consumers listen to their content. Audius seeks to create a similar platform to popular music streaming sites like Soundcloud and Spotify, but with a greater degree of control for artists of their intellectual property.

“Audius wants to cut the middlemen out of music streaming so artists get paid their fair share,” reads the company’s funding page. “Coming out of stealth today led by serial entrepreneur and DJ Ranidu Lankage, Audius is building a blockchain-based alternative to Spotify or SoundCloud.”

The platform has already garnered significant support from tech experts and musicians including BitTorrent Chief Architect Greg Hazel, Augur Co-Founder Jeremy Gardner and electronic music producer 3LAU.

3LAU, real name Justin Blau, has been an outspoken voice for the need for platforms such as Audius as a means of supporting up and coming musicians. The young DJ and producer sees blockchain-powered technology as an effective means of doing exactly that. The young artist is headlining the first ‘Blockchain Music Festival’ at Berkeley’s William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre along with Zedd, Matt + Kim, Big Sean and Charlotte Lawrence on October 20th.

“Artists need decentralized models for music sharing, and a stake in the platforms they contribute content to,” said Blau. “Blockchain allows Audius to do this with tokens and decentralized voting-based governance so artists have a say in how the platform evolves. It’s a very elegant model and one which, as an artist, I find immensely attractive.”

The Audius platform is being created by musician Ranidu Lankage and co-founders Roneil Rumburg and Forrest Browning. The first round of funding was led by General Catalyst and Lightspeed Capital. The company reports to have received investments from Kleiner Perkins, 122West, Ascolta Ventures and Pantera Capital.

Audius announced yesterday that they are now ranked in the top 5 spots on ProductHunt and are still climbing.

The post Blockchain Music Platform Audius Raises $5.5 Million in First Round of Funding appeared first on UNHASHED.

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