Tempo – Project Coda

[tempoicx]

Description

Tempo is requesting funding to build a platform (codename Project Coda) that allows for tokenization of creative assets and automated distribution of royalties on the ICON blockchain. Initially, our focus will be on the music industry where the existing ownership model and payments infrastructure is ripe for disruption.

At this time, ownership of music is often still handled via paper contracts or digital contracts without interoperable API endpoints. Payments are still handled manually for the most part, and artists have become accustomed to waiting 6-9 months in order to receive royalties for their work. Far worse, the majority of music created is never even registered or claimed due to the incredibly confusing, expensive, and frankly painful barriers leaving the artist with no residual income.

Our goal is to rethink the incentive model for musicians by making ownership into a tokenized and liquid asset that can be integrated into a payments smart contract for faster royalty payments. We would like to build this product on ICON because we believe tools like Bridge will allow us to create an accessible and intuitive platform that can be used by everyone.

With this proposal, we are hoping to build the following:

• Web platform for tokenization of ownership and metadata. This will include an API for creative assets listed on our platform that can be monetized in the future.
• Smart contract infrastructure for handling payments to Bridge accounts.
• Music marketplace that uses the layers above to show off the technology.

Following the completion of this project, we will utilize our network of musicians to launch exclusive EPs on our marketplace. With a successful MVP, we hope to approach entities in the legacy music industry to negotiate possible integrations with our backend.

Ultimately, we believe that our database and infrastructure will result in a win-win for artists and legacy music industry institutions alike: Artists will get access to capital that often eludes them; institutions will provide better services to artists, further cementing the importance of their role in the ecosystem.

Milestones

Technology Research (1 months) - In this phase, we intend to work with technical members of the ICON community to identify a suitable IRC token standard and general smart contract structure for the tokenization and payment layers.

Development (6 months) - In this phase, we intend to build out the core functionality of the platform culminating with a closed alpha with artists that have already expressed interest.

Refinement (1.5 months) - In this phase, we will refine the user experience of the platform further to ensure it is ready to be used by musicians with no interest or experience in blockchain.

Closed Beta (1-2 months) - In this phase, we will open the platform up for a closed beta period. During this time, we plan on reaching out to various music schools within our network to recruit users to the platform.

Open Beta (2-4 weeks) - In this phase, we will open the platform up for an open beta with discounted pricing.

Public Launch - Following the open beta, we will launch the platform publicly.

What We’ve Done So Far

Over the past month, we’ve consulted with a number of musicians from indie songwriters, to bands, to A-list artists. We’ve also consulted with a variety of entertainment lawyers within our network, and we plan on continually consulting with more after receiving funding.

From our discussions so far, we believe there is a need for a product like this. At this stage in the game, the music industry is still comprised of gatekeepers and archaic manual processes – but this will change and we want to be ready for it!

Below are a few other tasks we’ve accomplished.

• Our technical consultant Brian Li has spoken with ICX Station lead Scott Smiley about possible tokenization options. From that call, we are now exploring the ICON multitoken standard internally as a possible option.
• We’ve mapped out a basic structure of the payments smart contract, and have consulted with Andrew Burns from the ICON community on the feasibility of our idea.
• We’ve had extensive UI/UX discussion internally, and believe we have a solid idea about the look and feel of the platform.

Funding Amount Requested

For this proposal, we are requesting funding for the first two phases of the project - technology research and development. Following successful development, we will submit another proposal that’s more geared towards the user interface and user experience design side of things.

For technology research and development, we are seeking $50,000 (breakdown below).

• Backend Engineer ($3,500/month for 4 months) = $14,000
• Frontend Engineer ($3,500/month for 4 months) = $14,000
• Smart Contract Developer ($3,500/month for 4 months) = $14,000
• Project Manager = ($833 for 6 months) = $5,000
• Additional Technical and Legal Consultation = $3,000

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.

We look forward to building on ICON!

Update: Specific Milestone Information for CPS Proposal

• 1 Month - Research music publishing metadata standards (specifically ERN and MEAD), and develop token standard prototype to tokenize publishing rights. We will publish a report that outlines our findings and reasoning behind the chosen token standard prototype.
• 1 Month - Develop testnet smart contract to handle payments to rights holders. Smart contract will be visible on the ICON tracker.
• 2 Months - Develop CODA token feature set – DAO fund, lending, etc. This will be visible as contracts on ICON tracker. For more information, please reach out to us on Twitter DM. There are several parts of the platform we do not want to disclose publicly for competitive reasons.
• 2 Months - Develop prototype music marketplace platform to showcase the technology.

After the initial development process, we will refine the platform further during a closed beta, followed by open beta, before the platform launch. Following the launch, we intend to leverage our connections with music institutions in the USA (Julliard, Berklee, Northeastern, etc.) to pitch our product to music students, which we see as one of our major user demographics.

[iconsweden]

It looks wonderful project. Looks like there is no prototype or demo and research work needs to be done before any demo?

[SpartanNode]

Technology Research - Why is this being paid for? Shouldnt this be completed before making a request for money?

What else has your team built? As a new member of the community this is a huge grant, how do we know this will be completed?

[tempoicx]

We have been consulting with various technical members of the ICON community for the past few weeks. For more in-depth consultations, we want to have money set aside to pay for people’s time in case they request compensation. Money is time, thus it makes sense to have some money set aside to pay for people’s time. We don’t see the issue in “technology research” being included in a proposal, especially as it would be coming from the basket of funds earmarked “Additional Technical and Legal Consultation” – a total of $3,000.

Our core members are new to ICON, and we were drawn to ICON based on Brian Li’s recommendation as an alternative platform to Ethereum. For this product, Brian has agreed to help us navigate ICON from a technical perspective, and connect us with developers in the community – free of charge. We’re certain Brian wouldn’t agree to help out in this capacity if he didn’t believe we had the best intentions in mind. Furthermore, we spent nearly $6,000 to buy ICX to sponsor our own proposal. We can assure you that this was a considerable investment for us, and we have no intention of losing it by not fulfilling the proposal.

We don’t view this as a huge grant. In fact, since we are not developers ourselves, the only money that would be going to us is “Project Manager” and “Additional Technical and Legal Consultation”. $833 a month split between two people is not a lot, and we foresee the need for legal spending based on the industry we are trying to tackle. For the engineering roles, we believe the proposed figures are in line with what experience developers would expect for this kind of job. ($3,500/month)

[SpartanNode]

@tempoicx

community to identify a suitable IRC token standard and general smart contract structure for the tokenization and payment layers.

Thank you for your reply. My only concern would be that if it takes 1 month and multiple conversations to “identify a suitable IRC token standard and general smart contract structure”, maybe this is too much to do on ICON for your first go. Do you guys have any kind of demo for this, what else has your team built before that we can check out?

[tempoicx]

Identifying a suitable IRC token standard is important. We are researching the multitoken standard to see if it would be more economically feasible for our use case. We don’t understand why it’s a big issue to spend a month looking into various options, especially when the token standard we’re looking at does not have significant public usage yet.

Like we said earlier, this is our entry into this industry, so we have not built a technical product before. However, this does not invalidate our idea, and we believe we can execute on the proposal once we have funding to get a technical team together.

[Nessaki]

Why don’t you first ask for a small amount to built a prototype and a solid plan? If this is enough to get a grant for $50.000, i lose all my trust in this system. ‘We’ve had extensive UI/UX discussion internally’… come on.

However, if you guys do come up with a good prototype or at least give an indication of what the final product will look like, it makes sense and would add value to the network. I am convinced you are a talented team because a lot of knowledgeable people in our ecosystem support you, but this proposal could have also been written by scammers.

So i would say, ask for a small amount and prove yourselves first.

Just an opinion from an iconist, no hard feelings!

[Edouard_Stakin]

Agree with these thoughts.

I like the project’s idea and what you guys are trying to build.

But I am not convinced by the milestones as described here and set in the CPS proposal.

[tempoicx]

We misunderstood the milestone implementation in the CPS system, and have discussed with Ibriz about it. As per their recommendation, we will update the forum proposal with the milestone information since the CPS proposal cannot be updated directly.

[tempoicx]

Thank you for the feedback, we’ve updated the original post with more specific milestones. Regarding the funding amount, we will not receive funding unless we provide progress reports. It’s not a one time payment. We will submit progress reports at the end of completion of the individual milestone items.

[SpartanNode]

@SpartanNode

What HAVE you worked on? Have you guys had any jobs with a deadline before?
Who are you guys?
What makes you think you can make this come to fruition with zero experience in the past?

I think these are important to address:

What HAVE you worked on?
Have you guys had any jobs with a deadline before?
Who are you guys?
What makes you think you can make this come to fruition with zero experience in the past?

[tempoicx]

We know you are a top P-Rep in ICON, and we respect your accomplishments, but you come across as extremely condescending. We hope to see a more collaborative environment for newcomers in the future.

As for who we are, we are professionals in the entertainment industry. Our team members have worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry – John Legend, Ariana Grande, Alicia Keys, etc. As working professionals, we have a first hand look into the problems faced by musicians every single day. We believe blockchain can have a net positive effect for musicians, so here we are. We’ve also presented lectures at some of the world’s top music schools, and intend to leverage that avenue in the future.

Regarding deadlines, yes we’ve held plenty of jobs with deadlines. As you probably know (or maybe not), the entertainment industry is notorious for unrealistic deadlines. So, if you are specifically inquiring about whether we are familiar with the concept of deadlines – yes we are.

Zero experience with what? In blockchain? Blockchain is a fairly new industry in the grand scheme of things, so it’s not rare for people with no blockchain experience to get started in blockchain. In business? I’d argue we have tons of experience as success artist entrepreneurs ourselves. You don’t randomly go from a musician to playing with some of the biggest names in the world without “experience”. What we lack in specific technical experience, we make up with business development chops and industry insight. That’s exactly why we’ve been working with Brian and his team (specifically Andrew Burns) to get started on the project from a technical perspective.

Again, it’s okay to ask questions, but the way you’ve gone about it has been extremely condescending. We hope you don’t exhibit this kind of behavior to other newcomers to ICON. Not everyone coming into ICON is automatically a developer, but that doesn’t mean their ideas don’t deserve to be funded. From our perspective, non-technical folks getting involved is a win for ICON because it provides more context into how a product can/should be built for mass adoption.

[tempoicx]

Thank you for your feedback.

[bwhli]

Wow… what a lively conversation going on here.

@Edouard_Stakin thanks for your constructive feedback! To give some background, I’m assisting Tempo with the technical side of things for the time being. Andrew Burns has also been assisting with smart contract design in these initial stages.

Once they are able to get a tech team together, I’ll likely continue working with them as I have a background in both entertainment and technology. To clarify, 0% of the proposed funding is going to me. I am helping Tempo because I introduced them to ICON and I love what they’re doing with this project.

From what I understand, the CPS proposal which you took a screenshot of was not submitted correctly. I think Tempo had assumed the milestone display could be edited afterward similar to how this forum works. Since there is no standardized format between the forum and CPS, the mistake was made. As a result, I reached out to Ibriz to see what could be done, and we decided Tempo could just update their original post with milestones and point P-Reps there. I’ve helped them compile a list of more concrete milestones that can be seen now.

If you have any technical questions about a specific item, feel free to bring it up on the forum. I will answer to the best of my ability publicly. If I am unable to answer publicly for competitive reasons, I will be happy to clarify over DM.

[Sharpn]

Hello Tempo team!

The project is exciting, the amount requested is reasonable. It’s great to onboard artists on our network! We trust Brian Li, who has always been committed to the community since ICON’s inception, to accompany this project and ensure that Tempo will bring it to completion.

What can be improved:

• It would be nice to add “deliverables” to the milestones. (For example for phase 1, a research report) this could facilitate the evaluation of the milestones.
• Would love to see an UX/UI prototype to have a better representation of the product! Even something quickly drafted, would bring a bit more consistency to the proposal!

Cheers

[bwhli]

Thanks for the feedback! Wanted to respond here since you mentioned me.

I have a call with Tempo tomorrow, so I’ll talk to them about reformatting the milestones into deliverables. Like you said, a report to document the findings of metadata representation (first milestone) would be great.

Will see what’s possible with a draft design. Don’t think we’d have it by the time voting starts, but I do think it would be good to have shortly after, perhaps coinciding with the first milestone report.

Appreciate it!

[BennyOptions_LL]

I’d like to remind everybody of the rules of this forum found here https://forum2.icon.community/t/about-the-contribution-proposals-category/1433.

I will be going through and cleaning up threads/comments that do not fit the format

[iconsweden]

Great! It sounds good project, but, there is a lot of unclarity and uncertainty. Let’s hope for good.!

[tempoicx]

Hey everyone, thank you for casting your votes during the first round of CPS. While we did not get funded, we got a lot of good feedback. A week into voting, we realized it was unlikely for the proposal to get funded, so we worked with @bwhli and @Fir3fight-Rhizome on a proof-of-concept of our core backend functionality.

Before submitting a reworked proposal (we’re planning on splitting backend/frontend into multiple proposals with smaller funding amounts), we’d like to give a demo to all P-Reps involved in CPS. This would also be a good time for P-Reps to ask us questions.

The demo will take place on Friday April 2 at 9:30 PM UTC. If you are interested in attending, please DM us on Twitter (@tempoicx), and we will send you the meeting link. If you are unable to attend at this time, please reach out to @bwhli on Twitter for a 1-1 demo instead.

[AliGillani]

This project proposal is very advanced and they seem full committed to it , why the proposal rejected ?