A poll carried out by digital music store eMusic showed the majority of its users were willing to make crypto payments if it permitted artists to earn more.

The survey, reported by Cointelegraph, revealed 65% of eMusic consumers would utilise cryptocurrency for the aforementioned motive.

However, just 8% of those who took part in the poll – a total of 800 eMusic customers - had used Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency before.

Furthermore, the data showed that 40% of eMusic users overestimate the amount of royalties received by artists when music is bought or streamed. In addition, 87% thought a “fair share” for the artists would be a higher amount, with the most popular consensus being a 50% split.

eMusic is constructing a decentralised music distribution system to reduce costs and subsequently pay artists more when their music is purchased or streamed, it was reported at the end of May.

An eMusic spokesperson told Cointelegraph: “Blockchain enables us to decentralise music distribution so that we can unlock more revenue for artists, and provides unparalleled transparency over music consumption. The beauty of the eMU token is that it goes far beyond facilitating transactions; it also makes it possible for us to offer a number of direct-to-fan features such as instant rewards, merchandise, crowdfunding and so much more.”

eMusic, which was launched in 1998, was one of the first sites to sell DRM-free MP3 recordings. Some 278 people work at the company, which has an annual revenue of $65.7 million.

Utilising cryptocurrencies to make the music industry fairer has been mooted for some time. Marketing and PR consultant Eric Doyle told Cointelegraph back in 2019 that many projects are in the pipeline to use blockchain – the technology underpinning cryptocurrencies – in the music industry.

The report said at the time: “With cryptocurrency, artists can receive their payments much faster — within minutes compared to months or even years with legacy systems.”