Please describe your proposed solution.
We are building a Music Incubator on Cardano. This incubator will be funded by a stake pool model which aggregates small Stake Pool Operators into a “Pool of Pools” to fund artists. Artist proposals, similar to Catalyst proposals, will directly fund the creation of music, backed by votes from our SPO delegators in a "decentralized A&R" (an A&R is basically a talent scout for the record label) model to promote artists and their repertoire. In return, artists will reward delegates with exclusive rewards for the valuable support given to them.
Our hypothesis is that a mission drive stakepool network will gather support of music lovers and indie music fans . We would also like to draw attention to how popular multi-pool SPOs are reducing the decentralization of Cardano by concentrating delegation away from single pool operators . While researching the state of play, we discovered how single SPOs struggle to attract delegation and mint regular blocks. Our promotion of single SPOs is done alongside the work of Rhys Morgan of Stoic Pool, who was funded by Catalyst for StakingDAO, a platform that solves the problem I’m describing. Our team decided that instead of creating our own stake pool that competes with others, we would work with StakingDAO to create a “Pool of Pools”, where smaller/single SPOs could come together and we would funnel all of our delegators evenly to them.
Delegators will hold the power of the music A&R. Only these people decide which artists are supported with funding, their vote weighted by how much they’ve staked with our pools. It will be up to the artists to decide how to reward their voting delegation with prizes made exclusively for those who voted for them.
Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.
Imagine if every record label in the world ran a stake pool? Imagine if record label A&Rs didn't have to guess what will play with listeners?
The idea that a community of fans can support the careers of artists is the big vision we are trying to validate. The bigger picture is that all artists can become their own record labels, and run their own stake pools, and their fans can delegate to them. In return, delegating fans can select the artists who get funded on the record label. Or if the artist runs their own label, then delegators may have some decision-making ability.
We must prove this business model first. Your vote represents your support of this vision: one that supports the further decentralization, utility and adoption of Cardano.
What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?
While the risks of launching our incubator is near nil, as we're actively preparing for our launch at the time of writing this proposal, there will be some risks with delivering on the intent of the proposal. Getting the word out to musicians and delegators about our Music Incubator will be the biggest risk for the success of this program.
Technical risk: [Rhys's project might encounter difficulty or schedule delay] - including a contingency fund to help cover direct engineering costs they may encounter.
Why would delegators want to stake? Aside from the popular idea of supporting talented artists so that we can help them avoid signing bad deals with record labels, will artists be able to craft rewards compelling enough to forgo staking rewards delegators would otherwise receive.