---
type: decision
entity_type: decision_market
name: "Open Music: Futardio ICO Launch"
domain: internet-finance
status: failed
parent_entity: "[[open-music]]"
platform: "futardio"
proposer: "Open Music team"
proposal_url: "https://www.futard.io/launch/4R1peXdUehAS1aWCdnrBfLRevGktsKH2euvBLdsYXbWu"
proposal_date: 2026-03-03
resolution_date: 2026-03-04
category: "launch"
summary: "Open Music raised $27.5K against $250K target (11% fill rate) for an artist-first streaming platform on Solana — failed and refunded"
tracked_by: rio
created: 2026-03-24
source_archive: "inbox/archive/2026-03-03-futardio-launch-open-music.md"
---

# Open Music: Futardio ICO Launch

## Summary

Open Music, an artist-first streaming platform on Solana that replaces Spotify's pro-rata pool model with direct fan-to-artist payments, attempted to raise $250K through a Futardio ICO. The project attracted only $27.5K in commitments (11% fill rate), making it one of the weakest-performing launches in the v0.7 cohort. The launch failed and all funds were refunded.

## Market Data
- **Outcome:** Failed (Refunding)
- **Total Committed:** $27,533
- **Funding Target:** $250,000
- **Fill Rate:** 11.0%
- **Duration:** 2026-03-03 to 2026-03-04

## Significance

Open Music's 11% fill rate represents one of the weakest commitments in the v0.7 Futardio cohort, despite addressing a real problem (Spotify's $0.003/stream payout to artists). The ambitious $250K target for a two-person team with an MVP at openmusic.art suggests a disconnect between the project's stage and its fundraise ask. The roadmap listed milestones dating back to Q2 2025 — well before the March 2026 launch — which may have signaled execution concerns to potential backers.

## Relationship to KB

- [[open-music]] — parent entity
- [[metadao]] — ICO platform

## Full Proposal Text

*Source: futard.io, launched 2026-03-03*

# Open Music — Artist-First Streaming on Solana

## The Problem

Spotify made $20 billion last year. The average artist got $0.003 per stream.

That's not a royalty. That's a rounding error.

The pro-rata pool model means your streams compete against every other stream on the platform.
The top 1% extracts most of the value. Everyone else gets a mystery deposit and no explanation.

Artists don't own their audience. They don't know who's listening.
They can't contact their fans. The platform owns that relationship — and rents it back to you via algorithm.

Discovery is pay-to-play. Label money gets pushed. Independent artists fight for scraps.

**This isn't a flawed system. It's a system working exactly as designed — just not for you.**

---

## The Solution

Open Music replaces the pool with a direct model.

Every subscriber's payment goes **only** to the artists they personally listened to that month.
Not split across millions of tracks. Directly to you, proportional to your listeners' time.

| | Spotify | Open Music |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Pro-rata global pool | Your listeners only |
| Platform cut | ~30% | 10% |
| Payout breakdown | None | Full — per listener |
| Payout method | Bank (high minimums) | USD wallet + USDC / Solana |

### What 100 fans actually pays you:
- **Spotify:** ~$9/month
- **Open Music:** ~$128/month

The difference isn't a rounding error. It's a different system entirely.

### Three shifts that matter:

**01 — Money flows directly to you**
No pool. No mystery. Your listeners' subscription goes to you based on their listening, every cycle.

**02 — Your audience is yours**
You see who's listening, who paid you, and how much. No black box. No algorithm controlling your reach.

**03 — Discovery based on sound, not budget**
AI-powered sonic similarity matches your music to listeners based on what it actually sounds like.
No promoted slots. No gatekeepers. No label budget required.

---

## Traction

- MVP is live at openmusic.art
- Artists can upload and receive payments today
- Early community forming — artists onboarding as co-builders, not beta testers
- Built on Solana — payouts in USD wallet + USDC

---

## Team

Two full-stack developers with end-to-end ownership of the product —
from Solana payment infrastructure to the AI discovery layer to the artist dashboard.

Raise funds will be used to bring on a third developer to accelerate delivery.

No VC. No label. No outside agenda. Built by people who were tired of waiting for the industry to fix itself.

---

## Use of Funds

**Raise target: $250,000**
**Monthly burn: ~$25,000**
**Runway: ~10 months**

| Category | Monthly | % |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering (2 devs + 1 hire) | $18,000 | 72% |
| Infrastructure & Solana RPC | $4,000 | 16% |
| Growth & Artist Acquisition | $2,000 | 8% |
| Legal, Ops & Contingency | $1,000 | 4% |

Capital is lean by design. Every dollar goes toward shipping and artist onboarding —
not marketing spend or vanity metrics.

---

## Roadmap & Milestones

### Q2 2025 — Foundation
- Stable artist upload + payout flow
- Direct fan-to-artist payment model live
- 50 founding artists onboarded
- Solana USDC payout integration

### Q3 2025 — Discovery
- AI sonic similarity engine (v1)
- Listener-facing discovery feed
- Artist dashboard: who paid, how much, per cycle
- Fan subscription management

### Q4 2025 — Scale
- Mobile-optimized experience
- Artist analytics + audience ownership tools
- 500 active artists
- Governance layer + OM token utility

### Q1 2026 — Ecosystem
- Open API for third-party integrations
- Label / collective tooling
- Cross-platform artist identity (wallet-linked)
- 2,000+ artists, measurable payout delta vs Spotify

---

## Market & Differentiation

**Target market:**
- Independent artists with existing listeners (1K–100K monthly streams)
- Solana-native creators and music NFT communities
- Fans who want their subscription to actually reach their artists

**Why now:**
The creator economy backlash against platform extraction is at a peak.
Artists are actively looking for alternatives. The infrastructure (Solana, USDC, AI)
now makes a direct model viable at scale for the first time.

**Competitive edge:**

| | Spotify | Bandcamp | Sound.xyz | Open Music |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct payout model | X | Partial | Partial | Y |
| Subscription-based | Y | X | X | Y |
| AI sonic discovery | X | X | X | Y |
| Artist owns audience | X | X | X | Y |
| Onchain / Solana | X | X | Y | Y |

No one else combines the subscription model, direct payout,
AI discovery, and audience ownership in a single platform.

**That's the moat.**
