What is Sona?

Sona is a new web3 streaming protocol that uses DeFi primitives (decentralized finance basic building blocks) to put the financial power back into artists’ hands with its rewards model, auctions and ad-free streaming. Sona has launched the open beta versions of its first product - Sona Stream, a free music streaming service with zero subscriptions or ads combined with a marketplace where artists share music and auction off SONAs, “digital twins” or digital assets of songs that can only be owned by one person at a time.

Sona’s marketplace allows artists to auction their SONAs to collectors for 24 hours. They set a minimum price and sell to the highest bidder, getting instant liquidity. What’s most notable is that the owner of a SONA receives 70% of the streaming payout rewards based on a pro-rata share of total streams on the platform. Meanwhile, artists get 30% and the company takes a 7% fee. Plus, the rewards pool is funded from a percentage of SONA sales, meaning each purchase supports all artists on Sona Stream. In the future, Sona will include other transactions like tipping, merchandise, ticket purchases, stem downloads and fixed-price audio downloads for DJs.

The main idea with SONAs — and music NFTS in general – is that it encourages fans to invest in their favorite artists and promote their work. In this case, when a SONA owner shares the song on social media, their followers are directed to Sona Stream, helping the streaming service grow its user base and earn revenue at the same time. And unlike other music NFTs, SONAs are unrelated to royalties from other streaming platforms. Rewards are from the Sona ecosystem only.