Blockchain-Based Music Streaming Platform, Audius, Moves to Solana Due to Scaling Issues on Ethereum

Audius, a blockchain-based music streaming platform, announces its switch to Solana blockchain from its POA Network. This is due to the high gas costs and scalability issues on the Ethereum blockchain. However, the native token – AUDIO – the platform’s governance and staking systems will continue running on Ethereum.

1/ @AudiusProject just announced their plan to build on the Solana blockchain! Join us in welcoming Audius to the Solana ecosystem. 🎧https://t.co/0EIWSSm4xp

— Solana (@solana) October 29, 2020

Audius content management system (CMS) will be moving its operations to Solana blockchain over the course of the next year. According to the post, the music streaming platform aims to leverage Solana’s scalable and “virtually costless” blockchain to solve the congestion problems and high fees previously experienced on its host network, POA.

Audius has witnessed remarkable growth in the past few months – recording over 800,000 monthly users and 150,000+ songs streaming on the site posted so far. However, the growing demand for Audius streaming audio content is facing a challenge due to Ethereum’s scalability and latency problems.

According to the statement, over the past week, the Audius site faced a heavy load of issues, “resulting in longer wait times searching, streaming, and indexing” of its music catalog. Despite the move to the POA network, Audius surge in users has clogged the network – at times, taking up to 90-95% of the network space – with an all-time high registered this weekend.

Move to Solana

With the hot DeFi market reaching yearly highs, Ethereum has faced sower transaction times and higher gas fees forcing developers to search for better options elsewhere such as Solana. The platform claims a low latency platform and high throughput of over 50,000 transactions per second (TPS) – all while charging a percent ($0.00001) per transaction.

Furthermore, the launch of Solana’s “Wormhole,” a secure, trustless bridge connecting to Ethereum, will cater to the rapid growth of finance dApps and protocols, creating multiple enhancement in sourcing capital – solving the challenge of high gas fees and congestion.

While the exact amount and arrangement are yet to be disclosed, the CEO of Audius, Roneil Rumburg, stated the partnership involved “technical support and incentives.” He said,

“There’s an agreement between the two teams that involve technical support, deliverables for support, and incentives. … Solana will help Audius have the best user experience possible.”

Audius has raised over $9 million in successive rounds to build a decentralized Spotify and Soundcloud-like platform where artists will receive roughly 85% compensation for their content.