Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, is reportedly developing a blockchain-based rights management system to better track artist royalties and streamline licensing agreements across the global music industry.

The initiative comes as the company faces increasing pressure to modernize its royalty payment systems, which have been criticized for being opaque and slow. Blockchain technology offers the potential for real-time tracking of music usage and automatic distribution of payments to rights holders.

The music industry has long struggled with royalty collection, particularly from streaming services and user-generated content platforms. A blockchain-based system could provide unprecedented transparency, allowing artists to see exactly when and where their music is being played.

Universal Music’s move follows similar initiatives by other major labels exploring distributed ledger technology. The company has reportedly filed several patents related to blockchain applications in music rights management.

Industry experts say successful implementation could revolutionize how musicians are compensated, potentially increasing artist payouts by reducing administrative overhead and eliminating intermediaries. The technology could also help combat piracy and unauthorized use of copyrighted material.