In today’s digital landscape, where music identity and intellectual property are invaluable, the launch of the .MUSIC top-level domain name represents a monumental advancement.
After more than a decade-long battle to secure the exclusive rights to .MUSIC and policy development with the global music industry, the launch of .MUSIC is finally underway and a reality.
For the first time in history, the global music industry led initiative will authenticate the digital identity of the music community at a global scale, providing a level of identity verification previously unseen in the music to create a safe harbor of verified artists, creators, industry professionals, organizations, and businesses under .MUSIC.
The rollout of .MUSIC has started with significant momentum, with many popular music artists and iconic brands already registering their .MUSIC domain names.
These include Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Whitney Houston, Universal, Sony, Warner, Spotify, Soundcloud, Deezer, Tencent, Ticketmaster, Live Nation, Apple, Google, YouTube, Meta, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Amazon, Twitch, Reddit, Coachella, iHeart, CBS, NBC, MGM, Shopify, Hilton, Uber, BMW, Rolex, Prada, Andreesen Horowitz, a16z and many others.
In an unprecedented move to accelerate music industry adoption, 1 million .MUSIC domain names are now being given away for free to members of music organizations and legitimate music communities before May 24, 2024. The .MUSIC Registry’s objective is to ensure intellectual property is secured and protected.
This campaign gives the global music industry a risk-free opportunity to protect their intellectual property and claim their names at no cost, ensuring that the right names are allocated to the right music artists, people, companies and brands. On June 25, 2024, the .MUSIC domain will launch globally on a first-come, first served basis at retail prices set by ICANN-accredited domain registrars and resellers.
Music organizations can now sign up at https://www.partner.music/promo to offer free .MUSIC domains to their entire membership or customer base (including labels, publishers, songwriters, artists, musicians, bands, band members, industry professionals and staff members) prior to the May 24 deadline.
Eligible organizations include digital distributors, music associations, collection societies, digital service providers, performing rights organizations, and any type of music organization or company with a membership or customer base. A one-time $1.99 third-party identity verification fee may apply if a member cannot be properly verified to prevent impersonators, fraudsters, squatters and bots from registering others’ names.
.MUSIC aims to become a trusted authority in the domain name space, similar to what .EDU is for accredited educational institutions and .GOV is for official government agencies. Similarly, a .MUSIC domain will assure music audiences that they are interacting with the real and official music artist, industry professional, organization or brand, not an impersonator, fraudster or AI bot.
“.MUSIC is not just another domain name. It is a trusted, safe and verified music-centric Internet for the global music community and industry to securely connect, engage and transact,” says .MUSIC Founder and CEO Constantine Roussos.
“The value proposition for the global music industry is complete ownership of their brand names and platform under their verified and credible name.MUSIC. It is now time for artists to take full ownership of their digital music identity, their online assets and fan relationships under a trusted and verified MusicID.
Our objective for this once in a lifetime global campaign is to make sure the right names get to the right people at zero cost or risk to the global music community. Once you lose your name, it is nearly impossible to get it back. We are trying to proactively solve this problem.”
“As the only verified digital identity provider for the global music community, we are proud to give music artists, industry professionals, organizations, and leading global brands the unique opportunity to protect their name, image, likeness and voice, and to prevent fraudsters, impersonators, squatters, AI clones and bots by claiming their verified MusicID,” says Marina Roussou, Executive Director of id.MUSIC, the exclusive global music identity provider for .MUSIC.
 “Being verified on Tik Tok, Instagram, or X only means something on those closed social networks. The global music community is forever locked into their walled-garden and ecosystem,” says my.MUSIC co-CEO Peter Lee.
“Artists can place their .MUSIC SmartBadge anywhere, including official websites, social networks and media to let fans know that whatever they are distributing is official and came from them, not a fake account. With this universal verified source of truth, artists can protect their brand and intellectual property online.”
.MUSIC registrants will also get two additional free brand-building my.MUSIC services that are unique to the music industry: a SmartBadge and a SmartPage. After identity verification, all .MUSIC registrants will receive their SmartBadge, a verified digital business card with a unique QR code that can be embedded openly anywhere (e.g. email, websites, social media, media etc,) and securely points to their SmartPage, where all their verified music credentials, information and work can be displayed in one central location under their name.MUSIC domain.
It is a trusted meeting point, where everyone safely connects, interacts and transacts directly with you, your work and your services and puts you in charge. Registrants can control what content others see and the vetted destinations they would like to send everyone to (e.g. links to new music releases, official website, merch, tickets, videos and other verified content).
