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Overview

How Audius Works​

On Audius, content is routed to two different types of nodes:

  • Content Nodes - To store and relay audio content (tracks, mixes, etc.) streamed on Audius
  • Discovery Nodes - To index and hash data like user profiles, playlists and followers.

As an artist, uploading to Audius feels no different than uploading to a platform like Soundcloud. But, what happens behind the scenes is what makes Audius so unique.

When an artist uploads a track to Audius:

  1. That content is uploaded to a Content Node.
  2. The data gets transcoded and returns a reference code used to identify the track
  3. The data linked by the reference code is replicated to two other Content Nodes on the network.
  4. An on-chain transaction is published signifying that the track exists on Audius and that the metadata is attached to the profile that uploaded the track.
  5. The transaction is picked up and indexed by a Discovery Node
  6. The client returns that the track was successfully published when it shows up on the Discovery Node, marking the upload complete!

Super simple right! Well, this is where staking comes into play.

On other platforms, a similar process is operated by the parent company, effectively making them the true owner of the content. Should that company cease to exist, so does all the content stored in its database. With Audius, the track is maintained by the network and controlled by third-party and decentralized node operators. Audius is not dependent on one company to keep running.

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By staking $AUDIO, you’re helping to protect and power the protocol.

This design allows Audius to operate on the back of a global network of third-party node operators, rather than solely by the Audius team.