4.1 Terms and definitions

For the purposes of this part of the Web3 standard the following terms have the definitions specified in this clause.

Although all the terms below are capitalised, they appear in the text of this part of the Web3 standard in lower case, for ease of readability. This does not apply to Music NFT, NFT Issuer, NFT Minting Service, Primary Resource, Secondary Resource and Smart Contract because these are combined terms that would not appear in a normal dictionary.

Blockchain (or Chain)

A distributed database or ledger, shared among a computer network's nodes that maintains a secure and decentralised record of transactions. Such transactions can be about data, NFTs, or cryptocurrencies that are maintained on blockchains and are immutable and visible to all users of the blockchain.

Centralised Data Store

A storage service that is under the control of a single party who may, at their discretion, delete, change, or remove access to any or all data or content stored.

Decentralised Application (DAPP)

Digital application or program that runs on decentralised networks, rather than a single computer or server. DAPPs are built on blockchain technology and use cryptocurrency as a means of exchange. A user needs a wallet to use a DAPP.

Decentralised Data Store

A storage service that is not under the control of a single party. As a consequence, the data or content saved on the store, and access to it, is immutable and governed for example by conditions from NFT’s smart contract.

Immutable

An immutable object is an object whose state cannot be modified after it is created. This is in contrast to a mutable object (changeable object), which can be modified after it is created.

While NFTs are immutable, the data contained in such an NFT (either directly or indirectly) may well be changeable. The rules for updating such data can change depending on the business rules associate with the NFT.

Music NFT

An NFT containing a music release in the form of one or more resource files, that is, encoded music as well as other resource files such as cover art images, plus related metadata. Some of the resource files and metadata may be stored on-chain whereas others may be stored off-chain.

This definition is only intended to describe a Music NFT for the purposes of this part of the Web3 standard.

NFT

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a token published based on a Smart Contract on a blockchain. It is assigned a unique identification code and contains a reference to the Smart Contract it is based on as well as other metadata that distinguishes it from other NFTs. This metadata can be either included directly or, where the data is held off-chain, via pointers. NFTs can be traded and exchanged for money, cryptocurrencies or other NFTs, subject to the provisions of the Smart Contract.

NFT Issuer

A party wishing to release music in a Music NFT, on an NFT platform. In order to create the Music NFT, the NFT Issuer involves an NFT Minting Service. Some NFT Issuers will also act as NFT Minting Services and NFT platforms.

NFT Marketplace

A centralised service where NFTs can be sold and bought. It is comparable to any marketplace but specialised in the trade of NFTs.

The NFT Marketplace defines some of the NFT trade conditions such as its commission for managing the trade or the secondary sales conditions of the NFTs.

NFT Minting Service

A service receiving information about a release, that is the music resource files and the associated metadata to be issued as a Music NFT and which will “physically” create the necessary NFT by assembling a Smart Contract containing the metadata to be stored on-chain, pointers to the metadata to be stored-off chain, in centralised and/or decentralised data stores, and pointers to resource files, usually in centralised data stores.

NFT Platform

NFT platform is where the NFTs are made available for view, exchange or sale.

Primary Resource

A resource that is the main resource of a release. A change in a Primary Resource typically requires a new release identifier, whereas a change in a Secondary Resource does not.

Rights Controller

A party that controls rights in one or more creations in respect of some or all rights for specific territories, time periods, rights types, usage types and commercial model types, which may be anything up to and including all rights for the world, in perpetuity, for all types of usage and for all types of commercial models. Creations include musical works, sound recordings and other resources as well as releases.

A rights controller is in many cases also the Licensor.

A rights controller may be a human being or other legal person or corporate entity.

Secondary Resource

A resource that is not the main resource of a release. It supports the Primary Resources, for example, lyrics or cover art. A change in a Primary Resource typically requires a new release identifier, whereas a change in a Secondary Resource does not.

Smart Contract

A decentralised computer program or a transaction protocol operated on a specific blockchain, that is intended to automatically execute, control or document events and actions according to the terms of a contract.

In the context of a Music NFT, a Smart Contract may contain, the conditions indicating how the NFT may be used or re-sold or transferred, information about the wallet of the service that minted the NFT, the wallet of the party owning the NFT, metadata about the music contained in the NFT, either directly or in a separate data store, encoded music files, either directly or in a separate data store, the wallets of the parties that are to be remunerated if the NFT is used or re-sold or transferred and the conditions upon which these parties are to be remunerated.

Token

Digital representation of an interest in an asset or to be used to facilitate transactions on a blockchain.

Wallet

A device, physical medium, computer program or a service built on blockchain technology which stores the public and private keys for cryptocurrency transactions. A party needs a wallet to mint, sell, transfer any type of assets, such as an NFT, on a blockchain.

Wallets are assigned to or held by a party or parties in the case of a multi-signature wallet, who may use the wallet to transfer cryptocurrency funds or NFTs to other parties. Parties may also transfer money into and from their wallets.