A decentralised music service backed by global superstars like Katy Perry, Nas, and Jason Derulo has raised millions of dollars in funding for a blockchain-based music streaming service.

According to reports, Audius – which also has the support of big-time music executives including Guy Oseary, Madonna and U2’s long-time manager – will empower artists by giving them a more direct relationship with their fans.

Earlier this month, the company that was founded in 2018 made an agreement with TikTok that would allow small artists to upload their music to the platform and then offer it through its popular video app.

Based on blockchain and backed by a digital currency called ‘Audio’, the way it is expected to work is that every user has their own wallet and participating artists can earn Audio tokens, paid to them directly by fans who stream their music or pay for access to exclusive content.

Owning the token gives artists ownership in Audius itself. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, the company that’s expected to rival Spotify, made some suggestions as to how digital currencies could help artists earn money.

“Every single person that signs up for Audius actually has a crypto wallet created for their account. That enables us to build some really cool crypto features the mainstream is talking about – NFTs etc, without the extremely complex process of downloading and setting up extra apps.”

For the moment, Audius is a free service – which means users don’t need to pay artists to stream their tunes – but how long that lasts remains to be seen.

“I believe [blockchains] might be the most important technology to ever hit the music industry,” Nas said in a statement provided to Rolling Stone.

The Audio cryptocurrency is currently valued at more than $2 billion, no doubt helped along by the latest funding news.