Global problems
Industry pains that no operating system solves — not the platforms, not the collecting societies, not the previous wave of blockchain startups.
Royalty-free samples: the sound's author is cut off
Sample libraries pay the pack creator only for downloads. If a sample lands in a track with millions of streams, its author gets nothing: the royalty-free model has no downstream share. The alternative — manual clearance — does not scale to release volume.
AI trains on music without compensation
The industry has travelled from lawsuits (up to $150K per work) to licensing deals between majors and generative platforms. But even in the “legal” deals the payout chain down to every author — session musicians included — is missing: there is nothing to solve it with, no machine-readable rights layer.
Royalties take 3–6 months and shrink on the way
Between a stream and the author stand an aggregator, a label, a society and a bank — every step costs a share and months. Distributors withhold 15–30% of royalties; Identifyy-class services report up to 120 days after quarter end.
Rights are unreadable by machines
Terms of use live in PDF licences, contracts and email. Neither a player nor an AI service can check who owns a track and on what terms — and AI doesn't hear audio, it only sees metadata. Plagiarism takes months to surface.
Detection serves platforms, not authors
Recognition systems (the Content ID class) work for venues: the verdict stops at a block or takedown, and the money stays inside the platform's ecosystem. A rightsholder on the outside gets neither a work passport nor an automatic share.
The Russian market
Russian demand has grown at double digits for three straight years, while rights verification and clearing infrastructure never emerged — the gap NDP closes.
The market grows — clearing doesn't exist
Streaming in Russia: 46 billion ₽ in 2025 (+23%), projected 76.2 billion ₽ by 2029. The money is in the system; the technology to distribute it between rightsholders is not.
The majors left — the rights question stayed
In March 2022 Universal, Sony and Warner suspended operations in Russia (Sony fully closed its division by autumn 2022); Spotify, Deezer and Live Nation left. The services left, the demand didn't: self-release grew, while rights-clearing infrastructure never appeared in their place.
~90% of artists are independent, without lawyers
Nearly every release in the country is a self-release. The indie tail has neither lawyers nor correctly drafted splits: effectively, every second release has no properly formed rights chain.
Western infrastructure is cut off
Splice does not accept payments from Russia; DistroKid does not work with Russian cards. Sample infrastructure and distribution are a wide-open import-substitution window.
Collecting societies post record revenues, distribute by hand
RAO for 2024: 5.2 billion ₽ collected (+17%, a 10-year record) — with 3 billion ₽ paid out; VOIS: 1.5 billion ₽. Between collection and payout sit months of manual reporting; public-performance control means inspectors walking venues with notebooks.
Musicians can't afford lawyers
Only 15% of Russian musicians earn more than 100,000 ₽ a month, and for 76% music is not their main income (Zvuk × Moscow Music School, 2025). Legal support is a luxury this market cannot buy.
Why the alternatives fell short
Before NDP, the market tried tokens, administrators and detection — each attempt was missing something.
Web3 royalty platforms: tokens instead of settlement
The previous wave of “invest in music” platforms built no sustainable economy: tokens fell 95–99% from peak, services shut down or switched to maintenance mode. The authorship-verification niche stayed empty.
Royalty administrators keep books without hearing the sound
Administration services (the Songtrust / Identifyy class) collect shares from platforms by contract — but never see the actual use of a specific file: there is no detection. Commissions of 15–30%, collection windows up to a year, minimum payout thresholds.
| Traditional Content ID | NDP |
|---|---|
| Monopoly control inside a single platform | An open identification and settlement protocol |
| Focus on blocks, strikes, takedowns | A rights passport (NDT) embedded in the audio file, travelling with it |
| Money flows locked inside the platform's ecosystem | Cascading royalty distribution over national rails |
| Surveillance and enforcement | Transparency, not surveillance: usage data proves the settlement |
What works today
An honest status note: the core prototype runs on normaldance.ru; some circuits are in pilot, some are on the roadmap.
Running now
Track deposition (from 490 ₽), public track verification, the Stage 0 registry with ADNA fingerprints, the artist cabinet, the MCP interface for AI agents (21 tools).
Stage 0 pilot
Cascading royalties and the settlement circuit: usage events, splits and receipts run on the pilot stand; payouts go through an SBP emulator with operator reconciliation.
Roadmap
Generative clearing (SPEC §7.17), the circuit for collecting societies (§7.10), digital ruble integration, the Playback Oracle — events at the moment of playback — and sound search.
Numbers and sources
Every figure on this page comes from a primary source or trade press; verified October 2026.
- IFPI Global Music Report 2026 — global recorded music: $31.7 bn (2025), ifpi.org
- Yandex Music / Vedomosti (19.12.2025) — Russian streaming: 46 bn ₽ (+23%) in 2025, 76.2 bn ₽ projected by 2029
- RBC, Moscow News — RAO: 5.2 bn ₽ collected / 3 bn ₽ paid out in 2024; VOIS: 1.5 bn ₽
- Reuters, Variety, Billboard — Universal/Sony/Warner suspending operations in Russia (March 2022), Sony's full exit (autumn 2022); TASS — Deezer's departure
- Zvuk × Moscow Music School (2025) — only 15% of musicians earn over 100,000 ₽/month; 76% earn their main income elsewhere
- bg.ru — ~90% of Russian artists are independent
- VC.ru, DTF — Splice and DistroKid unavailable for payment from Russia
- identifyy.com, songtrust.com — pricing and payout terms of royalty administration services (verified 10.2026)
- Law360, Music Business Worldwide — lawsuits against generative platforms and the AFM suit against UMG/WMG (2026)
FAQ
Is NDP a token or a crypto platform?
No. There is no token and no wallet: NDP is an identification and settlement protocol over national payment rails. The Web3 circuit (the artist's SBT passport) is auxiliary and runs on a test network.
Are you replacing collecting societies?
No — complementing. The protocol provides a machine-readable rights layer and usage statistics; the circuit for societies (SPEC §7.10) offers it to CMOs as distribution technology rather than competing with them.
What if my track derives from someone else's?
Pre-checking shows a registry match before recording and payment. The track registers as a derivative, and the split cascade accounts for the source's share — fair mechanics for samples.
What exactly works right now?
See the “What works today” block above: deposition, verification, the registry and MCP are running; cascading royalties are in pilot; generative clearing and the CMO circuit are on the roadmap. We don't sell the future as the present.
What to do next
Deposit a track — and authorship, splits and cascading royalties become verifiable for any platform, player and AI service.