Because the true digital value of music assets depends on provenance, permanence, and structure — not just an audio file.

Fundamental Shift: From Files to an Assets

Music digital distribution requires a shift beyond flat audio files to session-container-based digital assets.

 

This shift is not aesthetic or optional; it is driven by:

 

  • long-term value beyond a single release

  • playback that adapts instead of staying fixed

  • distribution models that no longer assume a final render

  • automation that exposes what files leave behind

 

What Changes at the Point of Distribution

In traditional systems, distribution packaging begins when a stereo WAV/AIFF is exported.


In asset-native systems, distribution packaging begins when a session-derived object is prepared.

 

This changes what can be:

 

  • Measured (what actually shaped the sound)

  • Attributed (who and what contributed)

  • Preserved (how the track was built, not just how it sounds)

  • Valued beyond a single render or format

Audio Files Were Designed for Digital Playback, Not Digital Assets

 

Audio files faithfully preserve sound, but they were designed for a world where distribution was protected by the playback medium. Vinyl, tape, and CDs imposed cost, friction, and control through physical constraints. Digital files removed those constraints without replacing the structural protections they provided.

 

Modern music production evolved inside systems-rich, session-based digital environments. Distribution did not.

 

As a result:

 

  • Creative and technical labor embedded upstream becomes invisible downstream

  • Attribution, context, and economic participation are reconstructed informally, if at all

 

DAAP introduces the missing structural layer. Not to replace audio formats or playback systems, but to define music as a durable digital asset rather than a transient audio file.

 

 

 

 

Music's Necessary Architectural Mode

 

DAAP is an architectural mode enabled by asset-level topology.

It defines digital audio as a structured asset container rather than a flattened audio file representation. Attribution, consent, and licensing context are established at the point of asset formation, before distribution reduces the work to audio alone.

 

DAAP operates upstream.

DAAP does not change how music is played or delivered. It changes how music is defined before it enters distribution systems.

This is not a market position.
It is a topological distinction.

Before Tools, There's Shared Understanding

DAAP is not a product you install first.
It’s an architectural shift that only works if the industry aligns on the problem it’s solving.

Before utilities, standards need language. Before infrastructure, assumptions need to be examined.

That’s why this process starts here.

Step 1:

Take the Survey

The survey is not market research. There are no right or wrong answers.

 

It exists to surface how creators, toolmakers, and platforms currently understand:

  • audio files as delivery objects

  • attribution and visibility

  • value creation in digital music

  • AI, indistinguishability, and context loss

  • infrastructure limits in modern distribution

Your responses help establish a shared baseline before standards harden.

Start with the survey.

 

 

Step 2:

Read the White Paper

The DAAP white paper lays out the full architectural rationale.

 

It explains:

  • why audio files were designed for playback, not distribution protection

  • how provenance, structure, and permanence operate at the asset level

  • where existing systems break down — and why

  • how DAAP fits alongside current platforms without replacing them

This is not marketing material.
It is a technical and conceptual foundation intended for careful reading.

 

Step 3:

Join the Consortium

The DAAP Consortium is a neutral, standards-focused group

 

it exists to:

define asset-level norms before fragmentation sets in

align creators, toolmakers, and platforms on shared realities

document emerging practices around provenance, structure, and permanence

 

If these questions matter to you, this is where the conversation continues.

 

 

 

 

Information

Contact us

Get in touch with us today to discuss your music information system needs.

Location

Nquist.net
Silicon Beach, California, United States

Paper: Music Digital Delivery Triad

 

Downloads:

DAAP Manifest Utility (Beta)

DAAP Player 1.0 (Beta)

Kythera DPST Plugin (Beta)