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Blockchain in the Music Industry

functionality of this field is that it governs the level of difficulty of the hash

value such that the network’s total hash rate is satisfied.

• Nonce: This field’s size is 4 bytes. The value in this field can be described

as an arbitrary number that can be adjusted by miners such that the block’s

hash is less than or equal to the current target of the network. The block

validator is the first miner to discover the nonce value. The validator is

rewarded for his find.

9.3  BITCOIN

Generally, when “blockchain” is addressed, the term “bitcoin” is also a part of that

sentence. In 2008, the blockchain technology was developed to support and maintain

the transactions of the “bitcoin” cryptocurrency. It uses a peer-to-peer technology to

facilitate the transfer of funds through instant payments.

9.4  FUNDAMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES OF BLOCKCHAIN

The fundamental technologies of blockchain as shown in Figure 9.3 include a pub­

licly distributed ledger, encryption using cryptographic keys, a peer-to-peer network

sharing a common ledger and finally, a way to compute and store transactions and

records of the network.

A public distributed ledger can be defined as a digital system that allows users

and systems to store transactions. It originated from the peer-to-peer network. The

features of the ledger include immutability, decentralized nature, distribution among

users who have full or partial access to it, and finally, data can be added to the ledger

only as a new entry; in other words, any modification to the existing data or adding

new data is done in append mode only. There are three types of distributed ledgers:

FIGURE 9.3  Fundamental technologies of blockchain.