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I believe that Kanye West is the best and most creative musician working in the world today, in any idiom or genre. Here’s a draft of a paper I’m working on that explains why.A few months ago, I was invited to participate in a tutorial session entitled “Why Hip-Hop Is Interesting” at the 2016 International Society for Music Information Retrieval conference. A typical pop music listener might find it surprising that such a tutorial would be necessary. Hip-hop is the most listened-to music genre in the world, at least among Spotify listeners (Hooton 2015). Surely a musical form with such a broad global impact must be interesting. After the tutorial, however, several audience members remarked that they had never heard rap songs analyzed so closely; one said that it had never occurred to her to think about rap music at all. These conference attendees are representative of the music academy generally.Hip-hop has received significant scholarly attention in recent years, but that has mostly been in the context of cultural studies. When humanities scholars engage with hip-hop as an art form, the focus is usually on the lyrics, reading them as a subgenre of African-American literature that just happens to be performed over beats. Interesting though rap lyrics are, it is not sufficient to study them outside of their musical context. “We need to begin to hear not only what these rappers are saying, but also what these musicians are composing - how they are using rhythm, rhyme, and rhetoric to enact survival and celebration, clamor and community” (Walser 1995, 212).Why do music theorists so rarely examine hip-hop for its musical content? Perhaps it is due in part to the way that hip-hop focuses on rhythm so much more heavily than other musical dimensions. The jazz drummer Max Roach characterizes hip-hop as “rhythm for rhythm’s sake” (quoted in Lipsitz 1994, 37). Theorists trained to understand music in terms of harmonic and thematic development might therefore not expect to find much in rap to interest them. I intend to demonstrate that, to the contrary, hip-hop has rich musical interest beyond its rhythmic innovations, using the example of Kanye West’s song “Famous,” from his album The Life Of Pablo (2016).A note about authorship: Contemporary hip-hop is a collaborative art form, especially in the upper commercial echelon where West resides. West made his name as a producer, but on “Famous” he did not work alone. The album credits list West and Havoc as the producers, with co-production by Noah Goldstein, Charlie Heat, and Andrew Dawson, and additional production by Hudson Mohawke, Mike Dean, and Plain Pat. West is the author of “Famous” in the same sense that Steven Spielberg is the author of “E.T.”—he supervised a creative team, rather than doing all of the hands-on work himself. West does not discuss his creative process in detail, so it is difficult to know what specific role all of his collaborators played. For the purposes of this article, when I refer to a musical decision as having been made “by” West, I mean that it was made by West along with any combination of the other producers listed above.“Famous” was immediately embroiled in controversy upon its release due to its part in the ongoing highly-publicized feud between West and Taylor Swift. It is beyond the scope of post to address the controversy; the popular press has covered it exhaustively, and in any event, it is peripheral to the song’s musical interest. For present purposes, we can acknowledge the feud’s existence, and move on.The music video for “Famous” has been another source of extramusical controversy. It is a ten minute art film that shows West in bed sleeping after what appears to be a group sexual encounter with his wife, Kim Kardashian West; his former lover, Amber Rose; his wife’s former lover, Ray J.; her mother, Kaitlyn Jenner; West’s frequent collaborator Rihanna and her former lover, Chris Brown; West’s high-profile nemeses Taylor Swift, Anna Wintour, and George W. Bush; and, for no obvious reason, Bill Cosby and Donald Trump. While this video is richly interesting, it is once again beyond the scope of the present analysis, which focuses only on the aural content of the song. Suffice to say that in his videos as in his music, West embodies the way that hip-hop “takes pleasure in aggressive insubordination” (Rose 1994, 80).West’s lyrics in “Famous” carry their share of aggressive insubordination. Like many of his songs, this one uses problematic and offensive language. In the first verse alone, West greets “all the Southside n****rs that know me best” and calls Taylor Swift “that bitch.” I am reluctant to fall into the cliche of the white hip-hop critic who celebrates the music’s sonic innovations while judging its regressive lyrics (Chapman 2008, 157). I do not want to patronize West, who for all I know is using this racially charged and misogynistic language ironically or critically. While discussing his collaboration with West on his earlier album Yeezus, the singer Justin Vernon observes: “Kanye feels like a director, and I don't think everything he's saying in the songs is actually him saying it every time. It's like a movie, or a concept” (quoted in Dombal 2013). Perhaps we can read the opening verse of “Famous” as a playful boast or taunt. Rose (1994) points out that for all of its technological innovations, rap music “has also remained critically linked to black poetic traditions and the oral forms that underwrite them. These oral traditions and practices clearly inform the prolific use of collage, intertextuality, boasting, toasting, and signifying in rap's lyrical style and organization” (84).We can also regard the function of West’s lyrics not as conveying particular meaning, but rather as being the topmost layer of a bed of rhythmic sound. Adams (2008) encourages us to hear rap lyrics this way, especially in a song like this one: “In rap songs whose lyrics do not seem to have a single unifying theme or narrative… the best approach is first to disregard the semantic meaning of the lyrics, and to treat the syllables of text simply as consonant/vowel combinations that occupy specific metrical locations” ([12]). While West has written albums worth of songs with clear narrative and autobiographical meaning, “Famous” has neither. Furthermore, in addition to West, the song features four additional vocalists whose lyrics also resist literal interpretation. We can feel some confidence that in this case, as in many rap songs, “the music comes both logically and chronologically before the text, and the meaning of the text is often secondary to its interaction with the music” (Adams 2008, [43]).“Famous” has an unusual structure for a mainstream hip-hop song. The graphic below shows the audio file in Ableton Live’s Arrange view.The sections are color-coded as follows: yellow for the intro, orange for the instrumental break, blue for verses, green for the hook/chorus, brown for a groove section that will be discussed in detail below, and pale yellow for the outtro.Aside from the brief instrumental interlude, every section of “Famous” is six, twelve, or twenty-four bars long. For example, the verses are three sets of four-bar phrases. This is highly unusual for the genre; hip-hop songs are almost always built on phrases that are eight, sixteen or thirty-two bars long. “Because of the high degree of repetition, the short length of repeated units, and clear formal boundaries demarcated by changes in text, texture, and other parameters, structural patterns of larger units such as phrases and sections are generally more perceptually salient in vernacular music than in many forms of art music” (Biamonte 2014, [1.2]). The factor-of-three-length phrases in “Famous” thus represent a mild but noticeable hypermetrical dissonance.The six bar intro consists of Rihanna singing over a subtle gospel-flavored organ accompaniment in F-sharp major. She sings a few lines from “Do What You Gotta Do” by Jimmy Webb. This country/pop standard has been recorded many times, but for West, and presumably his listeners, Nina Simone’s 1968 recording is likely to be the most meaningful reference point. Simone carries clear significance for West; he has sampled her on two previous releases, “Blood On The Leaves” (2013) and “Bad News” (2008). Having Rihanna interpolate Nina Simone is the first of many intertextual moments in “Famous.” Walser (1995) cites veteran hip-hop producer Hank Shocklee as “arguing for a view of music as something discursive and social, created out of dialogue with other people in the past and the present rather than through some sort of parthogenesis” (196). West begins his song with a literal dialog between African-American music’s past, as embodied by Simone, and its present, as embodied by Rihanna.After Rihanna’s intro comes a four-bar groove, a more aggressive organ part over a drum machine beat, with Swizz Beatz ad libbing on top. This beat and organ sample were created by Havoc, and were the first elements of the track to be created (Preezy 2016). The drum part is a minimal funk pattern on kick and snare. The snares fall on the backbeats, with the kick playing more complex syncopated patterns around them. As in the James Brown grooves that inspired so many hip-hop producers, “the emphasis of the downbeat grounds the groove while setting up the playfulness of the rest of the phrase" (Greenwald 2008, 268).Aside from the kick drums on each downbeat, the snare drum hits on beats two and four are the most stable element in the rhythm. If there is a single unifying feature of hip-hop, it is the omnipresent accented backbeat. While the syncopation represented by the backbeat is traditionally thought of as a rhythmic equivalent to tension or dissonance, American vernacular forms like rock and hip-hop make beats two and four rhythmically consonant through sheer force of repetition. “Because it is an essential component of the meter, functioning as a timeline—a rhythmic ostinato around which the other parts are organized—I consider the backbeat in rock music to be an instance of displacement consonance rather than dissonance” (Biamonte 2014, [6.2]).While the “Famous” beat references classic hip-hop’s basis in funk, its timbre is futuristic, soaked in cavernous artificial reverb. This conspicuously unnatural sense of space is a world away from the organic-sounding soul samples underpinning West’s first few albums. The move into increasingly otherworldly timbres is in keeping with the broader sweep of popular music. In 1990, Goodwin pointed out that “pop musicians and audiences have grown increasingly accustomed to making an association between synthetic/automated music and the communal (dance floor) connection to nature (via the body). We have grown used to connecting machines and funkiness” (55). Chapman (2008) describes the production style of West’s contemporary Tim “Timbaland” Mosely as evoking “a sonic no-place, where the dancing body resides as a starkly minimal, mechanical trace of the more ‘human’ breakbeats that earlier rap production would sample from 1960s or 1970s soul” (169). Most contemporary hip-hop combines dance rhythms and party-oriented lyrics with bleakly posthuman electronic timbres. West pushes this juxtaposition to the extreme.Swizz Beatz ad-libs gruffly over the brief introductory groove, as he does over much of the rest of the song—in fact, he is present during a larger portion of the track than West himself. His ad-libs are almost free of semantic meaning, functioning completely as percussion. We can take one interjection more literally, the announcement that “We gon’ let the beat rock.” Swizz Beatz is inviting us to relax into an open-ended groove. We could imagine a DJ extending this section in a club or party setting if the crowd is responding energetically. The tidy loop structures of hip-hop and electronic dance tracks are designed to make it easy for DJs to spontaneously extend them at will. Since its origins lie in social dance, groove-based music exists to create a mood rather than a narrative. As Walser (1995) observes: “Because the groove itself is non-teleological, it situates the listener in a complex present, one containing enough energy and richness that progress seems moot” (204). While looping in the studio and the DJ booth alike are achieved through highly technological means, the musical impulse is warmly organic: to foster dance, socializing, or head-nodding.The organ riff that runs throughout the verses of “Famous” is in F-sharp minor, which is an abrupt mode change from the major tonality of the intro section. West’s co-producer Havoc sampled the organ from the closing section of “Mi Sono Svegliato E…Ho Chiuso Gli Occhi” by Il Rovescio della Medaglia, an Italian progressive rock band. This song is itself built around quotes of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, making a pleasingly recursive chain of musical reference.Rap music has been criticized extensively for the practice of sampling. There is a widespread perception that sampling is nothing more than an expedient way to avoid learning instruments or hiring musicians. In this instance, however, using the organ sample was not much more expedient than recording a soundalike would have been. Given the generic simplicity of this organ riff, it would have been a trivial matter for West to replace it using a similar organ sound from any number of software instruments. Why, then, was West willing to take on the expense of the sample clearance and licensing fee? We must assume that he was drawn to the specific ambiance of the sample, because it allowed him “to signify upon a different kind of space and distance, the long perspective of passing time… [T]he materiality of these recorded samples, their saturation with buzz and crackle, intensified their demarcation of a distance between past and present” (Chapman 2008, 160). West has built his entire discography on carefully selected samples. In his output as in hip-hop generally, “[e]xisting recordings are not randomly or instrumentally incorporated so much as they become the simultaneous subject and object of a creative work” (Culter 1989, 21).Verse one continues over Havoc’s drum machine and organ, with West alternating between aggressive rap and loosely pitched singing. West is more highly regarded as a producer than a rapper, but his flow is nevertheless distinctive. In rap terms, the word “flow” encompasses both emcees’ lyric writing and the rhythmic and articulative aspects of of their delivery. The metrical aspects of flow include the placement of rhyming or otherwise accented syllables, the relationship between lyrical phrase boundaries and musical hypermeasures, and the number of syllables per beat. The articulative aspects include the use of legato or staccato, the articulation of consonants or lack thereof, and the placement of any given syllable ahead of or behind the beat (Adams 2009).Most contemporary emcees use what Krims (2000) has called a “speech-effusive style” characterized by the casual enunciation and loose rhythms of everyday spoken language. This is in contrast to two other major flow styles described by Krims. One is "sung," a schoolyard chant feel with on-beat accents and strict couplet groupings, characteristic of the first generation of rappers like Run-DMC and Kurtis Blow. The other is "percussion-effusive," a more rhythmically complex flow that is freer with metrical boundaries and rhyme schemes, but which still has crisp articulation and clearly discernable regular rhythm patterns. This pattern is more typical of a later cohort of rappers like Rakim and Q-Tip. West’s flow is mostly speech-effusive, but in “Famous,” his rhymes have a simpler chant-like quality harkening back to early rap.It is a widely held belief that rap has no melodic content. However, attentive listening reveals that all rappers use pitch expressively. The border between rapping and singing is a porous one, and most emcees cross it routinely in the course of a song, as West does in “Famous.” Furthermore, even in straight rapping, the pitch sequences are deliberate and meaningful. The pitches might not fall on the piano keys, but they are melodic nonetheless. The easiest way to explore the pitch content of rap is to use pitch-tracking software on acapella tracks. Sadly, there is no acapella version of “Famous” available. However, West delivers one line in the second verse “in the clear” (without instrumental backing), making it amenable to automated pitch detection. The graphic below shows the line as visualized in Melodyne, with lyric annotations by the author:With the assistance of the audio-to-MIDI feature of Ableton Live, it is possible to map these pitches to the closest piano-key note.Even this short fragment shows considerable melodic interest, starting and ending on B3, with a leap up to D4 and drops to G3 in between. Melodic analysis of rap vocals is a largely untapped vein of potential scholarly inquiry, and a promising area of future research.After the first verse would conventionally come the “hook,” the hip-hop term for a chorus. Rihanna continues to interpolate the Jimmy Webb/Nina Simone quote from the intro over the F-sharp major organ part from the intro. Swizz Beatz continues his ad-libbed interjections on top. While his function on the track is mostly to add rhythmic energy, in this section he also adds another layer of intertextuality by quoting “Wake Up Mr. West,” a short skit on West’s album Late Registration. That skit, in turn, is itself richly intertextual—it features a comedian (DeRay Davis) imitating another comedian (Bernie Mac) over a sample of “Someone That I Used To Love” by Natalie Cole (1980).Verse two is much like verse one. At the end, we expect Rihanna to return with the hook, but instead we only hear her sing the pickup, “I just wanted you to know.” In place of the hook, the track shifts into a new F-sharp major groove over fuller drums, including a noisy artificial snare sound resembling a socket wrench. The lead vocal in this section is a sample of “Bam Bam” by Sister Nancy (1982).“Bam Bam” is a frequently-used sample, one that a more-than-casual rap listener is likely to find familiar. The author immediately recognized it from “Lost Ones” by Lauryn Hill (1998), “Just Hangin’ Out” by Main Source (1991), and a variety of unofficial mixtapes.West does not merely sample “Bam Bam.” He also reharmonizes it. Sister Nancy’s original is a I–bVII progression in C Mixolydian. West pitch shifts the vocal to fit it over a I–V–IV–V progression in F-sharp major. Rather than simply transposing the sample up or down a tritone, he instead keeps the pitches close to their original values by changing their chord function. Here is a transcription of Sister Nancy’s original:And here is the sample as it appears in “Famous”:Pitch shifting a vocal by even a small interval alters its timbre. The formants are transposed in parallel with the base pitch, rather than staying constant as they would if the vocalist were actually singing at the new pitch. Also, the phase vocoding that makes it possible to alter pitch independently of tempo further colors the sound. The resulting sonic artifacting gives Sister Nancy the feel of a robot from the future. This association directly conflicts with the lo-fidelity recording artifacts in the sample. As with the Nina Simone interpolation and drum machine part, the juxtaposition of audio past and future represented by the Sister Nancy sample has an otherworldly effect.Like the Il Rovescio della Medaglia song discussed above, Sister Nancy’s song is comprised of pre-existing musical elements. She is singing over a widely used instrumental track (a “riddim” in reggae parlance) called “Stalag 17” by Winston Riley (1973). Furthermore, her chorus is a quote from a song of the same name by Toots Hibbert (1966). There is a pleasing symmetry between her collage aesthetic and West’s. We cannot be certain whether West selected “Bam Bam” on that basis, or because of its lyrics, its melody, its sound, or some motivation known only to him. But it is interesting to speculate. “The arrangement and selection of sounds rap musicians have invented via samples, turntables, tape machines, and sound systems are at once deconstructive (in that they actually take apart recorded musical compositions) and recuperative (because they recontextualize these elements creating new meanings for cultural sounds that have been relegated to commercial wastebins)” (Rose 1994, 85). What new meaning does West create for “Bam Bam” by including it within “Famous”? Sister Nancy’s chorus means “What a bummer” in Jamaican patois. She is referring to her struggles to make it as an emcee in the male-dominated world of dancehall reggae. Does West intend that meaning to rub against the casual misogyny of his own verses?After twenty-four bars of the Sister Nancy groove, the track ends with another Jimmy Webb/Nina Simone quote. But this time, rather than Rihanna singing, we hear a sample of Simone herself.West has combined an interpolation of a sample with the original recording before, on “Gold Digger” (2005), in which Jamie Foxx’s imitation of Ray Charles is followed by a sample of Charles himself. However, that juxtaposition occurred at the very beginning of the track. In “Famous,” Simone’s first appearance comes at the end, and on first hearing comes as quite a surprise.We can read West’s bringing Rihanna and Simone together on his song as a form of bragging. Few producers can afford a guest appearance by Rihanna. Similarly few have the resources or the audacity to sample a sacred and iconic figure like Simone. By doing both, is West engaged a kind of musical conspicuous consumption, the sonic equivalent of flashy jewelry? Or does he intend a deeper musical meaning?Holm-Hudson (1997) observes that John Oswald’s sampling practice “creates a larger web of stylistic references from the interaction of various formerly unrelated samples. Oswald's technique, in particular, often extricates extramusical meaning from the ‘innocent’ sample, ironically commenting on its source, the sampled artist or the music industry that spawned both” (Holm-Hudson 1997, 24). This analysis applies neatly to West’s use of Simone as we compare it retroactively to Rihanna’s interpolation. West presumably wants us to feel the contrast between Rihanna’s heavily processed purr and Simone’s unvarnished, preacherly tone. Reynolds (2012) comments on the way that recorded music in general and sampling in particular can create uncanny links across time: “Recording is pretty freaky, then, if you think about it. But sampling doubles its inherent supernaturalism. Woven out of looped moments that are like portals to far-flung times and places, the sample collage creates a musical event that never happened; a mixture of time-travel and séance” (313). By sampling Simone, West invites us to wonder what she might have made of Rihanna, and of West himself.Below, the author has constructed a flowchart showing the samples and samples of samples in “Famous.”We can classify the samples in “Famous” using the typology of sampled material proposed by Ratcliffe (2014). The kick and snare are short, isolated fragments. The organ riff is a phrase, a self-referential musical element, rather than a pointer to a recognized external source. The Sister Nancy and Nina Simone samples are larger, more extensive referential elements. While sampling is ubiquitous in hip-hop, “Famous” is remarkable for deploying samples at so many different time scales.In interviews, West rarely gives specific insight into his creative process. We are forced to surmise as to how “Famous” came about in the studio after Havoc brought in the beat and organ sample. Gelineck and Serafin (2009) describe two major approaches to creating electronic music. The producer (who Gelineck and Serafin refer to as “the composer”) may start with a clear goal or idea of the finished product. Alternatively, the producer may be inspired by playful exploration and experimentation using whatever sound sources and technologies are at hand. As quoted in Preezy (2016), Havoc describes West as having “the idea for how he wanted to go” with “Famous.” Havoc also describes a process by which West’s collaborators will introduce ideas in the studio for West to react to in the moment. Taken together, these remarks suggest that West combines both a goal-oriented and a playful/experimental approach to composition.West’s music provokes strong emotional responses. In the process of writing this paper, the author discussed it with various friends and students. Their comments ranged from enthusing about West as a genius to denouncing him as an egotistical buffoon. Similarly, their assessments of “Famous” run the gamut from proclaiming it a masterpiece to dismissing it as offensive and empty. As Walser (1995) observes: “Hip hop's appeal to a variety of audiences, its cultural legitimacy, and its vulnerability to censorship all depend upon reactions to the music: whether its repetition enervates or animates, whether its noisiness alienates or accreditates, whether its complexity disorients or situates” (210). In “Famous,” we are reacting to a dense interplay of rhythms, harmonies, timbres, vocal styles, and intertextual meanings, not to mention all the complexities of cultural context. How do we even begin to evaluate such a work?Like many rappers, West praises himself for being “fresh.” The meaning of the word in hip-hop slang could be referencing any of its conventional senses: new, refreshing, appetizing, attractive, or sassy (Hein 2015). We frequently praise music for its originality, but in sample-based music like hip-hop, that term is not as good a proxy for musical quality. We need a criterion that gets at the aspects of a successful rap song: emotional truth-telling, inventive wordplay, creative juxtaposition of existing and novel musical elements, the construction of a compelling soundscape, a beat suitable for dancing or head nodding, and situatedness within a complex cultural context. We can best judge hip-hop by its freshness. “Famous” is a difficult and at times unpleasant work, but it is extraordinarily fresh.ReferencesAdams, K. (2009). On the Metrical Techniques of Flow in Rap Music. Music Theory Online, 15(5), 1–12. Retrieved from http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.09.15.5/mto.09.15.5.adams.html____ (2008). Aspects of the Music/Text Relationship in Rap. Music Theory Online, 14(2). Retrieved from http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.08.14.2/mto.08.14.2.adams.htmlBiamonte, N. (2014). 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Goodwin (Eds.), On Record: Rock, Pop, and the Written Word. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.Greenwald, J. (2008). Hip-hop drumming: The rhyme may define, but the groove makes you move. Black Music Research Journal, 22(2), 259–271.Hein, E. (2015). Mad Fresh. NewMusicBox. Retrieved March 24, 2015, from http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/mad-fresh/Holm-Hudson, K. (1997). Quotation and Context: Sampling and John Oswald’s Plunderphonics. Leonardo Music Journal, 7, 17–25.Hooton, C. (2015). Hip-hop is the most listened to genre in the world, according to Spotify analysis of 20 billion tracks. The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/hip-hop-is-the-most-listened-to-genre-in-the-world-according-to-spotify-analysis-of-20-billion-10388091.htmlKrims, A. (2000). Rap music and the poetics of identity. Cambridge University Press.Lipsitz, George. 1994. Dangerous Crossroads. London: Verso.McClary, S. (2004). Rap, minimalism, and structures of time in late twentieth-century culture. In D. Warner (Ed.), Audio Culture. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.Preezy. (2016). Havoc Breaks Down His Production Work on Kanye West’s “The Life of Pablo” Album. XXL. Retrieved from http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2016/02/havoc-produced-on-kanye-west-the-life-of-pablo-album-interview/Ratcliffe, R. (2014). A Proposed Typology of Sampled Material Within Electronic Dance Music. Dancecult, 6(1), 97–122.Reynolds, S. (2012). Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to its Own Past. London: Faber.Rose, T. (1994). Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (1st ed.). Hanover, N.H.: Wesleyan.Walser, R. (1995). Rhythm, Rhyme and Rhetoric in the Muse of Public Enemy. Ethnomusicology, 39(2), 193–217.DiscographyBacalov, Luis (1973). Mi Sono Svegliato E… Ho Chiuso Gli Occhi [recorded by Il Rovescio della Medaglia]. On Contaminazione [LP]. New York: RCA. (1973)Cole, Natalie (1980). 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Answered by TechWebThe blockchain is an undeniably ingenious invention – the brainchild of a person or group of people known by the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. But since then, it has evolved into something greater, and the main question every single person is asking is: What is Blockchain?Is Blockchain Technology the New Internet?By allowing digital information to be distributed but not copied, blockchain technology created the backbone of a new type of internet. Originally devised for the digital currency, Bitcoin blockchain, (Buy Bitcoin) the tech community has now found other potential uses for the technology.In this guide, we are going to explain to you what the blockchain technology is, and what its properties are what make it so unique. So, we hope you enjoy this, What Is Blockchain Guide. And if you already know what blockchain is and want to become a blockchain developer please check out our in-depth blockchain tutorial and create your very first blockchain.A blockchain is, in the simplest of terms, a time-stamped series of immutable records of data that is managed by a cluster of computers not owned by any single entity. Each of these blocks of data (i.e. block) is secured and bound to each other using cryptographic principles (i.e. chain).So, what is so special about it and why are we saying that it has industry-disrupting capabilities?The blockchain network has no central authority — it is the very definition of a democratized system. Since it is a shared and immutable ledger, the information in it is open for anyone and everyone to see. Hence, anything that is built on the blockchain is by its very nature transparent and everyone involved is accountable for their actions.What exactly is Blockchain?A blockchain carries no transaction cost.(An infrastructure cost yes, but no transaction cost.) The blockchain is a simple yet ingenious way of passing information from A to B in a fully automated and safe manner. One party to a transaction initiates the process by creating a block. This block is verified by thousands, perhaps millions of computers distributed around the net. The verified block is added to a chain, which is stored across the net, creating not just a unique record, but a unique record with a unique history. Falsifying a single record would mean falsifying the entire chain in millions of instances. That is virtually impossible. Bitcoin uses this model for monetary transactions, but it can be deployed in many other ways.Think of a railway company. We buy tickets on an app or the web. The credit card company takes a cut for processing the transaction. Blockchains, not only can the railway operator save on credit card processing fees, it can move the entire ticketing process to the blockchain. The two parties in the transaction are the railway company and the passenger. The ticket is a block, which will be added to a ticket blockchain. Just as a monetary transaction on the blockchain is a unique, independently verifiable and unfalsifiable record (like Bitcoin), so can your ticket be. Incidentally, the final ticket blockchain is also a record of all transactions for, say, a certain train route, or even the entire train network, comprising every ticket ever sold, every journey ever taken.But the key here is this: it’s free. Not only can the blockchain transfer and store money, but it can also replace all processes and business models that rely on charging a small fee for a transaction. Or any other transaction between two parties.Here is another example. The gig economy hub Fivver charges 0.5 dollars on a 5 transaction between individuals buying and selling services. Using blockchain the transaction is free. Ergo, Fivver will cease to exist. So will auction houses and any other business entity based on the market-maker principle.Even recent entrants like Uber and Airbnb are threatened by blockchain . All you need to do is encode the transactional information for a car ride or an overnight stay, and again you have a perfectly safe way that disrupts the business model of the companies which have just begun to challenge the traditional economy. We are not just cutting out the fee-processing middle man, we are also eliminating the need for the match-making platform.Because blockchain transactions are free, you can charge minuscule amounts, say 1/100 of a cent for a video view or article read. Why should I pay The Economist or National Geographic an annual subscription fee if I can pay per article on Facebook or my favorite chat app? Again, remember that blockchain transactions carry no transaction cost. You can charge for anything in any amount without worrying about third parties cutting into your profits.Blockchain may make selling recorded music profitable again for artists by cutting out music companies and distributors like Apple or Spotify. The music you buy could even be encoded in the blockchain itself, making it a cloud archive for any song purchased. Because the amounts charged can be so small, subscription and streaming services will become irrelevant.It goes further. Ebooks could be fitted with blockchain code. Instead of Amazon taking a cut, and the credit card company earning money on the sale, the books would circulate in encoded form and a successful blockchain transaction would transfer money to the author and unlock the book. Transfer ALL the money to the author, not just meager royalties. You could do this on a book review website like Goodreads, or on your own website. The marketplace Amazon is then unnecessary. Successful iterations could even include reviews and other third-party information about the book.In the financial world the applications are more obvious and the revolutionary changes more imminent. Blockchains will change the way stock exchanges work, loans are bundled, and insurances contracted. They will eliminate bank accounts and practically all services offered by banks. Almost every financial institution will go bankrupt or be forced to change fundamentally, once the advantages of a safe ledger technology without transaction fees are widely understood and implemented. After all, the financial system is built on taking a small cut of your money for the privilege of facilitating a transaction. Bankers will become mere advisers, not gatekeepers of money. Stockbrokers will no longer be able to earn commissions and the buy/sell spread will disappear.How Does a Blockchain Work?Picture a spreadsheet that is duplicated thousands of times across a network of computers. Then imagine that this network is designed to regularly update this spreadsheet and you have a basic understanding of the blockchain.Information held on a blockchain exists as a shared — and continually reconciled — database. This is a way of using the network that has obvious benefits. The blockchain database isn’t stored in any single location, meaning the records it keeps are truly public and easily verifiable. No centralized version of this information exists for a hacker to corrupt. Hosted by millions of computers simultaneously, its data is accessible to anyone on the internet.To go in deeper with the Google spreadsheet analogy, I would like you to read this piece from a blockchain specialist.“The traditional way of sharing documents with collaboration is to send a Microsoft Word document to another recipient and ask them to make revisions to it. The problem with that scenario is that you need to wait until receiving a return copy before you can see or make other changes because you are locked out of editing it until the other person is done with it. That’s how databases work today. Two owners can’t be messing with the same record at once. That’s how banks maintain money balances and transfers; they briefly lock access (or decrease the balance) while they make a transfer, then update the other side, then re-open access (or update again). With Google Docs (or Google Sheets), both parties have access to the same document at the same time, and the single version of that document is always visible to both of them. It is like a shared ledger, but it is a shared document. The distributed part comes into play when sharing involves a number of people.Imagine the number of legal documents that should be used that way. Instead of passing them to each other, losing track of versions, and not being in sync with the other version, why can’t *all* business documents become shared instead of transferred back and forth? So many types of legal contracts would be ideal for that kind of workflow. You don’t need a blockchain to share documents, but the shared documents analogy is a powerful one.” – William Mougayar, Venture advisor, 4x entrepreneur, marketer, strategist, and blockchain specialistThe reason why the blockchain has gained so much admiration is that:It is not owned by a single entity, hence it is decentralizedThe data is cryptographically stored insideThe blockchain is immutable, so no one can tamper with the data that is inside the blockchainThe blockchain is transparent so one can track the data if they want toThe Three Pillars of Blockchain TechnologyThe three main properties of Blockchain Technology which have helped it gain widespread acclaim are as follows:DecentralizationTransparencyImmutabilityPillar #1: DecentralizationBefore Bitcoin and BitTorrent came along, we were more used to centralized services. The idea is very simple. You have a centralized entity that stored all the data and you’d have to interact solely with this entity to get whatever information you required.Another example of a centralized system is the banks. They store all your money, and the only way that you can pay someone is by going through the bank.The traditional client-server model is a perfect example of this:When you google search for something, you send a query to the server who then gets back at you with the relevant information. That is a simple client-server.Now, centralized systems have treated us well for many years, however, they have several vulnerabilities.Firstly, because they are centralized, all the data is stored in one spot. This makes them easy target spots for potential hackers.If the centralized system were to go through a software upgrade, it would halt the entire systemWhat if the centralized entity somehow shuts down for whatever reason? That way nobody will be able to access the information that it possessesWorst case scenario, what if this entity gets corrupted and malicious? If that happens then all the data that is inside the blockchain will be compromised.So, what happens if we just take this centralized entity away?In a decentralized system, the information is not stored by one single entity. In fact, everyone in the network owns the information.In a decentralized network, if you wanted to interact with your friend then you can do so directly without going through a third party. That was the main ideology behind Bitcoins. You and only you alone are in charge of your money. You can send your money to anyone you want without having to go through a bank.Pillar #2: TransparencyOne of the most interesting and misunderstood concepts in blockchain is “transparency.” Some people say that blockchain gives you privacy while some say that it is transparent. Why do you think that happens?Well… a person’s identity is hidden via complex cryptography and represented only by their public address. So, if you were to look up a person’s transaction history, you will not see “Bob sent 1 BTC” instead you will see “1MF1bhsFLkBzzz9vpFYEmvwT2TbyCt7NZJ sent 1 BTC”.The following snapshot of Ethereum transactions will show you what we mean:So, while the person’s real identity is secure, you will still see all the transactions that were done by their public address. This level of transparency has never existed before within a financial system. It adds that extra, and much needed, level of accountability which is required by some of these biggest institutions.Speaking purely from the point of view of cryptocurrency, if you know the public address of one of these big companies, you can simply pop it in an explorer and look at all the transactions that they have engaged in. This forces them to be honest, something that they have never had to deal with before.However, that’s not the best use-case. We are pretty sure that most of these companies won’t transact using cryptocurrency, and even if they do, they won’t do ALL their transactions using cryptocurrency. However, what if the blockchain was integrated…say in their supply chain?You can see why something like this can be very helpful for the finance industry right?Pillar #3: ImmutabilityImmutability, in the context of the blockchain, means that once something has been entered into the blockchain, it cannot be tampered with.Can you imagine how valuable this will be for financial institutes?Imagine how many embezzlement cases can be nipped in the bud if people know that they can’t “work the books” and fiddle around with company accounts.The reason why the blockchain gets this property is that of the cryptographic hash function.In simple terms, hashing means taking an input string of any length and giving out an output of a fixed length. In the context of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, the transactions are taken as input and run through a hashing algorithm (Bitcoin uses SHA-256) which gives an output of a fixed length.Let’s see how the hashing process works. We are going to put in certain inputs. For this exercise, we are going to use the SHA-256 (Secure Hashing Algorithm 256).As you can see, in the case of SHA-256, no matter how big or small your input is, the output will always have a fixed 256-bits length. This becomes critical when you are dealing with a huge amount of data and transactions. So basically, instead of remembering the input data which could be huge, you can just remember the hash and keep track.A cryptographic hash function is a special class of hash functions that has various properties making it ideal for cryptography. There are certain properties that a cryptographic hash function needs to have in order to be considered secure. You can read about those in detail in our guide on hashing.There is just one property that we want you to focus on today. It is called the “Avalanche Effect.”What does that mean?Even if you make a small change in your input, the changes that will be reflected in the hash will be huge. Let’s test it out using SHA-256:Do you see that? Even though you just changed the case of the first alphabet of the input, look at how much that has affected the output hash. Now, let’s go back to our previous point when we were looking at blockchain architecture. What we said was:The blockchain is a linked list that contains data and a hash pointer that points to its previous block, hence creating the chain. What is a hash pointer? A hash pointer is similar to a pointer, but instead of just containing the address of the previous block it also contains the hash of the data inside the previous block.This one small tweak is what makes blockchains so amazingly reliable and trailblazing.Imagine this for a second, a hacker attacks block 3 and tries to change the data. Because of the properties of hash functions, a slight change in data will change the hash drastically. This means that any slight changes made in block 3, will change the hash which is stored in block 2, now that in turn will change the data and the hash of block 2 which will result in changes in block 1 and so on and so forth. This will completely change the chain, which is impossible. This is exactly how blockchains attain immutability.Maintaining the Blockchain – Network, and NodesThe blockchain is maintained by a peer-to-peer network. The network is a collection of nodes that are interconnected to one another. Nodes are individual computers that take in input and performs a function on them and gives an output. The blockchain uses a special kind of network called “peer-to-peer network” which partitions its entire workload between participants, who are all equally privileged, called “peers”. There is no longer one central server, now there are several distributed and decentralized peers.Why do people use the peer-to-peer network?One of the main uses of the peer-to-peer network is file sharing, also called torrenting. If you are to use a client-server model for downloading, then it is usually extremely slow and entirely dependent on the health of the server. Plus, as we said, it is prone to censorship.However, in a peer-to-peer system, there is no central authority, and hence if even one of the peers in the network goes out of the race, you still have more peers to download from. Plus, it is not subject to the idealistic standards of a central system, hence it is not prone to censorship.If we were to compare the two:Image courtesy: QuoraThe decentralized nature of a peer-to-peer system becomes critical as we move on to the next section. How critical? Well, the simple (at least on paper) idea of combining this peer-to-peer network with a payment system has completely revolutionized the finance industry by giving birth to cryptocurrency.The use of networks and nodes in cryptocurrencies.The peer-to-peer network structure in cryptocurrency is structured according to the consensus mechanism that they are utilizing. For cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and Ethereum which uses a normal proof-of-work consensus mechanism (Ethereum will eventually move on to Proof of Stake), all the nodes have the same privilege. The idea is to create an egalitarian network. The nodes are not given any special privileges, however, their functions and degree of participation may differ. There is no centralized server/entity, nor is there any hierarchy. It is a flat topology.These decentralized cryptocurrencies are structured like that is because of a simple reason, to stay true to their philosophy. The idea is to have a currency system, where everyone is treated as an equal and there is no governing body, which can determine the value of the currency based on a whim. This is true for both bitcoin and Ethereum.Now, if there is no central system, how would everyone in the system get to know that a certain transaction has happened? The network follows the gossip protocol. Think of how gossip spreads. Suppose Alice sent 3 ETH to Bob. The nodes nearest to her will get to know of this, and then they will tell the nodes closest to them, and then they will tell their neighbors, and this will keep on spreading out until everyone knows. Nodes are basically your nosy, annoying relatives.So, what is a node in the context of Ethereum? A node is simply a computer that participates in the Ethereum network. This participation can be in three waysBy keeping a shallow-copy of the blockchain aka a Light ClientBy keeping a full copy of the blockchain aka a Full NodeBy verifying the transactions aka MiningHowever, the problem with this design is that it is not really that scalable. Which is why a lot of new generation cryptocurrencies adopt a leader-based consensus mechanism. In EOS, Cardano, Neo, etc. the nodes elect leader nodes or “supernodes” who are in charge of the consensus and overall network health. These cryptos are a lot faster but they are not the most decentralized of systems.So, in a way, cryptos have to make the trade-off between speed and decentralization.Who Will Use The Blockchain?As a web infrastructure, you don’t need to know about the blockchain for it to be useful in your life.Currently, finance offers the strongest use cases for the technology. International remittances, for instance. The World Bank estimates that over $430 billion US in money transfers were sent in 2015. And at the moment there is a high demand for blockchain developers.The blockchain potentially cuts out the middleman for these types of transactions. Personal computing became accessible to the general public with the invention of the Graphical User Interface (GUI), which took the form of a “desktop”. Similarly, the most common GUI devised for the blockchain are the so-called “wallet” applications, which people use to buy things with Bitcoin, and store it along with other cryptocurrencies.Transactions online are closely connected to the processes of identity verification. It is easy to imagine that wallet apps will transform in the coming years to include other types of identity management.What is Blockchain good for?The blockchain network gives internet users the ability to create value and authenticates digital information. What new business applications will result from this?#1 Smart contractsDistributed ledger technology enable the coding of simple contracts that will execute when specified conditions are met. Ethereum is an open-source blockchain project that was built specifically to realize this possibility. Still, in its early stages, Ethereum has the potential to leverage the usefulness of blockchains on a truly world-changing scale.At the technology’s current level of development, smart contracts can be programmed to perform simple functions. For instance, a derivative could be paid out when a financial instrument meets a certain benchmark, with the use of blockchain technology and Bitcoin enabling the payout to be automated.#2 The sharing economyWith companies like Uber and Airbnb flourishing, the sharing economy is already a proven success. Currently, however, users who want to hail a ride-sharing service have to rely on an intermediary like Uber. By enabling peer-to-peer payments, the blockchain opens the door to direct interaction between parties — a truly decentralized sharing economy results.An early example, OpenBazaar uses the blockchain to create a peer-to-peer eBay. Download the app onto your computing device, and you can transact with OpenBazzar vendors without paying transaction fees. The “no rules” ethos of the protocol means that personal reputation will be even more important to business interactions than it currently is on eBay.#3 CrowdfundingCrowdfunding initiatives like Kickstarter and Gofundme are doing the advance work for the emerging peer-to-peer economy. The popularity of these sites suggests people want to have a direct say in product development. Blockchains take this interest to the next level, potentially creating crowd-sourced venture capital funds.In 2016, one such experiment, the Ethereum-based DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), raised an astonishing $200 million USD in just over two months. Participants purchased “DAO tokens” allowing them to vote on smart contract venture capital investments (voting power was proportionate to the number of DAO they were holding). A subsequent hack of project funds proved that the project was launched without proper due diligence, with disastrous consequences. Regardless, the DAO experiment suggests the blockchain has the potential to usher in “a new paradigm of economic cooperation.”#4 GovernanceBy making the results fully transparent and publicly accessible, distributed database technology could bring full transparency to elections or any other kind of poll taking. Ethereum-based smart contracts help to automate the process.The app, Boardroom, enables organizational decision-making to happen on the blockchain. In practice, this means company governance becomes fully transparent and verifiable when managing digital assets, equity or information.#5 Supply chain auditingConsumers increasingly want to know that the ethical claims companies make about their products are real. Distributed ledgers provide an easy way to certify that the backstories of the things we buy are genuine. Transparency comes with blockchain-based timestamping of a date and location — on ethical diamonds, for instance — that corresponds to a product number.The UK-based Provenance offers supply chain auditing for a range of consumer goods. Making use of the Ethereum blockchain, a Provenance pilot project ensures that fish sold in Sushi restaurants in Japan have been sustainably harvested by its suppliers in Indonesia.#6 File storageDecentralizing file storage on the internet brings clear benefits. Distributing data throughout the network protects files from getting hacked or lost.InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) makes it easy to conceptualize how a distributed web might operate. Similar to the way a BitTorrent moves data around the internet, IPFS gets rid of the need for centralized client-server relationships (i.e., the current web). An internet made up of completely decentralized websites has the potential to speed up file transfer and streaming times. Such an improvement is not only convenient. It’s a necessary upgrade to the web’s currently overloaded content-delivery systems.#7 Prediction marketsThe crowdsourcing of predictions on event probability is proven to have a high degree of accuracy. Averaging opinions cancels out the unexamined biases that distort judgment. Prediction markets that payout according to event outcomes are already active. Blockchains are a “wisdom of the crowd” technology that will no doubt find other applications in the years to come.The prediction market application Augur makes share offerings on the outcome of real-world events. Participants can earn money by buying into the correct prediction. The more shares purchased in the correct outcome, the higher the payout will be. With a small commitment of funds (less than a dollar), anyone can ask a question, create a market based on a predicted outcome, and collect half of all transaction fees the market generates.#8 Protection of intellectual propertyAs is well known, digital information can be infinitely reproduced — and distributed widely thanks to the internet. This has given web users globally a goldmine of free content. However, copyright holders have not been so lucky, losing control over their intellectual property and suffering financially as a consequence. Smart contracts can protect copyright and automate the sale of creative works online, eliminating the risk of file copying and redistribution.Mycelia uses the blockchain to create a peer-to-peer music distribution system. Founded by the UK singer-songwriter Imogen Heap, Mycelia enables musicians to sell songs directly to audiences, as well as license samples to producers and divvy up royalties to songwriters and musicians — all of these functions being automated by smart contracts. The capacity of blockchains to issue payments in fractional cryptocurrency amounts (micropayments) suggests this use case for the blockchain has a strong chance of success.#9 Internet of Things (IoT)What is the IoT? The network-controlled management of certain types of electronic devices — for instance, the monitoring of air temperature in a storage facility. Smart contracts make the automation of remote systems management possible. A combination of software, sensors, and the network facilitates an exchange of data between objects and mechanisms. The result increases system efficiency and improves cost monitoring.The biggest players in manufacturing, tech, and telecommunications are all vying for IoT dominance. Think Samsung, IBM, and AT&T. A natural extension of existing infrastructure controlled by incumbents, IoT applications will run the gamut from predictive maintenance of mechanical parts to data analytics, and mass-scale automated systems management.#10 Neighbourhood MicrogridsBlockchain technologies enables the buying and selling of the renewable energy generated by neighborhood microgrids. When solar panels make excess energy, Ethereum-based smart contracts automatically redistribute it. Similar types of smart contract automation will have many other applications as the IoT becomes a reality.Located in Brooklyn, Consensys is one of the foremost companies globally that is developing a range of applications for Ethereum. One project they are partnering on is Transactive Grid, working with the distributed energy outfit, LO3. A prototype project currently up and running uses Ethereum smart contracts to automate the monitoring and redistribution of microgrid energy. This so-called “intelligent grid” is an early example of IoT functionality.#11 Identity managementThere is a definite need for better identity management on the web. The ability to verify your identity is the lynchpin of financial transactions that happen online. However, remedies for the security risks that come with web commerce are imperfect at best. Distributed ledgers offer enhanced methods for proving who you are, along with the possibility to digitize personal documents. Having a secure identity will also be important for online interactions — for instance, in the sharing economy. A good reputation, after all, is the most important condition for conducting transactions online.Developing digital identity standards is proving to be a highly complex process. Technical challenges aside, a universal online identity solution requires cooperation between private entities and the government. Add to that the need to navigate legal systems in different countries and the problem becomes exponentially difficult. An E-Commerce on the internet currently relies on the SSL certificate (the little green lock) for secure transactions on the web. Netki is a startup that aspires to create an SSL standard for the blockchain. Having recently announced a $3.5 million seed round, Netki expects a product launch in early 2017.#12 AML and KYCAnti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) practices have a strong potential for being adapted to the blockchain. Currently, financial institutions must perform a labor-intensive multi-step process for each new customer. KYC costs could be reduced through cross-institution client verification and at the same time increase monitoring and analysis effectiveness.Startup Polycoin has an AML/KYC solution that involves analyzing transactions. Those transactions identified as being suspicious are forwarded on to compliance officers. Another startup, Tradle is developing an application called Trust in Motion (TiM). Characterized as an “Instagram for KYC”, TiM allows customers to take a snapshot of key documents (passport, utility bill, etc.). Once verified by the bank, this data is cryptographically stored on the blockchain.#13 Data managementToday, in exchange for their personal data people can use social media platforms like Facebook for free. In future, users will have the ability to manage and sell the data their online activity generates. Because it can be easily distributed in small fractional amounts, Bitcoin — or something like it — will most likely be the currency that gets used for this type of transaction.The MIT project Enigma understands that user privacy is the key precondition for creating of a personal data marketplace. Enigma uses cryptographic techniques to allow individual data sets to be split between nodes and at the same time run bulk computations over the data group as a whole. Fragmenting the data also makes Enigma scalable (unlike those blockchain solutions where data gets replicated on every node). A Beta launch is promised within the next six months.#14 Land title registrationAs Publicly-accessible ledgers, blockchains can make all kinds of record-keeping more efficient. Property titles are a case in point. They tend to be susceptible to fraud, as well as costly and labor-intensive to administer.A number of countries are undertaking blockchain-based land registry projects. Honduras was the first government to announce such an initiative in 2015, although the current status of that project is unclear. This year, the Republic of Georgia cemented a deal with the Bitfury Group to develop a blockchain system for property titles. Reportedly, Hernando de Soto, the high-profile economist, and property rights advocate will be advising on the project. Most recently, Sweden announced it was experimenting with a blockchain application for property titles.#15 Stock tradingThe potential for added efficiency in share settlement makes a strong use case for blockchains in stock trading. When executed peer-to-peer, trade confirmations become almost instantaneous (as opposed to taking three days for clearance). Potentially, this means intermediaries — such as the clearing house, auditors and custodians — get removed from the process.Numerous stock and commodities exchanges are prototyping blockchain applications for the services they offer, including the ASX (Australian Securities Exchange), the Deutsche Börse (Frankfurt’s stock exchange) and the JPX (Japan Exchange Group). Most high profile because the acknowledged first mover in the area, is the Nasdaq’s Linq, a platform for private market trading (typically between pre-IPO startups and investors). A partnership with the blockchain tech company Chain, Linq announced the completion of it its first share trade in 2015. More recently, Nasdaq announced the development of a trial blockchain project for proxy voting on the Estonian Stock Market.Like what you read? Give us one like or share it to your friends16,8811) Q: What is a Blockchain?A: A blockchain is, an immutable time-stamped series record of data that is distributed and managed by cluster of computers.2) Q: Who controls the blockchain?A: An open blockchain network has no central authority — it is the very definition of a democratized system. Since it is a shared and immutable ledger, the information in it is open for anyone and everyone to see.3) Q: What are the 3 pillars of blockchain technology?DecentralizationTransparencyImmutability4) Q: What is Blockchain used for?A: Initially, used for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies blockchain has now found use cases in several industries including finance, real estate, and health.

League and court battlesThe ownership of the badminton league is already being fought in court while in the Indian Super League (ISL), the football league faced a major controversy when the ISL regulatory commission banned popular club FC Goa for ‘indiscipline’ and imposed a hefty fine of US$ 1.6 million on the club owners. The club had boycotted the final prize distribution ceremony last year after some players had made allegations against the match officials.The FC Goa management had made adverse comments in the media disputing the result of league’s final last year. The team co-owner Dattaraj Salgaocar claimed that two penalties given against his team in the last five minutes changed everything. “It was a terrible referring, one-sided and it was already decided to give away the match to Chennai team,” he alleged.Amidst all this, India remains at a low 162nd spot in FIFA rankings. So much so that a nation with huge population pool to nurture talent is often beaten by much smaller nations like Nepal and war-struck Afghanistan.Interestingly, European and German clubs are far more popular in India than the Indian clubs. This is mainly due to live telecast of the FA Cup, the Bundesliga and other international fixtures. It has produced thousands of armchair football fans. But the sport has vanished from the masses. Most of the schools in India do not even have a playing field. And wherever there are fields they are dotted with cricket players. Hardly anyone plays football. The standard, therefore, remains low.During the league seasons, there is always a fight between clubs or franchises of the league and the national coaches. While the franchises want players for League fixtures, coaches demand that they be in a coaching camp for national duty. The fight goes on with the standard of the game static.Competition law and sportsWhile cricket is the king of sports in India, other team sports like football and hockey and recently even Formula 1 races are gaining popularity and viewership with large corporates evincing interest in sponsorship and willing to invest in building brands and some even acquiring popular overseas clubs that attract a young audience. IPL is now in its fifth season and its continued success has clearly demonstrated the commercial viability of franchisee, endorsement and broadcasting rights for club and league sports. The moot question therefore is whether league and club events can be held outside the National Sports Federation (NSF) and if yes, the real benefits of such events including increasing the popularity of such sports.Sports events worldwide are organized in a pyramid structure, where a particular sport is governed and regulated by a single International Federation (IF) with various NSFs affiliated to it. The IF governs the regulatory aspect i.e. laying down the rules of the sport, eligibility criteria and playing conditions. The IF also makes the annual calendar for that sport and conducts the world championship and other international level events. A corollary at the national level would be that the NSF would follow the regulations of the IF as a condition of its membership and have exclusive powers to make the annual calendar, develop grass-root level of sport and conduct tournaments and training camps in the country.The importance of the pyramid structure and the riskto the sports due to multiple sport federations have been recognized by IOC and have been addressed in the European Commission’s Helsinki Report and the White Paper on sport. Integrity, uniformity and strict control over regulations ensure that non-discriminatory uniform rules are applied to the sport worldwide and encourage growth of the sports across the globe. It includes sporting sanctions like disciplinary action, suspensions, fines and bans for behavior contrary to the spirit of sports which lie at the core of the sporting movement and can be applied only within the sporting structure.The directions of the Delhi High Court directing the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to undertake enquiry against the All India Chess Federation for preventing its players from taking part in a tournament outside its aegis, BCCI’s sanctions on the Indian Cricket League and the conduct of the World Series Hockey by the Indian Hockey Federation allegedly fall within the ambit of the IF/NSF trying to curb the advent of breakaway leagues through their rules.The IF/NSFs’ rules restricting rival tournaments and release of players for these tournaments (e.g. India) have come under the scanner of competition/anti-trust laws like abuse of dominant position and anticompetitive agreements leading to unreasonable restraint on trade. The sports industry is unique because the pyramid structure which ensures monopoly is essential in maintaining the integrity of sport and unlike other industries, the industry thrives on competition rather than from the lack of it. This reasoning gives birth to the exception of ‘Specificity of Sport’ i.e. certain sporting activities are excluded from the purview of the competition laws. The European courts while creating this exception have divided the IF/NSF activities into two parts. The first being pure sporting functions whereas the second being activities having a substantial economic impact.Pure sporting activities like laying down the rules of the sport, defining the size and weight of the ball and dimensions of the playing field are excluded from the ambit of competition laws. But activities of the IF/NSF having substantial economic impact are within the purview of the competition law.The regulatory power of the IF/NSF if used to gain commercial and financial advantage would fall within this ambit provided the following conditions are satisfied:That the agreements are not anti-competitive i.e. they do not attempt/cause appreciable adverse effect on competition; and/orThat they are not abusing their dominant position and are not imposing unfair or discriminatory conditions.The European courts have held that these conditions in the sporting sector are satisfied when a particular rule though restricting competition has a larger public objective and this objective can be achieved only by applying certain restrictive rules that are essential for the integrity, continuity, organization and conduct of the sport at national and international levels, and the rule is applied uniformly and transparently.The Competition Commission of India is faced with a similar task today to recognize the specificity of sport and carve out exceptions in the Indian scenario. The decision of the CCI will have a huge impact on the Indian sports industry as many a corporate await a chance to start their own breakaway leagues and commercially gain from the revenues generated from these leagues.Sports and Competition LawTwo teams playing against each other are like two corporate firms producing a single product. The product is the game, weighted by the revenues derived from its play. In one sense, the teams compete; in another, they combine in a single firm in which the success of each branch requires efficiency. Unequally distributed playing talent can produce “competitive imbalance”. Remuneration of the team members largely depends on the level of competition between the teams in the particular sports. sport is generally organized in a kind of a ‘pyramid’ structure, with a single governing body controlling most regulatory and commercial aspects of each sport, the governing body appears to be de facto ‘dominant’ and therefore claims relating to the abuse of monopoly.Sports governing bodies such as BCCI, often attempt to preserve for themselves the sole ability to regulate the sport and to organize events. In order to prevent the development of rival organizations, they have sought to tie players in by prohibiting them from competing in other events, on pain of exclusion from ‘official’ events, and such rules have been the subject of challenge under competition law.When the Zee launched Indian Cricket League, the BCCI sacked Kapil Dev as chairman of the National Cricket Academy for aligning with ICL and barred all the 44 defecting players from playing for India or at the domestic level. It made clear that any cricketer who aligns with ICL will be banned for life from playing for India. Such practice on part of the BCCI may attract liability under the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002. As per Section 4(2)(c) of the Act if any enterprise “indulges in practice or practices resulting in denial of market access in any manner”, then it shall be liable for abuse of dominant position. Thus, such practice of banning players from domestic tournaments on account of joining the rival leagues may prove expensive for the BCCI, which may face a challenge on grounds of abuse of dominant position.The denial of stadiums by the BCCI can attract liability for abuse of dominant position under s.4(2)(c) of the Competition Act, 2002 as by denying the use of essential facility under its control it raises the barriers to entry in the market for its competitors, resulting effectively in denial of market access. Operating from just one stadium in Panchkula (in Haryana near Chandigarh), the ICL clearly missed out on one of the integral aspects of leagues sports i.e. a fan base, since it is unable to capture home crowds for matches on account of non-access to the stadiums in the club’s cities.Sports Law and ArbitrationArbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, wherein the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons (the “arbitrators”, “arbiters” or “arbitral tribunal”), by whose decision (the “award”) they agree to be bound. It is a settlement technique in which a third party reviews the case and imposes a decision that is legally binding for both sides. Other forms of ADR include mediation (a form of settlement negotiation facilitated by a neutral third party) and non-binding resolution by experts. Arbitration in India is governed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 (“Indian Arbitration Act”), which is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law. The Indian Arbitration Act is broadly divided into two parts. Part I applies to arbitrations held in India, whether domestic or international, and Part II applies to arbitrations held outside India. Part II, incorporates the rules related to international arbitrations governed by the New York or Geneva Conventions. In sports, the disputes are first referred to the federations that govern a particular sport and subsequently the international authorities that govern the sport. e.g. in hockey disputes are referred to the Indian Hockey Federation and after that the International Hockey Federation.At a time when sports are becoming more professional and the stakes are becoming higher than ever, dispute resolution takes on an increasingly important role. In many respects arbitration offers the most suitable solutions with regards to the rapidity, diversity, incontestability and professionalism of the decisions rendered. With regular increase in the number of sports-related disputes in the country, India requires an independent authority that specializes in sports-related problems and that is authorised to pronounce binding decisions. The disputes when referred to courts take a long time to come up with the final decision since the Indian courts are already piled up with a number of pending cases. There is a need to have an authority for sports that offers flexible, quick and inexpensive method of resolution of disputes. With the inauguration of India’s first arbitration centre in Delhi in 2009, India is recognizing the necessity of arbitration for quicker disposal of cases. The increasing use of arbitration in sport over the last decade has challenged the legal framework in which arbitration disputes are addressed in many jurisdictions.Court of Arbitration for SportArbitration exists in international sport through the Court of Arbitration for Sport. All international disputes relating to sports are referred to it. The most prominent sports dispute resolution forum is the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which has its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The CAS was created by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1983. It also has two permanent outposts in Sydney, Australia and New York, USA. It has a minimum of 150 arbitrators from 37 countries, who are specialists in arbitrations and sports law. They are appointed by the International Council of Arbitration for Sports (ICAS) for a four year renewable term and need to sign a ‘letter of independence’. The CAS also has a permanent President who is also the President of ICAS.The body was originally conceived by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Juan Antonio Samaranch to deal with disputes arising during the Olympics. It was established as part of the IOC in 1984. However in a case decided by the CAS, an appealed was made to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, challenging CAS impartiality. The Swiss court ruled that the CAS was a true court of arbitration, but drew attention to the numerous links which existed between the CAS and the IOC. The biggest change resulting from this reform was the creation of an “International Council of Arbitration for Sport” (ICAS) to look after the running and financing of the CAS, thereby taking the place of the IOC. CAS is placed under the administrative and financial authority of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS).Almost all international sports federations or associations which are part of the Olympic Games require sports disputes arising between themselves and sportspersons to be decided by the CAS. Sporting federations whose sports are not part of the Olympics such as Formula I where the FIA which is the governing body of motor sports has its own dispute settlement tribunal. Even some sports which are included in the Olympics have their tribunals like football where its governing body FIFA has its own tribunal. For example, in 1993, a claim of bringing Formula I into disrepute was brought against former FI champion Alain Prost and the Williams Renault Team. The matter was however, satisfactorily resolved by the FIA resulting in Prost escaping a possible ban from competing in the remaining FI races of that particular season.A dispute may be submitted to the CAS only if there is an arbitration agreement between the parties which specifies recourse to the CAS. The language for the CAS is either French or English. In principle, two types of dispute may be submitted to the CAS:those of a commercial nature, andthose of a disciplinary nature.CommercialThe first category essentially involves disputes relating to the execution of contracts, such as those relating to sponsorship, the sale of television rights, the staging of sports events, player transfers and relations between players or coaches and clubs and/or agents (employment contracts and agency contracts). Disputes relating to civil liability issues also come under this category (e.g. an accident to an athlete during a sports competition). These so-called commercial disputes are handled by the CAS acting as a court of sole instance.DisciplinaryDisciplinary cases represent the second group of disputes submitted to the CAS, of which a large number are doping-related. In addition to doping cases, the CAS is called upon to rule on various disciplinary cases (violence on the field of play, abuse of a referee). Such disciplinary cases are generally dealt with in the first instance by the competent sports authorities, and subsequently become the subject of an appeal to the CAS, which then acts as a court of last instance.The CAS is governed by its own Statutes and Rules of Procedure namely the Statutes of the Bodies Working for the Settlement of Sports Related Disputes, Code of Sports Related Arbitration and Mediation Rules. According to Articles S12, S20, R27 and R47 of the Code, the Appeals Arbitration Procedure is open for the appeal against every decision rendered by a federation or club and not limited to disciplinary matters, especially doping cases. In addition, Article R57 empowers the CAS Panels not only to annul a certain decision, but also to replace a decision by a decision by a decision of the arbitrators, or to refer the case back to the issuing body. Moreover, Article R58 authorises the Panel to apply the ‘rule of law’ it deems most appropriate for the case. Thus the Panels may deviate from the laws of the country in which the federation is domiciled and reach a decision on the basis of laws of another country or other rules of law, such as general principles of law.The CAS acquires its jurisdiction in a particular case only through the mutual consent of the parties involved. Currently, all Olympic International Federations and many National Olympic Committees have recognised the jurisdiction of the CAS and included in their statutes an arbitration clause referring disputes to it. The CAS hears approximately 200 cases per year. While it was the international response to the rise in the use of performance-enhancing drugs and the resulting doping cases that fueled the creation of the CAS, the Court is called upon to assist in a wide range of sport conflicts, including sponsorship disputes, the eligibility of a particular athlete in accordance with a sport’s constitution, as well as the resolution of disagreements concerning competition results. The determination of issues arising in doping cases remains a significant portion of the CAS caseload.CAS and MediationIn addition to arbitration CAS also offers mediation services to any requesting parties of a sports dispute. Unlike arbitration, the mediation process is not binding—the mediator will provide recommendations, with solutions suggested, but these are not imposed as a result as in the case of arbitration. Mediations are designed to permit the adverse parties an opportunity to air their grievances in an atmosphere aimed at conciliation of the dispute.ADVANTAGES FOR REFERRING CASES TO CASExpertise in sports-related disciplines (there are more than 300 arbitrators from 87 countries qualified to hear CAS disputes) whereas a typical civil judge will not likely possess such sports-specific knowledge.Its arbitrators are all high level jurists and it is generally held in high regard in the international sports community.Procedure is flexible and informal.Expeditious proceeding as cases are heard and determined within a few months from the date of reference. During the Olympics, awards are required to be made within 24 hours.Lower legal cost to the participantsAlso provides mediation servicesCAS is a private procedure and therefore is conducted without the public or media interference. The arbitrators and CAS staff are obligated not to disclose any information connected with the dispute.IMPORTANT CAS RULINGSIn 2003, Canadian cross country skier Becky Scott successfully appealed to the CAS with respect to her claim that she be awarded the 2002 Olympic gold medal in the 5-km pursuit event. Russian skiers Olga Danilova and Larissa Lazutina finished first and second respectively in the competition, with Scott in third place, and each athlete passed their post-event doping test. Danilova and Lazutina each failed a subsequent doping test administered in relation to another Olympic cross-country event, when the presence of a prohibited blood doping agent, darbepoetin, was detected in each skier’s sample. Scott appealed her 5-km race result on the basis that both Russian skiers were engaged in ongoing doping practices. The Scott ruling was the first time in Olympic history that a gold medal had been awarded to an athlete as a result of a CAS ruling.In 2005, the CAS arbitration panel ruled that American sprinter Tim Montgomery be banned from international competition for two years as a result of doping, in spite of the fact that Montgomery had never failed a doping test. The CAS ruled that it could find a doping violation on the basis of the third party evidence called against Montgomery, most of which connected Montgomery to the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) athlete steroid scandal that had arisen in the United States in 2003.In February 2010 Five-time Olympic speedskating champion Claudia Pechstein lost her appeal against a two-year ban for blood doping. CAS dismissed the German’s appeal against a ban imposed by the International Skating Union.Setting aside proceedings against CAS arbitral awards may only be filed with the Swiss Supreme Court due to the seat of CAS tribunals being in Lausanne.Everything you need to know about sports legislations in IndiaPer se, there are no central or state legislation to regulate sports in India; the Ministry, which was set up by the government was responsible for achieving excellence in different sports events which were conducted in India and also to build a good infrastructure for sports. By and large, the administration of sports activities is in the hands of autonomous bodies, such as Sports Authority of India (SAI), Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Hockey India (HI) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).These governing bodies are recipients of government’s aid and are also registered under the Societies Registration’s Act of 1860.[3]THE FOLLOWING GOVERN THE WHOLE OF THE SPORTS LAWNational Sports Policy, 1984/2001The main objective behind enacting this was to raise the standard of sports for the reason that it was degrading due to corruption, betting, etc. It was later realized that the Bill of the year 1984 was incomplete, and its implementation was not complete, and in a bid to revise the bill the same was reformulated in the year 2001.The guidelines are three-fold:Firstly, to earmark the areas of responsibilities which different agencies have to undertake to develop and promote sports.To lay down the procedure to be followed by the autonomous bodies and federations to make the assistance and aid by the government available.And also identifying the sports federation that is eligible for coverage under these set guidelines.It was only after this policy that the lawmakers realized the importance of sports and therefore ‘Sports’ was included in the Constitution in the State list of the Seventh Schedule (Entry 33). The central government by the provisions of this policy aims to achieve excellence in sports on the national and global plane and collaborates with the state government and other agencies to achieve it.Sports Law and Welfare Association of IndiaIt is a non-profit national organization that aims to understand, and work for the advancement of ethical sports law in India for promoting sports. The primary task of the organization is to provide consultancy services on different matters like Indian sports policy, sports injuries, health and safety in sports, IP issues in sports, etc. It also provides a forum for legal practitioners who represent different people, to set up rules for ethics for sports persons.Sports Authority of IndiaThe Sports Authority of India (SAI) is an apex National Sports body set up in the year 1984 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for broad-basing and bringing excellence in sports across India as a whole. It is located across 9 regions at Bangalore, Gandhinagar, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Imphal, Guwahati, Bhopal, Lucknow and Sonepat; and two Academic institutions like Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports (NSNIS), Patiala and Laxmibai National College of Physical Education. It also accounts for academic programs like coaching and physical education awareness programs.[4]The Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) ActThis Act was passed in the year 2007; its main objective was to provide access to listeners and viewers so as to encourage a larger audience. It shall cover the sporting events which are of national importance through mandatory sharing of sports broadcasting signals with Prasar Bharati and for matters related to it. The Act provides that no content right owner or holder or television or radio broadcasting service provider can carry out a live TV broadcast of important national sporting events. For doing this, it has to share its live broadcasting signal simultaneously (except advertisements) with the Prasar Bharati.Role of different stakeholdersMinistry of Youth Affairs and SportsTo lay down the conditions for eligibility of National Sports Federation to get recognitionThe conditions that have to be fulfilled by NSFs and other agencies if they wish to acquire government aid and support.To provide assistance to the NSFs if they carry out long-term development program.National Sports FederationThe responsibility for the complete management, direction, supervision and regulation of the discipline and promotion, development and sponsorship of the discipline is on National Sports Federation. They are expected to discharge these responsibilities in consonance with the principles laid down in the Olympic Charter or the Charter of the Indian Olympic Association in compliance with Government guidelines applicable to NSFs.SAIFor providing the necessary support to NSF for the identification, training, and coaching of sportspersons, also to improvise infrastructure, equipment, and such other facilities, the SAI plays a significant role. Further SAI will also be responsible for releasing funds to NSFs against proposals approved by the Government. The release of funds to IOA shall, however, continue to be made by the concerned Ministry.[5]National Anti-Doping AgencyThe centre has set up a National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) as an autonomous body. It consists of persons from government and non-government agencies, scientists as experts and also members from IOA. In the recent past, the controversy surrounding the intake of dope by sports persons is prevalent and in this light, NADA was set up. It shall carry out ‘in competition’ and ‘out of the competition’ testing on the sportsman. NADA helps in the regulation of sports activities so that it can be corruption-free and non-controversial.Sports law of United States of AmericaThe U.S.A. has a very systematic law for sports. They have not provided with single legislation, but have divided it into 3 categories-:Amateur sportsIt includes athletic activities from high school athletics to organize intercollegiate or international competitions which are often organized and managed by groups that make rules for eligibility and competition, and courts do not interfere with the actions of these groups as long as they abide by the rules. The Amateur Sports Act of 1978 created the Athletic Congress, a national body for governance of amateur athletes, which administers a fund that allows amateur athletes an option to get funds and sponsorship payments and also not lose their amateur status.Professional sportsIn the case of some professional sports activity, most sports leagues do have a standard player’s contract, and that shall be the guiding force behind a contract between players and owners.International sportsThe two main international sports events include the Olympics, sponsored by the International Olympic Committee, and the World Cup, which is sponsored by FIFA. The United States has done the charting of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) in the year 1950.Some jurisdictions have passed separate legislation relating to sports. For example, in India sports information is in the Concurrent list of the Seventh Schedule (entry 33) of the Constitution on which both the union and state legislatures are proficient to put together laws. There are 3 States; Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, which have enacted laws on regulating sports activity including registration, regulation and recognition of Sports Associations (Uttar Pradesh has since repealed the Act).It is one of the main revenue generating industries of the world and with the propagation of the Internet and other forms of media, the sports industry is growing at a faster tempo. An industry of billions of dollars with an all-encompassing worldwide presence is bound to raise its own disputes. This has resulted in the growth and development of sports law as a separate regulation in its own right.