Core Fundamental Shift: From a File to Assets

Music distribution is shifting from flat audio files to session-based digital assets.

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

• long-term asset monetization models
• session-aware playback technologies
• dynamic rendering
• AI-assisted production

Audio Files Were Designed for Digital Playback, Not Digital Protection

Audio files faithfully preserve sound, but they were designed for a world where distribution was protected by the playback vehicle itself. 

Vinyl required a turntable. Tape required a deck. CDs required dedicated hardware. The audio could travel freely because the medium imposed cost, friction, and control.

When music moved into computers, the industry kept the same delivery object — the audio file but lost the protective vehicle that once surrounded it.

Playback moved onto personal computing, yet distribution was still treated as if it were happening through physical media.

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

That Means:

•  Audio files still work perfectly for playback

• They do not protect how music was made once it leaves the studio

• Creative labor embedded upstream becomes invisible downstream

• Attribution, context, and value are left to informal systems

DAAP introduces the missing layer — not to replace audio formats or playback systems, but to restore what physical media once provided...provenance, permanence, structure.

So as music moves through modern digital infrastructure, sessions, tools, and contributors remain attributable, meaningful, and economically visible — not just the sound.