NOiSE Lineage Protocol

Preamble

Every creative work is built from other works. Every song carries traces of prior songs. Every remix is explicit ancestry. The systems we use to distribute music record files, owners, and releases, but rarely the relationships between them. NOiSE makes those relationships structural.

Two Primitives

LineageNode

The unit of creative identity. In the music application, this is a Sound Node: a registered work with creator, content hash, optional co-authors, parent references, and finalized state.

Lineage

The relationship between nodes. Lineage declares that one work was derived from another through a remix, sample, mashup, cover, interpolation, or other transformation.

The Three Rules

I

Identity

Each Sound Node is a unique entity with a creator, external ID, content hash, and timestamp.

II

Declaration

A derivative must declare its parent nodes. Attribution is structural, not an afterthought.

III

Value Flow

Value can route upstream through declared creative branches according to protocol-defined limits.

Authorship and Finalization

Solo nodes can finalize immediately. Multi-author nodes can list co-authors and track approvals. A work becomes finalized only when the required co-authors approve authorship, making the authorship state explicit before the node fully participates in settlement.

Co-author lists must be unique.
The creator cannot also be listed as a co-author.
V1 supports up to 8 co-authors.
Finalization occurs when all listed co-authors approve.

Value Flow

NOiSE V1 uses a creator-majority value-flow invariant. The current node retains the majority of value, while a bounded upstream pool can be distributed to declared parent nodes. V1 caps parent royalty allocation at 30%.

70%

Default retained creator pool

30%

Maximum upstream allocation

8

Maximum declared parents

When multiple parents exist, the upstream pool is split by royalty basis-point weights. Parent nodes can recursively apply the same rule, enabling value to cascade back toward origins while staying bounded for practical execution.

Access Scope and Boundaries

Access is scoped to a specific Sound Node instance. Derived nodes maintain independent access scope and do not inherit permissions from parent nodes. Attribution can remain fully recursive while economic settlement can stop after configured depth or dust thresholds.

Attribution can remain complete even when settlement is bounded. This preserves historical traceability while keeping value distribution efficient at scale.

Design Principles

Minimal protocol layer

Only permanent commitments belong on the protocol path: identity, parentage, approvals, and claim flow.

Earned permanence

A work enters the permanent graph when creators seal the authorship and lineage state.

The graph grows

The protocol records creative history as an expanding graph of works and relationships.