Introducing Releap
Decentralised music NFT platform built on Solana
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Last month when we announced Releap to a close network of artists, we couldn’t have hoped for a better response! Since then, we’ve received so many replies from independent artists, producers and labels who are eager to use our platform to issue music NFTs.
We’re excited to finally make a public announcement for Releap — a decentralised music NFT platform built on Solana, with a mission to empower artists with new tools to engage fans like never before.
Our launch comes at a time when NFTs are about to lead the greatest revolution in music since streaming, and there will soon be a huge wave of artists using Web3 tools to reach a truly global audience. The challenge then is identifying the right approach for artists to build fruitful and long-lasting relationships with their listeners.
Inception
We already know from the Web 2.0 experience that compensating creators solely based on the number of streams will lead to unfairness. This approach would inevitably allow big record companies and elite artists to set rules that benefit themselves, steamrolling all efforts at decentralisation.
Releap’s decentralised platform exists on top of streaming. The role of NFTs is to offer premium digital experiences to the artist’s most passionate and loyal fans (the 20% who contribute to 80% of the artist’s earnings). From limited edition releases and exclusive live chats, to metaverse events and VIP concert tickets, we’ve only scratched the surface of what music NFTs can do.
All of our tools are ultimately aimed at fostering the growth of the independent creator. With Releap Circles, we return creative ownership to artists and encourage them to build their own network effect. Artists are able to get direct contributions from fans through a reward system set by artists themselves, without any interference from third party platforms.
Our mission to help creators engage with the largest audience possible has been the primary reason to build on Solana. Solana’s low fees allows any fan to ape into NFTs without worrying too much about gas. Ultimately, the fastest, cheapest and most comprehensive creative tool always wins out.
The Releap ecosystem consists of Releap Studio, Releap Exchange and Releap Circles — each with a part to play in an artist’s Web3 journey. Let’s take a look at these features in detail to see how they work!
Releap Studio— The Future of Release
On Releap Studio, artists can easily create NFTs embedded with their tracks. NFTs can be housed in collections based on the track and be minted in batches.
- Collections: Artists can create collections for their various tracks and mint NFTs that belong to these collections. Varying cover art can be used for different NFTs increasing their collectible value.
- Features: In addition to the easy minting, Releap Studio enables high levels of customisation throughout the minting process. Artists can enter their preferred resale royalty percentage, they may assign their collaborators a split of the royalty automatically. They can burn NFTs directly in the studio and mint additional NFTs to a collection as they choose.
- Decentralised file storage: Music tracks uploaded on our services are hosted on a decentralised Permaweb network called Arweave, which ensures that tracks on our platform stay permanent and can be accessed anytime and anywhere.
With Releap Studio, the process of minting NFTs is quick, cheap and aims to give back distributive control to artists at every step.
Releap Exchange — Powered by Solana
After minting NFTs on Releap Studio, users may list their music NFTs on Releap Exchange — the first of its kind music NFT marketplace built on Solana.
- Low fees: Solana’s low fees ensure that gas is never an issue for creators, and we don’t plan to charge a minting fee either. Our Exchange charges 1.5% on transactions.
- Permissionless onboarding: Releap Exchange reduces barriers for artists to list their NFTs on a marketplace, encouraging any creator, especially those emerging and independent, to upload their own music. Of course, any violation of creator’s rights is to be taken seriously, and we will remove tracks from our platform where there is copyright infringement.
- Streaming data integration: Our Exchange will call data from streaming platform APIs offered to us by our partners. The data offers supporting information about the track’s popularity and thus serves as a metric for collectors to valuate tracks.
- Interoperability: Releap Exchange features music NFTs bridged from other chains as well. Providing collectors on the platform a wider range to choose from while enriching the user experience for all users. Additionally, tracks minted on Releap can be listed on any other marketplace that supports Solana NFTs.
We believe that without a marketplace dedicated to music NFTs, appetite for this emerging asset class will never reach the same level as PFPs. By building on Solana, Releap ensures that the first music NFT ecosystem sets a high standard for all music NFT endeavours going forward.
Releap Circles — New Ways to Engage Fans
While it is important to keep NFT collectors and tastemakers interested, Web3’s model for music also needs to create long-term passive income models for artists. Passive income almost always relies on continuous engagement with the community.
With the growth of online community building tools, fandoms now take the form of Patreon pages and Discord chatrooms. But unlike official fan clubs in the past, there is no way for the creator to prioritise their most passionate and loyal supporters, who often make huge contributions to the creator’s early development. Music NFTs make it possible to identify these ardent supporters and Releap Circles offers a streamlined way to engage with them.
- Exclusive posts: Artists can share exclusive posts that are visible only to NFT-holders of the artist. These can include unreleased tracks, demos, cover versions, and more, that’s published exclusively to incentivise these super fans.
- Utility: The exclusivity of an artist’s circle can be used as a channel for additional utility that an artist may wish to attach to their NFTs. Providing supporters with additional utility in this way is an important part of community building.
Onwards!
Our goal for Releap is to create a music NFT platform that serves creators, fans and NFT collectors. We’re excited to see our Twitter and Discord grow with new supporters every day. In addition to building our community, we are still expanding our team and please get in touch with us if you are interested in joining the future of music.
Releap is a one-of-a-kind project in a virtually untapped and undeveloped area of NFTs. Development and widespread adoption will be difficult, but we believe it is incredibly important for the future of artists and the advancement of Web3. As a part of Web3, we must all work together to shift the power of big record labels to create equality amongst all artists regardless of their size, by moving towards a decentralised future for music.
