This article was written by Blaire Michael (@blairexyz), artist, researcher, technologist and host of [We]b3 Music, Sponsored by Vault.
A conversation we continually circle back to in the web3 music community is the utility of, well, utility. Two quite different perspectives dominate the discussion of how artists should be shaping the value of their music NFTs. The first focuses on reclaiming the value of music and insists that no additional benefits should be required from artists — the song itself is what makes the NFT valuable. The second perspective stresses the importance of adding utility to music NFTs to foster community, create two-way relationships with fans, and, ultimately, attract sales. Both of these perspectives shape the shared culture around music NFTs and inform how artists participate in the web3 music landscape; yet, they seem at odds. Are we chipping away at the sentiment that brought many of us here to begin with — that music is inherently valuable? Or are we just being more realistic about the state of the market and music consumption in general? For this article, we tackle the ‘utility dilemma’ and share perspectives on how musicians in web3 can stay true to their artistic journey and collectively build a shared culture around individual choice when it comes to utility.
Throughout this article, I will include excerpts from our third episode of “[We]b3 Music, Sponsored by Vault ‘’ where we gathered artists and platforms to discuss their personal approaches to utility and the shared culture of value for music NFTs. Thank you to Blackdave, Athena, and Jazii for offering their time and expertise in this Twitter space.
The Shifting Culture around Utility
Since its humble beginnings, a pillar of the web3 music movement has been that music is incredibly valuable and what musicians earn from creating it should reflect that. Artists, marketplaces, and platforms have routinely cited the meager payouts to artists by services like Spotify and Youtube as a primary rationale for web3 adoption. As a collective, we have agreed that artists deserve to make a living from their music and selling digital collectibles is a lucrative path forward. Pioneering artists like Latashá proved the power of music NFTs, earning substantial money to support their artistry from selling digital versions of songs and music videos, often with no added utility. Blackdave refers to this time as the ‘Latashá era’ — the bull market was thriving, speculation was high, and feelings of hope and optimism flowed freely through the web3 music community. The prevailing perspective on utility during this era is best summed up with one pithy slogan — the music is the utility.
As the market has shifted, so has the culture around utility. While many have remained steadfast to the idea that the music itself should be enough to rationalize the purchase of a music NFT, adding additional utility for collectors has become the primary approach for artists. For ‘utility maxis’ like Blackdave, these added perks are integral to music NFTs: “I’ve always been really attached to what opportunities NFTs can create and what experiences NFTs can create… I believe in tokens doing things.” Common utilities include royalty shares, rights of use, community access, event entry, physical merch, and philanthropy, among others (Water & Music 2021). NFT Now claims that utility is currently the “defining factor of successful NFT drops,” although Water & Music notes there are too many confounding variables to truly draw this conclusion. Athena, Head of Community and Curation Strategy at Catalog, attributes this shift to the influence of PFP projects: “I don’t remember people, [when] a new record would come out or an artist would release their work… [asking] “But what’s the utility of it?” The bear market has also played a significant role. With market conditions down and speculation stalling, many collectors have taken a break to weather the storm, which in turn has encouraged artists to shift their attention to onboarding fans and building community with utility-bearing NFTs.
As the bear market begins to thaw, there appears to be a return to the original perspective. In a recent episode of Sound Circle, Coopah Troopah and Blockchain Brett shared that they do not particularly care about utility. “I wonder how two of the largest collectors of music in Web3, how what they said is going to reverberate through the types of decisions people make,” ponders Blackdave. Just this past month, Jeremy Stern, co-founder of Catalog tweeted, “We will have failed musicians if the *only* way for them to be “successful” in web3 is to launch a social token or provide utility to their collectors.” Yet, these notions do circulate throughout the web3 music landscape and influence the decisions of artists, especially those new to the space. As Jazii, web3 artist and entrepreneur, shares, “I think that when I first started I was mentally prepared to provide utility just because that’s what I saw being done in the space and because I was new and really didn’t know what my left from my right was at that time, I just went with it…” As she has gotten more comfortable in the space, this influence has mostly worn off.
The Utility Dilemma
The two perspectives on utility co-exist within the web3 music landscape with each taking prevalence depending on the state of the market and trends in the broader community. Yet, they are ideologically opposed. We cannot reclaim the inherent value of music and the financial worth of musicians’ creative labor while simultaneously requesting additional labor, products, or copyrights to justify the high cost of NFT ownership. Nonetheless, seeking ideological purity is challenging when faced with the realities of the music industry and the world at large. While we can recognise that the emphasis on endless, free creative labor has reduced independent artists into underpaid production firms, fans and consumers sit at the other end of the spectrum experiencing their own forms of exploitation and pressures to reduce personal expenses. When we look at it this way, we realize the dream of a web3 music culture driven solely by the inherent value of music is dependent on a small group of collectors with disposable income. Choosing to only cater to this perspective on utility alienates one group (the everyday fan) in favor of the other (the investor).
Lucky for us, we can have our cake and eat it, too, in web3. There is no council that meets to set the rules for artists. Artists have the freedom to respond to the market and nurture their audience however they see fit. Musicians like Blackdave can simultaneously take different approaches to utility, promoting music NFTs as fine art while also using them as a vessel for additional perks. Still, artists should be aware of the powerful influence popular trends in the web3 community have on their own decisions. Athena shares, “I’m not anti-utility but I don’t think that utility should become almost the expectation by default. If an artist wants to provide it then all power to them and we support it. But I think that the default shouldn’t be that we expect them to provide it … it should be something… that the artist genuinely wants to do.” She encourages artists to choose the path that makes the most sense for them and to provide utility from a place of genuine desire, not external pressure or expectation.
A Shared Culture of Personal Choice
The web3 music landscape is constantly evolving. We are still in the early adoption phase, exploring, experimenting, and figuring out how to be successful in web3, whether that means generating a sustainable income source or building a thriving community. The musicians making these moves represent a sky full of north stars, shining light on the many paths available here. Artists can follow their lead or forge their own path. Jazii recommends that artists do the latter, focusing on their personal intentions and goals with each release: “For me it definitely varies from drop to drop and it really is just about personal intention and then also personal bandwidth.” For instance, when Jazii was given the opportunity to drop on Sound, she wanted to use its visibility to showcase the many dimensions of herself using utility. “I offered my network, I offered consultations, songwriting, I offered styling for shoots or events… I really just offered a different variety of things that all tied into just businesswoman entrepreneur Jazii plus artist.” Jazii met the moment with her drop and achieved her personal goals.
What Jazii and many others are alluding to is creating a shared culture around individual choice when it comes to utility. “What if we trusted ourselves with the process? What if we trusted ourselves enough to experiment and to find what exactly we love and what exactly works for us?” she asks. This freedom motivated many artists to establish their independence in the first place and it drives much of the experimentation in web3. If we value artists being able to do what they want, how they want, when they want with their art in the web3 movement, then their choices around utility should be no different. Artists should be empowered to cater to their journey and the audiences they hope to reach with each drop and through a shared culture of individual choice, we can support them in that. There are still puzzles to solve. For instance, Blackdave wonders, “How do we build a real fan base that isn’t speculative and isn’t necessarily reliant on utility?” Nonetheless, we get closer to solving these issues with each new discovery made by an artist breaking the mold and following their own path.
Further Reading
Water & Music. “Music NFT sales in 2021: What we learned.” May 6, 2022. https://www.waterandmusic.com/music-nft-sales-in-2021-what-we-learned/
NFT NOW. “How leading musicians are elevating Utility with NFTs.” September 16, 2022. https://nftnow.com/sponsored/how-leading-musicians-are-elevating-utility-with-nfts/
