What’s a RCRDSHP Rare Track?
We created RCRDSHP because we fundamentally believe that music is valuable, and that talented, hard-working artists deserve a chance to make a living wage. The way that the world consumes music, now primarily via digital streaming platforms, constantly relentlessly drives the value of music towards zero. Most available revenue is hoarded by the top 1% of pop stars, and artists earn a minuscule amount from each stream. The situation is immoral and untenable, and we’ve been fighting it since our launch in August of 2021.
Our first product line was very obviously inspired by NBA Top Shot packs. It featured music and artwork from hundreds of artists, but always at very affordable price points with common rarity designations. Relatively expensive rare and legendary packs were part of the vision, but we never really figured out how to make them happen. That changed earlier this year when we noticed what Sound.xyz were doing with their once-a-day song drops.
Could something similar work at RCRDSHP? We think the answer is yes! So starting this coming Monday, February 21st, we’re introducing our second product line: RCRDSHP rare tracks.
Each daily rare track pack drop will contain a single 100 coin face value release card, produced in ultra-limited mint counts and sold for $100 USD. The contents of the rare track will be known ahead of time, and once the drop goes live, the music contained within will be available for listening by players until the drop sells out.
By design, all rare track cards contain unreleased music, either original songs or exclusive alternate remixes of known fan favorites. Given their extremely low mint counts, all rare tracks qualify for transcendence, and mixing a set of rare tracks together will unlock even more rare and exclusive bonus cards.
While we’re happy to tip our hat to Sound.xyz for the inspiration, we do want to point out that there are significant differences between our projects. For starters, these are RCRDSHP NFT-backed rare collectibles on the Flow Blockchain, so we sidestep the environmental concerns and gas price issues associated with Ethereum. The price point is also much more reasonable, since our target audience is, you know, actual music fans and not crypto whales.
Another innovation that will probably make it over to regular pack drops is that the rare track drops page will show the number of packs remaining for sale. Given the ultra-low mint counts (starting at 20), we expect these drops to sell out almost immediately. If by chance any remain unsold after 24 hours, they will be removed from sale and returned to the artist to be held in their personal collection — or burned, at their discretion.
It’s worth broaching the question of why we chose a 24-hour window instead of something shorter. The answer is that electronic music fans inhabit the entire globe. There is no such thing as a global peak hour; any particular time will be the middle of the night for someone who would like to participate.
What better way to introduce rare tracks than with an outfit that has amassed a dedicated worldwide following for its commitment to artistic integrity? Pure Trance has already released quite a few collectibles on RCRDSHP, and we’re excited to take this bold, new step with the celebrated brand.
U.K. DJ and producer Solarstone launched Pure Trance in 2012 as a direct response to trends steering the genre in a commercial direction. It has since grown to include a radio show with 2.5 million monthly subscribers, three separate record labels with over 450 releases, and an event series that tours from New York to Melbourne and Amsterdam to Tokyo.
Above all else, Pure Trance is a community for music lovers left behind by the turning tides of electronic music. It’s a symbol of the emotion, melody, and spiritual essence that defined trance in its heyday. It’s a timeless sound and philosophy that has helped the genre continue to evolve organically.
From Monday, February 21 to Friday, February 25, each day RCRDSHP will drop a collectible that includes a track from the 2021 mix compilation ‘Pure Trance Vol. 9’. Some have never been released as a single before now, and others are an unreleased remix or alternate version of a previously released track. Pure Trance mainstays Activa, Pico Boulevard, Stoneface & Terminal, Glynn Alan, and Solarstone himself have offered up music for the rare tracks debut.
Learn more about the collectibles releasing in the ‘Pure Trance Vol. 9’ rare track series on RCRDSHP’s Drops page.
