What are Music NFTs and Why You Should Be Paying Attention
For the uninitiated, Music NFTs are unique digital assets that are stored on a blockchain, the same technology that powers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Unlike traditional digital assets that sit on centralised systems, Music NFTs cannot be replicated, and the supply is dictated by the artist. This makes them perfect for music, where each song or album is unique, and collectible.
For music fans, think of it like you would a record collection. You can build up your stash, knowing that if that band you love and collect blows up (for me that band was Nirvana in the 90s) your records will all of a sudden give you social currency. They can give you real currency too, because all of a sudden they have more value.
Music NFTs give music fans the incentive to ‘back their taste’ by investing in artists that they believe in.
THE CURRENT STREAMING MODEL IS FU*KED
Over the past 10 years, musicians have been pushed further and further away from their fans through streaming platforms that commodify music, and reduce music to playlists like ‘summertime feels’ or ‘hip hop holiday’. This playlisting and dismemberment of the ‘album’ creates an ecosystem where listeners don’t even know the artists they’re listening to, let alone care if a playlist curator mixes it up. And the playlists are dominated by centralised record labels who are increasingly good at using their leverage to keep their artists in high rotation.
This means it has become harder and harder for independent musicians (even those creating incredible music) to get discovered, find fans and make a sustainable living from their music. In much the same way that we’re seeing the disappearance of the middle class due to the dominance of tech platforms that pay the top 1% of employees 10X, 20X or even 50X what their counterparts get, streaming platforms are doing the same thing to music, the top 1% of artists get richer while the vast majority of artists are working harder and harder just to get by.
THE FIRST NFT WAS ABOUT PROTECTING ARTISTS
What many people don’t know is that the first NFT ever created by Anil Dash and Kevin McCoy was done so as a way to protect artists.
“The only thing we’d wanted to do was ensure that artists could make some money and have control over their work,” says Dash, in an article he wrote for The Atlantic entitled NFTs Weren’t Supposed to End Like This, and goes on to say, “The idea behind NFTs was, and is, profound. Technology should be enabling artists to exercise control over their work, to more easily sell it, to more strongly protect against others appropriating it without permission. By devising the technology specifically for artistic use, McCoy and I hoped we might prevent it from becoming yet another method of exploiting creative professionals… Our dream of empowering artists hasn’t yet come true, but it has yielded a lot of commercially exploitable hype.”
THE ADVANTAGES FOR MUSICIANS
One of the biggest advantages of Music NFTs is that they allow musicians and music producers to take control of their own revenue streams. With traditional music sales, artists are often at the mercy of record labels and streaming platforms, which take a large percentage of the profits.
With NFTs, musicians and music producers can sell their music directly to fans, without intermediaries, and keep a larger share of the revenue.
Another advantage of Music NFTs is that they allow musicians and music producers to create new revenue streams. For example, they can sell limited-edition versions of their songs or albums, or offer exclusive access to live shows or special events. They can also offer fans the opportunity to own a piece of their music history, such as exclusive merchandise, lifetime access to shows or a signed copy of the original recording of a hit song.
THE ADVANTAGES FOR FANS
When fans collect Music NFTs they’re both supporting the artist, and creating an inextricable link between them and the artist, effectively becoming an indelible part of that artist’s journey. This is locked in the blockchain, and allows artists to reward collectors with unique experiences and interactions, such as Music NFTs that can be used as tickets to concerts:
PROOF OF PARTICIPATION
As a music lover growing up in Seattle in the 90s, I’ve often thought back to some of the gigs I attended, and wished I had ticket stubs from the event. Can you imagine what a Music NFT of an early Nirvana song that was a ticket to their OK Hotel gig in 1991 would be worth… not just as a collectible, but as proof that you were there?
It’s easy to see how true fans benefit from Music NFTs. They not only get to support the artists they love, but be an active participant in their journey. This has been a long time coming — a new way for artists to connect with their true fans, and make a sustainable living from their music.
SO HOW IS THE MUSIC NFT SPACE EVOLVING?
Many high profile artists have already dipped their toe into Music NFTs, including Snoop Dogg, who recently purchased Death Row Records, the iconic hip-hop label that was home to artists like Tupac and Dr. Dre. Snoop and reportedly plans to turn Death Row Records into a Music NFT label, offering fans the opportunity to own a piece of music history and access to exclusive content.
Well known artists with huge followings have an obvious advantage in the MusicNFT boom (Kings of Leon were the first artist to release an album as a Music NFT, and made $2M for their efforts) but the surprising thing is that many indie musicians are finding new audiences and leveraging their success with Music NFTs to help build their reputation on Web2 streaming platforms like iTunes, Spotify and Title.
GETTING STARTED WITH MUSIC NFTS
To get started with Music NFTs, musicians and music producers need to familiarize themselves with the basics of blockchain technology and NFTs. Music has always lived at the intersection of art and technology, and though it might feel daunting at first, there are plenty of artists out there who are using Music NFTs to make a sustainable living from their music, in a variety of different ways. You will also need to find a platform that helps to create and sell NFTs. Some popular platforms include Sound, Catalogworks, Lens Protocol and artist-first platforms like Soundnation, who tailor their Music NFT releases around each artist, rather than use a cookie cutter approach.
But Music NFTs are not a silver bullet. The music industry is built on a two way contract between artist and fan, and Music NFTs are no exception. Hustlers will be rewarded, and artists who dream up unique and interesting benefits for their fans will dominate this new and exciting space.
A great example of a Music NFT career path is the independent artist Rae Isla from Seattle, who spent 2022 building momentum in the Web3 space, starting with the release of a series of 36 Intimate Piano Pieces as Music NFTs in August 2022, then releasing a one take video performance on Glass.xyz, a video NFT platform, before releasing a 25 Music NFT collection of her song Free to Love on Sound.xyz priced at 0.05 ETH ($66.25) each, making about $1,656 in under 50 seconds, while gathering more true fans.
During this whole time Rae was gigging in live venues, very active on Twitter spaces (despite having a modest following of about 6K followers) and on social media, and building community within the Web3 space. This is important, as the whole underlying philosophy of Web3 is about decentralisation and distributing the power among networks of people, rather than letting the fate of all music be determined by one or two corporate players. Yes, I’m speaking to you, Apple and Spotify.
So… where did Rae end up at the end of 2022 after building momentum in the Web3 space?
Rae released Rae Isla’s Rocks, what she described as a “1000 Music NFT collection for music lovers, rock hounds and Web3 believers” which sold out over a 3 week period in Nov-Dec 2022, grossing somewhere in the range of 50ETH (USD$66,246) and which are still earning Rae money through royalties on secondary sales (you can purchase a Rock from collectors on Opensea here). It’s exciting to be a collector of Rae‘s and watch her journey over the past year as a trailblazer for this new artist-centric way of connecting and sharing art.
KEEP YOUR 👀 PEELED
MusicNFTs have the potential to completely disrupt the music industry. In much the same way that Napster and then iTunes and then Spotify have in the past.
This is a new frontier, but it’s slowly finding it’s legs. Artists still have the chance to get in on the ground floor, but the window is closing. Soon, we’re going to see a lot of big players jumping in, if the money pouring into the space is any indication of where we’re headed.
For any artists out there considering jumping in… I’d say… get started now. Start small, with maybe a small drop of 10–20 Music NFTs, or an exclusive, Music NFT ticketed event for your next drop. Explore the possibilities over the next year or two as you build your true fanbase in Web3, and I believe you’ll soon discover how powerful a community of active fans and supporters can be.
If you’re interested in releasing Music NFTs for the first time (or the tenth time) www.soundnation.io is an artist-first platform, working directly with artists to offer unique experiences for their fans, like MusicNFTs as tickets to concerts and IRL events, special perks, and merchandise for loyal supporters and fans.
