Cryptocurrency and NFTs; the future of music? — Crypto Visionaries, with Spottie Wifi (Part 2/3)
In the second part of the interview, Spottie Wifi talks about how NFTs change the way fans interact with their favorite authors and enable them to own a piece of their beloved songs. Additionally, non-fungible tokens give artists the chance to monetize and make a living from their art without relying on third-party platforms.
Remember that you can watch the full interview on YouTube.
This is the second of a three part story with Spottie Wifi. To read the first part, visit the article below.
Decentralizing the music industry
Spottie’s first NFT sale consisted of three music videos of three different versions of his song, I’m Spottie. He partnered with Rarible and launched the first NFT drop authored by Spottie Wifi.
“It was partly for monetizing these three videos, but it was also and more importantly marketing for the upcoming album drop.”
The rapper and his circle consider their debut as a total success, as those three music videos had a lot of bids and sold for “about 2 ETH each.” Even more so, he thinks that, with the evolution of NFTs, that price will be a steal in the future.
But the contribution of crypto to the music industry doesn’t end there. According to our guest rapper, up-and-coming decentralized platforms like Audius are an enormous step forward for musicians.
“Every piece of music that I’ve ever put out so far, I’ve put it out on Audius before anywhere else,” confessed Spottie. “I love what they’re doing. It’s a truly decentralized music platform. They’re doing some innovative things with their own token to compensate artists for their streams.”
This is a very healthy alternative to the current mainstream music platforms, as their monetization plans for artists imply very high commissions and are far from ideal.
Ownership of music through NFTs; benefits and setbacks
Regarding the potential of cryptocurrency and music, Spottie is certain that non-fungible tokens unlock many possibilities for marketing, ownership, and interaction with the audience.
“If you own one of my NFT songs, you don’t just get to listen to it. You get advanced rights,” he clarified. “You get a copyright license, you can use it for commercial purposes… There are a lot of rights that I’m giving to my token holders.”
This is not only great for holders but also a very healthy method to grow a community around artists and their music.
According to Spottie Wifi, the fans “don’t mind if somebody with a Spotify account can listen [to his music] for free. In fact, they support that.”
He even recalls asking his token holders about the strategy around the song files and whether they should allow the general public to download the album free of charge or if it should be exclusive for holders.
In response, his community voted for accessibility: “I’m really proud that they set the precedent that they want the general public to be able to download the album for free and listen to it. They’re very savvy and understand that that only builds the brand and helps the NFTs that they own appreciate and gain value.”
Spottie Wifi’s experience is a remarkable success story in the music industry that shows the goodwill and openness of the community.
Artists can engage in conversation with their fans to set the course for their products together, in contrast with the traditional industry that has many opposite cases with the artists losing the rights to their own music — Britney Spears and Taylor Swift are two of the most recent and relevant ones.
A better way to interact with the community
The ownership of Spottie Wifi’s NFTs gives holders access and permission to edit that song’s audio files independently.
“I’m going to do a remix competition where I challenge my token holders to give me their best remix. Then we’re going to have a vote amongst the other token holders, and we’re going to figure out who is worthy of a collaboration of an original verse with the king of the CryptoPunks,” he said.
Indeed, all Spottie is worried about is “bringing value” to his token holders, making it worth their time, and proving that they are “the smartest people in the room” for buying his NFTs.
Cryptocurrency doesn’t only provide a great way to reward fans for their loyalty. It also enables artists to make the most out of their work.
Spottie explains this with a clear example from his own experience: “When I released my album in August, I sold 2,000 NFT copies for 0.03 ETH each. That was about $96 at the time — now it’s even more,” he remembered. “We were sold out in under one minute, about 45 seconds. In order for me to generate that amount of revenue via streaming on Spotify, I would need 40,000,000 — yes, forty million! — song plays,” he added.
The point is, if you’re an independent artist, you don’t need a million fans that want to stream your music for free. You just need a thousand — maybe fewer — loyal fans that believe in you and want to support you with their wallet. “NFTs are the cheat code,” said Spottie. They unlock the full potential of digital art and facilitate the encounter of authors and fans in a win-win situation where one gets the most out of the other.
“It really depends on how much value you, as a creator, can provide for them. That is a totally new dynamic and a new relationship between the artist and the fan,” explained the rapper.
He believes that through this new technology, artists can reward their first, earliest fans that believed in them when nobody else did and make their purchase not only worth it but also profitable.
This is the second of a three part story with Spottie Wifi. To read the other parts, visit the links below.
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