Music NFTs have potential for musicians and fans. NFTs can represent ownership of a song on the blockchain, ownership of a specific element in a song, or a share of royalties for a particular song. By releasing songs with music NFTs attached, musicians can target their most loyal fans and make a good amount of money. Music NFTs offer digital, scalable advantages over physical merchandise and concerts as they can sell to fans around the world simultaneously. Music NFTs also allow musicians to go directly to their audience and capture more value for themselves, rather than relying on rent-seeking middlemen. Despite the potential benefits, there are still hurdles and disadvantages to consider.
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Exploring the Potential of Music NFTs: A New Tool for Musicians to Make Money
Introduction
Have you heard of music NFTs yet? This emerging technology could be a game-changer for the music industry, offering musicians and fans alike unique opportunities to make money and connect with their audience. In this article, we’ll explore the world of music NFTs and answer the question: do they have massive potential?
What are Music NFTs?
Most NFT (non-fungible tokens) collections right now are JPEG images or picture NFTs, but NFTs are more flexible than just that. NFTs can point to any digital asset, including audio files. So, what can music NFTs be tied to?
There are a few possibilities:
- Ownership of a song on the blockchain
- Ownership of a specific element in a song, such as a stem
- A share of royalties for a particular song
Because NFTs are programmable, they can integrate fan contributions and even share royalties with the holder. With so many different approaches to music NFTs, it’s no surprise that there are a lot of different platforms available.
Platforms for Music NFTs
Some of the different platforms for music NFTs include:
- Royal: where fans can own a piece of their favorite songs, cut up the royalties, and get other artist-included perks.
- Sound: has a special listening party feature where fans can listen to new songs as they’re debuted to a live audience and buy NFTs to prove they were there.
- Catalog: focused on one-of-one NFTs, providing a more personal and intimate approach than selling thousands of NFTs for an album.
- Fanfare: pretty standard, like Wearable for music NFTs, but on the Flow blockchain, which has cheaper gas fees.
Benefits of Music NFTs
So, why would musicians and fans even want to use music NFTs in the first place? The current dominant business model in the music industry is music streaming, where musicians put their songs up for platforms like Spotify and get paid every time someone listens to their song. However, this pays very little per stream, which means smaller artists struggle to earn enough to make a living using this model.
Music NFTs offer a way for musicians to go directly to their audience and capture more value for themselves. These NFTs are digital, lessening overhead and making scalability easier. Compared to selling physical merchandise or throwing concerts, music NFTs can be sold to fans worldwide at the same time.
For fans, music NFTs offer unique, collectible appeal that can easily show off one’s taste in music. Plus, by holding certain music NFTs, fans can get access to special experiences like live debuts, which are up to the musician’s discretion.
Early Adopters of Music NFTs
We’ve already seen some visionary musicians put out their own music NFTs. Famous rapper Nas dropped two singles on the Royal platform, while Snoop Dogg released his album as an NFT in the form of a stash box, with special airdrops included. Blau, a famous DJ and co-founder of Royal, has launched some music NFTs representing his Ultraviolet album, and Kings of Leon launched their album and made it available as an NFT at the same time, earning them a good amount of money.
Disadvantages to Consider
However, there are some hurdles and disadvantages to consider. One question to consider is, “what does it mean to own a song by holding this NFT?” If you’re buying an NFT for a song, you aren’t buying the rights to play the song. Music NFTs are more like buying merchandise to support an artist, but with the added benefit of a digital collectible.
Conclusion
Music NFTs offer an exciting opportunity for both musicians and fans. They offer a new way for musicians to make money and connect with their audience, and for fans to collect unique, digital collectibles while supporting their favorite artists. While there are still challenges and disadvantages to consider, the potential for music NFTs is hard to ignore.
