Web 3 Music
Today we’re talking about Web3 music
This one is personal for me…
In 2014 I was signed (and dropped) by a major record label.
I learned the hard way how the industry was broken for artists.
Now it feels like something is changing.
There’s a fire starting.
Here’s everything I know about music NFTs.
The Problem with the current music industry
There are four big problems we need to fix for artists in the music world.
1. Unfair payments to artists
Spotify pays artists $0.003 per stream.
Only 0.2% earn more than $50,000 per year.
Music has become an industry of mass scale. You need an audience of millions to monetise.
What happened to 1,000 true fans?
2. Fixed Prices
There is an artificial cap on the value of music.
Spotify has decided that all the music in the world is worth $9.99 per month.
I disagree.
Some music has changed my life.
I am willing to pay much more to support artists I love and be part of their journey.
Where is the free market for music?
3. Fundraising
Artists traditionally have three ways to raise money to kickstart their career:
Sign a record deal.
Sign a publishing deal.
Go on tour.
Either you give up the rights and control of your art for a scrap of royalties. Or you go on the road for 250 days of the year and burn yourself out.
There has to be an alternative.
4. Ownership
Even the biggest artists have little or no control of their work.
Kanye and Taylor Swift have both fought their labels for ownership of their music.
I still have no access to songs I signed away 10 years ago.
What if there was a way to pay artists AND keep ownership?
Do music NFTs fix this?
Maybe.
It’s not a magic solution. But for the first time I’m seeing sparks of something that MIGHT just work.
There is something here, especially in the indie sector.
Here’s the ecosystem so far.
------------------
The first wave of NFTs
You probably saw headlines about the first wave of Web3 music.
Grimes sold music NFTs for $6 million. Calvin Harris, The Weeknd and Dillon Francis dropped an NFT collection.
Most were short music loops with a visual. Interesting, but not exactly game-changing.
Now you can collect a full song music nft
The new wave is so much bigger.
Now you can own full song NFTs, share royalties and truly invest in music you love.
The first wave felt like merchandise. This wave feels like... being a part of the artist's journey. Big difference.
Let’s start with the major platforms that make it work.
Part 1. Collecting
Sound.xyz
Sound has become my favourite corner of Web3.
Artists drop a limited run of NFTs (25-100) of their full song.
It’s an event. There’s a listening party before the mint and it always sells out.
I think of it like collecting an ultra-rare vinyl with friends and helping fund cool artists.
Sound has raised $568,000 for independent artists.
Artists: RAC, Pussy Riot, Daniel Allan, Oshi, Latasha
Royal.io
Royal was founded by web3 music legend 3LAU.
Artists drop a limited run of full-song NFTs. AND you get to share royalties.
This is a game changer. You can invest in artists and share their success.
Artists: Verite, 3LAU and Nas.
Catalog
Catalog is for 1/1s.
Artists mint a single edition of their work.
As a fan, you can own the *only* NFT version of the track and visual.
It’s perfect for ultra-fans and a good way for artists to raise money (auctions usually go above 1eth)
Artists: Little Boots, Tycho, Teen Daze
Mintsongs
Mintsongs is probably the biggest music marketplace.
Any artist can drop a run of NFTs on Mintsongs and set their price.
If you’re looking to buy your first music NFT with a small amount, this is a good place to start.
Relics
Relics was founded by the legendary indie label Monstercat.
You can purchase limited-edition songs from the label.
And it has a super cool feature. If the song does well IRL, the rarity of your NFT dynamically increases.
Part 2. Generative Music
There’s also a movement starting in generative music.
Like generative art, the music is created at random using an algorithm.
Music hasn’t had a breakout moment like pfp avatars yet… but something in here could trigger it.
Soundmint
Soundmint recently dropped a 5,000 edition collection with producer Kloud.
Every NFT has a different audio track, generated randomly by combining 3-10 different sounds from the original stems.
You can create anything by mixing different drum tracks, bass lines, melodies and top lines.
OMGKirby
OMGKirby is a collection of generative lofi beats.
Super mellow and classic lofi artwork. Love this.
If you buy the NFT, you also own all the rights to the song. The Castle Island VC team is using it on their podcast intro.
Beat Foundry
Beat Foundry was an early example of on-chain generative music.
The main collection is called Ocarinas.
Audioglyphs
You probably heard of autoglyphs - the generative artwork with a floor price of $500,000.
Audioglyphs is a similar concept with music.
It’s a collection of 10,000 algo-generated tracks.
Euler Beats
Another generative audio and visual collection.
The Genesis collection has a floor of 1.3eth.
Part 3. Artists and labels
Major artists
Some major artists have already experimented with NFTs.
Snoop Dogg recently dropped his ‘Stash boxes’ featuring 1 of 17 tracks.
The Weeknd, Calvin Harris, Grimes have all sold audio-visual NFTs. Kings of Leon dropped a collectors edition of their album via NFT.
Note: Generally, I'm less bullish on major artist NFTs. Most of their IP is tied up and owned by record labels so it's hard for them to be creative and share royalties. We'll get some cool collectibles and merch, but no game-changing economics.
Major labels
Some major labels are dipping their toes into Web3.
Universal has its own Web3 label called 10:22pm. It launched the first metaverse band, KINGSHIP, made up of 4 bored apes.
Warner and Sony are making small partnerships with NFT marketplaces.
And Snoop wants to turn Death Row (although not quite a major) into a full metaverse label.
Indie artists
I’m much more bullish on the indie scene.
Change usually happens from the grassroots. This is the most vibrant new music scene I’ve found since early SoundCloud days.
Indie artists have control over their music and rights, so they can be much more creative. For example, 3LAU, Nas and Verite can experiment with sharing royalties.
Daniel Allan raised 50eth to fund his new EP and gave back 50% of the share to collectors.
Others to watch: Latasha, Oshi, Haleek Maul, RAC, Dot.
Indie labels
Some indie labels are going all-in on Web3.
Monstercat
Good Karma
DreamsNeverDie
Watch this closely. This is where change is happening.
Part 4. How to get involved in web3 music?
The first step is to start collecting! Or follow some of the top music collectors:
Go deep with research
Go sign up to Trapital by Dan Runci - my favourite newsletter on hip hop / web3 / business
Check out Water and Music by Cherie Hu
On the Brink - check out the new podcast series on Web3 music hosted by Rhia Bhutoria
Join a DAO
Join a music DAO, start contributing or just learn from the community.
NoiseDAO
SongCamp
Moriimusic
ModaDAO
Part 5. Ticketing and fan clubs
Tickets
NFTs are a good use-case for ticketing. By programing royalties into the NFT, it can kill predatory secondary markets and reduce scalping.
Yellow Heart is working on this.
Live Nation is getting involved with NFT ticket stubs, although this is more like a digital collectible from the event.
I think a native web3 option probably conquers this. Something like POAP or even Metakey could unlock ticketing.
Fan Clubs
Some of the larger artists are using NFTs to create exclusive fan clubs. If you hold the NFT, you’re a member!
Steve Aoki is building the ‘Aokiverse’
Pussy Riot has the Pussyverse
Avenged Sevenfold has the Deathbats Club
Part 6. Other music nft use-cases
Streaming and video
Building a decentralised Spotify will take some time…
But Audius is working on an early version that rewards users with the AUDIO token.
And you can collect music videos over at Glass.
Music Creation
Arpeggi is experimenting with ways to publish music directly on chain.
It’s a digital audio workstation (like Garage Band or Logic Pro)
You can compose and mint on-chain… similar to how Artblocks was minted directly on-chain.
Music in the metaverse
Digital concerts in the metaverse? It’s already happening.
Snoop Dogg and Warner Music own land in The Sandbox.
Steve Aoki has DJ’d in Decentraland.
In web2, Travis Scott, Marshmello, Ariana Grande Lil Nas X have played in Fortnite and Roblox.
This will become much more common.
Protocols and architecture
Ethereum is key to all this.
But don’t discount smaller protocols like Zora which is a hub for the creator economy. Nina is another option, specifically for music, built on Solana.
And architecture like 0xsplits will allow us to handle credit splits. This is vital for opening the door to larger artists.
Part 7. What's missing?
Of course, music NFTs don’t magically fix everything.
There are still some problems with this new world.
1. Gate-keeping
The biggest platforms are still invite-only. This is necessary to bootstrap the movement, but web3 music eventually needs to open up to all artists.
2. Discovery
Web 2 apps like Spotify are great because the algorithm magically feeds you new music and playlists.
Right now, web3 music is like flicking through a record store (which I LOVE)…
But if we want to break out, we need new ways of curation and discovery.
3. Marketing
There is one undeniable power of major record labels: Marketing.
It’s impossible for an indie artist to compete.
4. Ownership
Web3 music is perfect if you own all the rights to your music.
But it's much harder if you’re on a record label or work with multiple songwriters.
We need new tech innovation like 0xsplits.
Final thoughts
There is a spark of something special here.
It's the most exciting era for new artists since the early Soundcloud and blogging days.
I don't think Web3 music takes over the world yet.
But it's a springboard for independent artists. It offers them a new way to raise money and build a community without signing away their music or burning themselves out on tour for 250 days a year.
Web3 gives them breathing room to create.
And the ability to share their success with a core group of passionate fans and collectors.
I’m all in.