So far in this NFT series we’ve covered the basics, from what kind of NFT to create, what marketplace to sell on, and the pros and cons of NFTs in general. This third and final chapter is all about showing other ways in which you can use web3 technology in relation to music, and spotlighting some really cool initiatives who are looking to do just that. 

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Sound.xyz

What is it: Sound.xyz’s soul-purpose is to help artists make a real living off of their music, using the power of crypto and blockchain to sell and promote their new releases. Sound select artists and host a listening party where fans can purchase a limited NFTs of the song. They’ve been incredibly successful so far, with each artist selling out within a minute, and having raised over $2 million for their artists. 

Note: artists can’t currently apply to sell NFTs on the platform, you need to be selected. However, this is something the team are currently developing. 

Which artists: Snoop Dog, Oshi, Marian Hill and Kanye collaborator Allan Kingdom are among some of the artists that Sound has featured so far. 

How it works: Sound offers a package of tools for artists to take their music onto web3. This has mostly been done through listening parties where musicians sold releases as NFTs, but they are also looking at how else artists can make money through streaming on web3. 

Royal

What is it: Royal wants to challenge the value of music ownership, which, according to artist and founder Blau, is “vastly misrepresented and undervalued today.” Historically, ownership of music royalties, including streaming, has been exclusively available to labels, hedge funds and private equity firms as a portfolio asset.

How it works: Musicians use Royal to sell ownership of their songs and give collectors access to special perks. Collectors buy royalty ownership of songs directly from artists in the form of tokens and will be able to claim royalties for the music they have purchased. 

This might seem scary, but here’s an example of how it has worked in the artist’s favour. Last month, artist Blau gave away 50% of the streaming rights to his song ‘Worst Case’ to 333 fans. Those fans get a cut of the royalties via NFTs whenever the song is streamed on Spotify, Apple Music or another streaming service. The song reached an implied value of over $6 million with fans holding half of the value, and the tokens traded for more than $600,000 in secondary market volume in the first two weeks. 

Who’s using it: Created by musicians for musicians, artists including The Chainsmokers, Nas, Stefflon Don and Disclosure have backed the project, as well as some of them releasing on the platform. 

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Fanaply

What is it: Fanaply is centred around fans collecting souvenirs. Fans save NFT’s either as a collector's item or as a way of unlocking exclusive rewards from said artist. This could be at live events or with other partners, to unlock exclusive content, merchandise, and more.

Note: The platform uses a proof-of-stake blockchain on Polygon, which makes it much more environmentally friendly compared to proof-of-work blockchains like Ethereum. They also counteract any emissions with a pro-climate company called Offsetra. 

Which artists: Many artists have made use of Fanaply, even a Comes With Fries client, Jaguar Jonze launched various NFTs using the platform.  

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Audius

What is it: It’s a crypto-powered music sharing and streaming protocol that aims to give artists more power over how their music is monetized and enable them to connect directly with fans. It’s all owned and run by an open-source community of artists, fans and developers. 

How it works: It’s just like any other streaming platform, which welcomes both independent and signed artists to use. All you need to do is upload your music. Audius is powered by AUDIO, their governance token, which artists and fans get rewarded with from sharing and using. 

Why you should use it: It may sound complicated, but no knowledge of blockchain or crypto is necessary to use Audius, and it is popularly used by those outside the crypto community. The platform also has a partnership with TikTok for distributing music onto the platform. 

One of the most attractive reasons for trying Audius is that both artists and fans get paid for using it, which is especially attractive as a fan.

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We’re really excited to see how these projects evolve over time, and our prediction isn’t that web3 will completely take over web2, but the two will sit in parallel. There’s more than enough room for everyone, and we all know that the set up we’ve got now isn’t perfect. Watch this space (we certainly will be)!

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For anyone who has more questions, thoughts or ideas they’d like to share please feel free to get in touch with us at Comes With Fries.

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