The music industry continues to find innovative ways to incorporate decentralized technology into new releases to benefit artists and their fans.
Electronic dance music (EDM) artist R3HAB and the blockchain-based music community released another single Block on Friday with the idea of “democratizing music rights.” The non-fungible token (NFT) included in the dropdown allows holders to earn royalties based on the popularity of the stream.
The single “Weekend on a Tuesday” featured the exclusive NFT. Each of the 250 NFTs available gives its holder a 0.02% share of the proceeds from the stream. anotherblock platform provides a value tracker so owners can estimate payments and total value.
Many artists use digital assets as a way to connect with their fan base with additional NFT-related exclusives. Extras usually include artwork, additional music, or behind-the-scenes material.
Michel de Traore, CEO of Another Block, told Cointelegraph that this way of implementing NFTs allows those who create value around songs to take part in getting some of it back.
“The value of music rights is created by people who love the music and listen to it and do things with it. Why wouldn’t [they] be able to own the rights if they’re creating value by listening to it. They should be able to get some upside as well.”
The idea behind this vision of essentially spreading the value from record labels and music catalogs to more of the artists themselves and also fans could be seen as “democratizing” the music industry.
“The compromise of more and more people having rights is what we lack today, and I think it leads to positive effects.”
While it is easier to pitch these ideas with larger artists such as R3HAB and Steve Aoki, this only paves the way for up-and-coming artists to enter the industry with these ideas before committing to a restricted contract.
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In an interview with Cointelegraph R3HAB highlighted the aptitude of EDM fans towards new “cutting edge” technology like NFTs. R3HAB said its team has been looking at fan interest and interaction with Web3-based platforms.
This is where I received confirmation to dive into the NFT space and give my fans this opportunity.”
According to Traore, anotherblock company polled its Discord community about what types of music NFTs are interested in and EDM got the highest score followed by HipHop and R&B. Moreover, a recent report from Ripple revealed that 55% of major financial institutions are interested in related NFTs with music.
As the cryptocurrency industry improves itself in light of the market crash, projects that have no real value and interest are being dumped. Traores sees the association of value in the real world with NFTs for music rights as a sign of something permanent.
