Music NFTs

Monetisation has long been a problem for artists and the music industry in general. Ever since the creation of software like Napster and Limewire, making people pay for music has been an uphill battle. Currently, artists earn $0.004 per stream. NFTs and the concept of digital scarcity has the potential to shake up the music industry, and give artists new options they can use to monetise their creations.

If I buy a Music NFT, it means I now own that piece of that music. The concept of music NFTs is as confusing as digital art to some. Why would I pay to buy a piece of music that I can listen to for free? One possible reason is that it is a way for music lovers to get closer to artists they love. Another reason is monetary. Buying music NFTs could be a good way of betting on new, up-and-coming artists, while no one else has heard of them yet. If they hit the mainstream, the value of the NFTs you have bought will rise. Music NFTs would provide a way of betting on your favourite indie artists.

Patronage models are also being explored, and this would take things one step further. This would mean that you buy a music NFT and you are entitled to a share of future revenues made from that song. There are also millions of permutations and different use cases for Music NFTs. For example, buyers of music NFTs could get access to discounted concert tickets, backstage access or exclusive meetups with the artist.

While news of Music NFTs may not mean much to big, popular artists, they could change the lives of indie artists. For example, it's estimated that Bajan rapper Haleek Maul made more than $250,000 (81 ETH) selling Music NFTs. His Spotify earnings for the year? $178.

When a new market like this is opening up, there are also quite a few online marketplaces that spring up, hoping to be THE place where everyone goes to buy and sell Music NFTs. OpenSea is the biggest NFT marketplace in the world and it has a dedicated catalogue for Music NFTs. However, it seems that artists prefer to use marketplaces that are specifically for Music NFTs. The largest of these is Catalog. Artists have already sold millions of dollars worth of Music NFTs using Catalog. Catalog is used to sell single-edition (or one of a kind) music NFTs. Other platforms that also do this are Arpeggi, Foundation and FormFunction. There are other platforms like Sound.xyz, where artists can sell many different NFTs tied to one track.

This whole industry is in its infancy. In the case of digital art NFTs, the culture of buying unique, one of a kind editions was largely replaced (in terms of popularity and volume) by having collections of digital art. It will be interesting to see how things will develop, and what becomes the standard practice in the Music NFT space. . Some artists have managed to make themselves rich using NFTs. Maybe indie musicians are next.