NFTs and Music: Is There A Common Ground?

In the early days of cryptocurrency, the most enthusiastic supporters endued it with all kinds of superpowers, claiming that distributed ledger tech could disrupt almost any industry. After the Ethereum network came along, it provided the dreamers with a real-life platform for putting their ideas into action. 

Time, however, put everything in its proper place, and eventually, people cast away the majority of irrelevant cryptocurrency-inspired use cases, focusing on practical applications. Apart from decentralized finance (DeFi), since recently NFTs took the stage, the art and gaming industries have started implementing digital tokens into their daily operations. 

And then there’s music. 

At first glance, crypto tokens and music have nothing in common, but the emergence of ambitious young projects in the space suggests otherwise. 

Issues of the Musical Industry

The necessity to work with record labels is a burden for most musicians. Not only do labels dictate how artists should look and sound, but they also pocket a massive chunk of profits. Until recently, working independently meant taking chances and only worked out for a very few music creators. 

Streaming services didn’t work in favour of musicians, apart from superstars. And, of course, labels benefited once again. As for the emerging file-sharing platforms, they ended up hitting a regulatory roadblock and failed to fulfill the initial liberating purpose. 

Recently, a few platforms for creators have started connecting fans and artists to support the latter directly, bypassing mediators and visibly increasing the income. Rumour has it, crypto tech and NFTs can help refine this system. 

Crypto Music

There are quite a few crypto-powered projects that work on revolutionizing the music industry; most of them cultivate the idea of bringing fans and musicians together. These platforms are usually focused on reforming user experience and building expanded, highly engaged communities. In these communities, fans are likely to act as marketers, especially if they are motivated by gaining profit as their artists’ audience increases. 

At the same time, artists gain back full control of their work and resolve ownership issues by themselves. For instance, they can sell albums in the form of a non-fungible token encouraging collective ownership by selling stakes. The new approach suggests that musicians become businessmen and promote authentic art exactly the way they see it. 

Music NFTs are not that different from art NFTs that you’ve probably seen all around Twitter and web in general. In case of music, the token is tied to an audio file, not an image, and confirms one’s ownership of the piece. Ownership right used to be the only practical function of music-related NFTs, but new concepts came along.

The new ownership model also allows for new revenue streams. For instance, musicians can automatically get their share of benefits when others use their work to release remixes. On top of that, artists can get micropayments per each stream or take advantage of the NFT minting – the possibilities are endless.

More local talents can be discovered worldwide thanks to improved algorithms and the inclusivity of crypto-powered music platforms. And crypto-powered payments allow them to get paid instantly and finally get the financial freedom they deserve. 

Musical Tokenomics

Apart from NFTs, utility and other crypto tokens play a big part in the development of cutting-edge music-related projects. Generally, platforms’ native tokens give both fans and artists a simple way to influence and reform the process of creating and sharing music. 

Take, for example, JAM token by Tune.FM, already available for purchasing at HitBTC. It is designed to facilitate global value exchange via a sophisticated micropayments system enabling artists to receive instant payments whenever someone plays their music. 

Some platforms allow artists to choose how much of their royalty they want to reserve for users holding their native tokens. Alternatively, they can decide the number of the track’s official editions and get their fair share of profit. In fact, musicians can control just about anything and discover new monetization methods. 

The Bottom Line

Although crypto and music do not seem like an obvious match, in reality, the unity of the two industries can benefit both artists and their fans. Improved income models, instant settlements, new monetization schemes, and shared ownership provide artists with the freedom to create