I’m writing this week while listening to my favourite band Foals, and it reminded me that I’ve been meaning to write about crypto in music for months but there was always another topic I had top of mind. Time to put that right with some bullets dedicated to how crypto, music artists and the industry at large are coming together:
1. Hash Power
I’ve mentioned the Hash Power audio series before as a great listen for anyone looking to understand what crypto is and how it might be applicable as a disruptive technology, and I’ve got an excuse to give it a recommendation again. There was a section in Part 2 talking about how anything that can be digitised will be and that crypto could then play a role in the distribution of value of those digital assets. I immediately thought of music and how we’ve already seen how digitisation over the last 20 years has given us more choice and at cheaper cost, but often at the expense of artists livelihoods because their songs can be easily copied and distributed. In a world where music artists can claim the rights to one true original version of a song they create, it’s possible that they may be able to take ownership and a higher share of revenue from streaming, use in commercials, etc, cutting out all the people that currently take a share of revenue in the process.
Hash Power - Part 2 | Colossus® (joincolossus.com)
2. Tidal
One company to keep an eye on that could be headed down such a road and giving power back to artists is Tidal. You may remember that Jay Z, with a bunch of friends including Madonna and Kanye West, launched Tidal in 2015, with the stated aim of giving higher share of revenue to artists. Last year, they were acquired by Block, a digital payments company that includes Square and holds Bitcoin on their balance sheet. They’ve been very secretive about plans since, but the close ties Jay Z has with Jack Dorsey and the work Block is doing, leads to the assumption that they’re working on something to rival the likes of Spotify and Apple Music in a way that hasn’t been seen before and involving Bitcoin.
3. Snoop
Earlier this year, Snoop Dogg bought Death Row Records and claimed that “Death Row will be an NFT label”. That was several months ago and I’ve yet to see any tangible changes towards Snoop’s goal and what that means, but Snoop is a vocal NFT fan, with a Bored Ape in his Twitter bio, and a quick look at the website shows a dedicated section for the sale of NFTs.
Death Row Records (deathrowofficial.com)
4. Disclosure
Back in the UK, another of my favourites, Disclosure, have been pioneers in NFTs and crypto. Last year, they sold the original artwork they’re well known for on their album covers as an NFT, with the promise that the owner of that NFT would get entry for 2 people to any Disclosure concert worldwide for life. It was bought by members of the Delphi Digital team who are big Disclosure fans themselves, as well as putting out great content and research about various crypto projects. This podcast episode from Delphi with Guy Lawrence from Disclosure is well worth a listen.
Electronic Duo Disclosure Discuss NFTs, Music and a $140K NFT Sale. - YouTube
5. 3LAU
Another artist pushing the boundaries in crypto is 3LAU, pronounced Blau, with the launch of platform Royal, where every day folk can invest in music artists and receive a share of streaming revenue in return. It’s an interesting idea, where music fans fund the development of talent, rather than record labels, creating a closer relationship with fans and artists.
Royal - Own your favorite music. | Royal
6. Tickets
Understanding that an NFT is a unique digital asset secured and verifiable on a blockchain, it’s quite an easy leap to think that could be a use case for ticketing at music events, where the distribution can be more tightly controlled to ensure real fans are receiving tickets and are not being ripped off by resellers or fake ticket touts. If there were to be any resale, artists could control the price of it and take part of any resale value too. Although an idea that’s been discussed often, I’m yet to see a mainstream artist attempt it yet.
I’ll leave it here for this week, but there are many other examples across the music industry where crypto experimentation is being led by music artists. I love music and anything that can help artists connect closer with their audiences, while also enhancing their livelihoods, I see as a good thing for the vibrancy and longevity of the artform. If crypto can help them to achieve it, then I’m all for it.
Peace, love, and Bitcoin,
Rob