Music NFTs Are Evolving, Now Grant Fans Song Ownership

In January. I wrote this post talking about where we could expect to see NFT growth in the coming year.  I focused on music primarily because I saw the enormous potential of leveraging NFTs as a way to give fans ownership. In their relationship with the artist, in how they promote the artist, or even in the music itself.

That’s right, NFTs are now being leveraged as a way to let fans OWN the music from their favorite artists.

let's make contracts visual and clear to understand.

here is the contract that lives in the metadata of the NFTs that I listed today.

this is an evolution of the first music contract I designed. pic.twitter.com/fAHS0Pf3sr

— Lyrah (@lyrah) March 1, 2022

Isn’t that amazing? This is leveraging NFTs as a way to not only support your favorite artists directly, but for the fan, it’s a way to literally OWN the music of their favorite artists.

Taking this concept a step further, Royal facilitates fractional ownership of the music:

ROYAL

• @join_royal was founded by web3 music legend @3LAU

• If you buy an NFT, you get to share the artist royalties.

• This is a game changer. Now you can invest in artists and share their success.

Artists: @Verite, 3LAU and Nas. pic.twitter.com/jgnd2QEmtb

— musicben.eth 🎧 (@musicben_eth) February 28, 2022

I see this evolving as a way for emerging artists to fundraise their careers via selling NFTs and fractional ownership of their music. Then, as they become more successful, they can downscale or eliminate any fractional ownership offerings, and focus strictly on fan experience and connection.

The economies of scale are drastically changing for artists thanks to web3. More monetization opportunities means artists can focus on deeper connections with fewer fans. Those fewer fans have the ability to directly support and connect with their favorite artists. And as fans see they have a greater ability to affect positive change for the artists they love, that gives them more incentive to do just that.

How could this work for other products?

In theory, a fractional ownership model such as the above could work for any physical or digital product. Startups could use it to replace seed funding or even a Series A funding round. More established brands could use it reward ambassadors as part of an organized program to further incentivize participation.

What I’ve always said about web3 holds; These are early days, and it’s still a very messy place. But with all the mess-making comes knowledge and experience. We are all learning on the fly, and there is a massive talent drain from web2 to web3 happening right now. Some of the most talented people in all career fields are flocking to web3 because they see the potential.

The next 10-20 years minimum belongs to the web3 technologies that are emerging today. Music is one of these early areas where hype, business utility and customer experience are all colliding at once.

It’s exciting to see.