Of all the industries in all the world, making
a living from music HARD CROP IN just might be one of the most challenging.
For many of course, it is a past-time, not a profession.
But for those trying to parlay passion into profit,
the business of music is a painfully difficult thing to pursue.
Blockchain could be about to change that.
I’m Forkast’s Joel Flynn - And THIS is Moments in NFT History.
So let’s talk about music,
and why NFTs could be the future of the industry by first taking a look at where we’ve been.
As Forbes observed in October 2021, making music has been inherently tied to technology
since the invention of sound recording in 1877.
Over the latter part of the last 150 years,
recording sound has become considerably easier of course.
So much so, that all you need to make an album these days
is one of these (GESTURES TO LEFT) IPHONE.
Which is exactly what Steve Lacy did with his demo from 2017.
But while technology has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years,
the structure of the industry hasn’t.
Artists still typically sign contracts with large organisations
around things like promotion, live events and distribution.
The lawyers, agents and other executives at these organisations end up taking sizable cuts of the
profits made from work created by the artist, which Forbes estimated to be about FIFTY percent.
There were big worries for the industry after things like Napster,
and BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer file sharing services set the piracy ship a sail
But then with the advent of streaming services, suddenly things began looking up.
As the New York Times observed in March 2021, monthly revenue became a thing again.
In essence, streaming saved music.
Just not for artists.
And here is where NFTs come in.
In March last year, when Kings of Leon released their eighth
studio album “When You See Yourself”, they became the first band to do so as an NFT.
Tokens included special access to live events and unique artwork,
and came alongside a streaming release, not instead of it.
A company called YellowHeart was behind the move.
Its CEO Josh Katz told Rolling Stone that month it was “the future” for the music industry.
Releasing music as NFTs allows artists to retain most of the revenue from the sale,
and potentially profit from future sales as well.
Not everyone was happy about this, with K-Pop fans among those upset
about Ethereum’s environmental impact.
Regardless, the allure proved potent, allowing the inclusion of additional perks, like the
live tickets and artwork Kings of Leon added, and even the partial ownership of the songs.
Snoop Dogg included copyright with his release of acapellas,
beats and full songs from his Death Row label on Opensea.
Artists like DJ Justin Blau are among those now making a
name for themselves from their work with NFTs and blockchain.
Generative artists are also getting involved, with projects
like EulerBeats pushing the boundaries by involving users in the creation process.
The music industry is still a long way from making NFTs central to its business model.
But blockchain and web3 technologies have already started a revolution
that will change things for artists and for listeners forever.