Music NFTs in 2022: Marketplaces, Notable Artists & Communities
Here you'll find an aggregated list of resources and data about the state of
music NFTs as of June 2022. You'll get a feel for the most important/popular
marketplaces, platforms, communities, blockchains and as well as a list of
notable artists that are active in the music NFT space.
Last updated on June 16, 2022.
What Are NFTs and What Are Music NFTs?
NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, and a NFT represents a token that lives on a blockchain (e.g.: the Ethereum blockchain ) that is unique and can't be substituted for another token. An example of a Fungible Token would be a dollar bill, where any dollar bill can be substituted for any other dollar bill and be equivalent in it's value and what it represents.
NFTs are often attached to a piece of digital art, and buying a NFT that's attached to a piece of art is akin to becoming the digital owner of that piece of digital art. Just as only one person or organization can claim an original piece of art in the physical world, NFTs allows for this same level of scarcity, but in the digital world.
Music NFTs are NFTs that represent a song, a music video or an entire album and owners of such NFT can claim being the owner of that song, music video or entire album. It's important to note however that this doesn't mean that the owner of the music NFT can automatically claim intellectual property rights to the piece of music associated with the owned NFT.
Some music NFTs also include other more real-world utilities like access to private communities, free entries at live music events, meet and greets with the artist, royalty shares and usage rights.
Some interesting meta trends about music NFTs, according to a recent report by Water & Music :
- The most popular genre of music in the music NFT space is electronic music, followed by rap music as a distant second
- Indie artists are currently outselling major-label artists in the music NFT space
Marketplaces & Platforms for Music NFTs
Here are some of the current top marketplaces to buy and sell music NFTs as of June 2022.
Some of these platforms and marketplaces are specific to music NFTs, while others are more general NTF marketplace platforms:
- OpenSea The largest overall NFT marketplace Blockchains: Ethereum, Polygon, Klatyn & Solana
- Nifty Gateway Gemini-owned NFT marketplace Blockchain: Ethereum
- Foundation Create, collect and sell digital artwork Blockchain: Ethereum
- Async Art Generative art and music Blockchain: Ethereum
- OneOf Greener NFT platform Blockchain: Tezos
- Audius Music streaming service Token: $AUDIO
- Royal Royalty-share + utilities
- Zora NFT marketplace protocol Blockchain: Ethereum
- Mint Songs One of one NFTs Powered by Zora
- Catalog Own digital records Blockchain: Ethereum
- Opulous Music Fungible Tokens (MFTs) Own part of the music copyright
- Nina Buy, sell and stream music online Blockchain: Ethereum
- Pianity Built on Arweave, a protocol to store files permanently
- Sound.xyz Blockchain: Ethereum
- Decent.xyz Royalty-share model Blockchain: Ethereum
- SoundMint Own generative audiovisual art
- enter Marketplaces for visual or music NFTs
- Mintbase Eco-friendly utility NFTs Blockchain: NEAR
- PartyBid Join a team/party to buy NFTs Works on OpenSea, Zora, Foundation & Nouns
- FanTiger Royalty-share India-based
- Solo Music Focus on country music
- BAND Royalty
- E-NFT
- POWER
Notable Music NFT Artists
Here's a list of notable and popular artists that have participated in the music NFT ecosystem:
- 3LAU Co-founded the Royal platform
- Snoop Dogg Released exclusive music as NFTs on the Cardano blockchain
- Kings of Leon Their When You See Yourself album was released on regular streaming channels and as an NFT drop at the same time. The NFT drop also included limited-edition vinyls and access to future concerts.
- The Chainsmokers Released their So Far So Good album on Royal with a royalty-share.
- Nas Sold royalty rights for the songs Ultra Black and Rare and became the first artist to sell streaming royalty rights on the Royal platform.
- Diplo Became the second artist to sell streaming royalty rights via the Royal platform as an NFT, for his Don't Forget My Love song.
- Grimes Her WarNympth collection sold for close to USD $6 million on Nifty Gateway
- Steve Aoki Started an NFT rewards platform called A0K1VERSE.
- Latashá A indie rap artist who sold the music video for GoGo Wyne as an NFT for 13.4207 ETH.
- deadmau5 Active in the music NFT space on multiple fronts, both with music and with visual art. The head5 collection on Polygon is one example.
- VÉRITÉ Independent artist who released songs as NFTs on Zora and Royal. Her He's Not You song offered a total of 39% royalty-share ownership via a total of 505 tokens.
Top Blockchains for Music NFTs
Unsurprisingly, the top blockchain for music NFTs is the Ethereum blockchain, but Tezos, Solana, Polygon and NEAR are also coming up in popularity for the music NFT space.
The standard for NTFs (ERC-721) was first specified by the Ethereum project, but Ethereum has been criticized for having its large energy use due to its proof of work system. Other blockchains that use a proof of stake system instead have been seen as more ecologically sound, which is a primary reason why other blockchains have gained popularity in the NFT space. Ethereum is set to transition to a proof of stake system sometime in 2022, which could nullify the criticism around its energy use.
Interesting Music NFT Communities & Projects
- Water & Music Research DAO aggregating data and insights about the music NFT space and the evolution of music on Web3
- MODA DAO DAO based around micro-licensing for music NFTs
- Noise DAO DAO that supports music and technology
- SONGCAMP Community fostering the future of music
- StemsDAO Collaborates with artists to release song stems as NFTs, allowing other artists to remix and build upon the work
- Music Machines Funding grants for music artists
- Arpeggi Labs Web3 music creation platform
THE END.
I'd love to hear your feedback about this page, and also don't hesitate to get in touch if you think I forgot something major or if something needs updating.
