NFTs seem to be the craze of the moment. When people thought all there was to Blockchain technology was Bitcoin, NFTs came on board. As the new kid on the block, they have taken the world (yes, the entire world) by storm. Everyone wants to hop on the train of tokens.
What do NFTs mean?
NFT is an abbreviation for Non-fungible tokens. But what does that even mean? Let us take tokens first. Tokens are units of value (they have value or worth) that are stored and issued from a blockchain. Imagine a meal voucher or a movie ticket bought at the box office or a ticket bought at the park. These all have worth, right? Yeah. The same goes for tokens. Except that they are digital, not just digital as in a ticket saved on your phone, but they are issued on a blockchain so they have a record on the blockchain. Moving forward, what makes these digital tokens non-fungible?
Why does everyone seem to be crazy about them?
Following the example of the ticket bought at the park, we know that all tickets are the same, both physically and in their value, right? So if you bought 2 tokens (tickets) for your friend and yourself, they would be the same. With non-fungible tokens, each token is distinct, and they have different values; the same way a Degas painting is distinct and has a different value from the Monalisa. They are more or less one-off products. This innovation opens up a vast goldmine for all musical creatives. So let’s get down to the 3 crucial things artistes need to know.
1. NFTs will give you much more than what they already make
It is usually said that money makes the world go round. This is true, as it is what makes the engines and gears of the music industry grind (and they have been grinding for years). Nevertheless, it is an open secret that musicians don’t get as much as we hear because of certain capitalist entities. A lot of musicians receive between 10-20% of the royalties (profit) from their work. However, artists are going to record a massive increase in income as a result of this tech.
There are several ways they can profit off NFTs depending on the creativity, ingenuity and legal prowess of their managers. The most obvious way is merchandise. One may ask “hasn’t merchandise always existed in the music industry?” Yes, but NFTs have come to take them a notch higher. The dynamics being injected into music merchandise by NFTs stem from the want of exclusivity by humans. Right now, the closest thing we have to digital tokens in terms of relative scarcity, in merchandise is limited-production wears. Imagine Ed Sheeran releasing a picture of a trademark slang of him as an NFT. That image can only be owned by one person, although it can be downloaded by other fans, just one person “owns” this digital merchandise. The rarity of that piece will make it uber-expensive.
Furthermore, we have collectables. Every field of human activity that inspires passion in others features collectables. Humans are naturally materialistic and this means our idea of ‘worth’ and ‘value’ are skewed and are influenced by our emotions. So the opportunity to brag about owning a collectible could be worth millions to some. You may think it impossible that someone would ‘waste’ millions of dollars on something as common as a music record. Well, a vinyl record of the Beatles sold for $790,000, that was the worth of his love for the British band. Note that this vinyl record could be stolen, broken or even replaced with a fake, as there is no fail-proof way of proving its uniqueness, but an NFT is not vulnerable to any of these and this will make them cost more, which means more money for musicians. Moving away from that, musicians can also make money from direct sources.
With all these, there is still more that can be made. How? With smart contracts, artistes can make more bucks each time their NFT is being resold (yeah, that sounds cool right). This means you could be in your house, doing nothing and for the fact that a fan purchases your NFT from another fan, you make money. At its early state, the NFT market is already worth $40bn and it is bound to experience tremendous growth
2. NFTs will give you the power over your work
A lot of middlemen litter the music space, either as distributors or record label bosses. Due to several legal and bureaucratic constraints, these people are needed and whoever has the money, has the power. But as the new sheriff in town, NFTs will return power and control to where it belongs because artists will now be able to reach their audience without these men, and with the money now on their side, they will have moreover their stuff. By the way, there are platforms that promote up-and-coming musicians, that give artists control over their work like Show4me and have the opportunity to display their live music online.
3. NFTs can connect you to your audience
In the near future, artists will offer one-on-one outings, personal tours, autographed items, even birthday greetings to fans who purchase their NFTs. This will promote the relationships fans have with their favourite stars. An owner of a special NFT of an artiste may be named as the biggest fan of he/she. This could further blossom into a kind of ‘tipping feature’ where fans ‘tip’ their favourites. NFTs are the future and it is no surprise that artists, sportsmen and everyone with fans are joining the train of NFTs. Thus every progressive and foresightful artist should adopt this technological tool. However, maximizing this requires you having a formidable reputation and a wide fanbase, and what better way to do that than making use of
essential concert settings having your live music online, topping music indexes etc. No platform offers all these than music interaction network: Show4me. With what we have seen so far, NFTs are sure to become the most important tools in the music industry. Grab it!
