Just recently we were getting the answers to “ What the hell is Blockchain and Bitcoin?” to add to the dilemma we now have a new question” What on God’s Green Earth is an NFT?” “What do I do with it?” and “I make music why should I make Music NFT? When I should be making money”
There is a perpetual question inside the head of everyone, be it an artist or artist’s manager, How do I make money money, but eventually when an artist makes millions his or her manager and the record labels make 10 times that and it all seemed normal and conventional, everyone gets paid and everyone stays happy right? Wrong! The Artists would be getting not enough of what is actually being made. Thi structure was toppled and defenestrated recently by the development called NFT. You must have heard the buzz around the term NFT?
Did this NFT manifest out of nowhere?
2010 to 2020 has been a fervent period of technological developments and their consequent revolutions. Evolving from a centralised system towards decentralisation, brought by the rise of Blockchain which was relatively unknown till last year, leaving people to think “Um What’s going on here?” People have serious questions, is it an emerging art for or a platform? Nevertheless,The excitement also touched and changed Music Industry as we know it. With eye-popping figures such as Grimes selling NFTs worth $5.8m in just about 20 minutes( the time it takes to make a good bread toast).
Keeping up with the trend Indian Band Euphoria also launched its latest album ‘SALE’ in form of an NFT project along with 9 behind the scenes photographs on Invite only NFT Project Token Runaway. There is a ton of hype, Money, Voices being heard on the Pro-NFT podium, however, there are concerns about the sudden rise as it dismantles the traditional Middle-man Music Industry system, making not the artists but the middlemen to compete. Blockchain inevitably created a key element of scarcity, changing the trend of sharing and toppling the piracy landscape, unlike an MP3 that could be downloaded and shared a billion times, an NFT is a digital file linked to a blockchain that has a complete record of ownership embedded in it. In simpler terms, two people may have the same artwork be it music or be it a photo, but only one of them carries value.
The following reasons impel the sky-bound hype for NFT in the music industry:
- Convenience: Earlier participating in an auction for an average music fan was next to impossible, impending tons of music fans disheartened being not able to own a piece of their favourite art. But with the help of NFTs, all they need now is to create a digital wallet and then join an auction to try their luck at winning. This also has enabled the creation of successful content simpler than shopping online.
- Elimination of middlemen: Conventionally Music industry had too many middlemen and intermediaries.
For e.g when a fan buys an album via Spotify or streaming service provider, or buy good a part of it does go to the artist but the majority of it goes to the record label. Even when you go to a concert, the same intermediaries take a huge cut. NFT’s have an inbuilt function to enable payment directly to artist in events of resale or so - One of a kind experienece : NFTs allow artists to auction whatever they could wish for , from albums to digital arts to even sound snippets and merchandises in form for NFTs and earn much more than they ever could( Remember Grimes sold their NFTs worth $5.8m in just about 20 minutes)Artists have been able to explore and develop new possibilities and provide new experiences to their followers all thanks to NFTs , this has enabled musicians to come up with new ways to keep their audiences engaged and entertained. Much like how the internet did, NFTs for music is no less than a boon should you choose to adapt it.
Conclusion: The more you deem NFTs as Uncharted territories, the more you’d lose out on making money and eventually like how The Everly Brothers, got lost in the sands of time you would be too.