Currents: Artist estates lean on metaverse tech to grow their audiences

This article is a web version of our biweekly, member-exclusive digest dedicated to our editorial and database updates. We break down and connect the dots among announcements of funding rounds, acquisitions, NFT drops, and other highlights in the music/tech ecosystem that we track as part of updating our suite of databases.

The name “Currents” is in line with the eponymous, read-only channel we launched in our private Discord server last month — in which our research team curates links to news announcements that shed light on the latest music/tech trends, often tying news to ongoing community discussions in the server. If you’re not already in our Discord server, please click here to authorize the Memberful Discord bot, which should give you access.

CHANGE LOG SUMMARY

Music/tech startup investment dashboard —We added $46.6M in new investments to this dashboard since the previous Currents update, including:

• A $5.5M funding round for NFT marketplaceFanTiger.
• $1M for Web3 streaming platformTamago.
• $36M for AR startup Jadu.
• $2.6M for Portugal-based Sound Particles to boost music in the metaverse.

Music NFT sales dashboard —Since our last digest, we have added 175 music NFTs and 5 Web3 tools and platforms to this dashboard, including:

• 94 previously missing NFTs (including individual stems and blank records) for artists on the platform Async, totaling more than $500K in new additional NFT sales in our records.
• 67 drops on Glass, a platform offering dynamic NFT pricing over time using the Prism DeFi protocol, including ongoing, single-copy sales from artists Xcelencia, Daniel Allan, and dozens of others.
• Approximately 20 additional drops from artists including Nissi Ogulu, Endah N Resa, and Boy & Bear, and announced-but-not-yet-released NFTs from Ringo Starr and The Notorious B.I.G.
• A Synth Heads NFT collection from Beatport and metaverse gaming platform PIXELYNX.
• A couple of recently-launched music NFT players, including MusicFX and Tamago.
• NFT sales platforms Kolo, GODA (Pharrell Williams’ new Gallery of Digital Assets platform), and Ayoken, the first platform we have tracked using the Avalanche blockchain.

Creative AI for artists — We published part one of our creative AI tools report late last month exclusively for members, which features an accompanying database of 30+ tools co-curated with our community. We have continued to add related companies and tools to the dashboard since publication. Two notable introductions include:

• Jamahook, a machine learning plugin for sample matching.
• Regroove, a device that generates and syncopates drum patterns using a learned algorithmic understanding of rhythm and groove.

To suggest new tools for us to add to the database, please hop into this thread in our Discord server.

TRENDS WE’RE SEEING

Across the news we’ve been tracking in the last few weeks, we’ve noticed two general trends:

• Established artist estates and new technology startups leaning on each other to grow and scale their audiences.
• Music/Web3 project launches leaning on forms of utility apart from just financial value or exclusive artist access to sustain themselves in a bear market.

Music and the metaverse: Artist estates lean in

As we continue to research music and the metaverse leading up to our Season 2 collaborative project (releasing next month), we’ve discovered a noteworthy emerging trend: Deceased musicians’ estates are entering the metaverse.

• The Sandbox (SAND) partners with Elvis. Again, we have a strong and established fan community adding value to new technologies. The $SAND token rises in value upon the announcement of the Sandbox’s plan to use Elvis Presley’s image and brand in its metaverse as an avatar and more.
• The Notorious B.I.G. to return in virtual form in The Brook. Relatedly, in celebration of what would have been the late Notorious B.I.G.’s 50th birthday this month, we saw the announcement of a future virtual world themed around the artist, called The Brook, along with planned NFTs.
• Kanye West files NFT trademark applications. There is debate whether this trademark filing means that Kanye has changed his well-documented stance against NFTs, or the trademark simply intends to block others from using the name for such projects.

Given that legacy artists continually top annual touring revenue charts, it’s unsurprising to see many of their associated estates or teams experiment with live music technology ahead of others in the industry. For instance, pre-pandemic, we saw many different artist estates developing holograms for live concert experiences; Roy Orbison, Whitney Houston, and Maria Callas all had tours produced by Base Hologram. As we covered in a recent Discord digest, the positive reception around ABBA’s more recent hologram show Voyage could also set the tone for future immersive music experiences.

But where the production and physical space limitations for this type of augmented reality inhibits scaling this type of experience to mass audiences, we can see the metaverse – with its many platforms and worlds, and with varying levels of interactivity – being a place where we see more of these estates extend their reach using new technologies.

Let’s actually listen to these music NFTs

We’ve seen increased activity and investment in NFT music player apps designed to play back music minted as NFTs.

• Future Tape has released an iOS app that plays back NFT music from Catalog, Nina, and Sound.xyz, and on Friday listed the Chaos Songs NFT packs, a “headless” project of 77 artists put together by Songcamp. To our knowledge, this marks the first Web3 music player on the iOS App Store, and focuses on music discovery — offering options to arrange tracks by latest released, shortest/longest duration, and if the track is that artist’s first mint, among other categories. The app mimics the website of the same name.
• Decentralized audio streaming platform Tamago raised $1M in a seed round, including investments from artist Daedelus, Move Capital, and Big Brain Holdings. House artists Felix Da Housecat, Tiga, and Paramida have announced upcoming drops. Tamago says it’s partnered with NEAR wallet, and artists can set their price for downloadable content.
• MusicFX has added an integrated player into their music NFT platform. MusicFX is also implementing a charity initiative, with the first song minted to raise funds forThe HEAL Foundation (Helping to Enrich Autistic Lives).

The rise in third-party NFT players that allow users to listen to music from multiple platforms is another sign that music NFTs are moving beyond simply trading, speculation, and hype, toward ironically more traditional music functions like driving the discovery of — and listening to — the music itself.

NFT community-building, URL and IRL

We see a continued trend in artists using NFTs creatively as part of their ongoing community-building efforts. This narrative was standard in the early days of the NFT boom in 2021, often as a justification for sale and auction prices beyond speculation; we covered the rise of this utility in our 2021 Music NFT sales analysis.

In the past couple of weeks, we have seen the following examples:

• Under the artist name Alpha Doggz, Steve Aoki and Snoop Dogg launched their debut EP early to each artist’s respective NFT holders. Those who owned either the A0K1VERSE Passport NFT or The Doggfather’s Snoop Stashbox received the first two tracks of the five-track EP before its public release on May 19. The move further benefits the NFT holders while also honoring Snoop Dogg’s plans to turn his recently acquired Death Row Records into an NFT record label. The duo partnered with blockchain platform Gala Music for the drop, which also released Snoop’s 10K Stash Boxes project. (This notion of building value across multiple different on-chain communities and networks in a collaborative, modular, and permissionless way is one of the main standout features of Web3 as distinct from Web2 platforms.)
• Electronic music download store and streaming platform Beatport has teamed up with metaverse music company PIXELYNX for the second time to collaborate on a partnership with UK dance music festival Junction2. After teaming up on a range of NFT drops called Synth Heads, they’re creating 300 branded Junction2 Synth Heads, priced at 0.15 ETH each, offering perks and exclusives including day passes to the festival, access to the Synth Heads community, merch from both Beatport and Junction2, and exclusive vinyl releases. Five random NFT buyers will receive a Golden Ticket that provides full access to both days, backstage bars, and front-of-line priority.

As the speculative market around NFTs continues to drop off, these trends show us that building community around NFTs and the real-world perks they can provide are becoming more important to artists and events teams worldwide. As discussed in our last Currents digest, we’d expect this trend to continue as long-term NFT utility remains essential.

Continued investment in philanthropic NFTs

We highlighted the charity utility associated with Madonna and Beeple’s NFT collaboration in our last digest. Since then, several NFT sales that raise money for charity have dropped, including the MusicFX NFT announcement we mentioned above.

• Mind Music – a platform that aims to “combat the issue of mental health,” has launched a Founder Series NFT Collection to raise money for Mental Health Charity, with 10% of the proceeds raised being donated. Founder Series holders will also gain extra utility such as free entry to upcoming events and a physical copy of Mind Record’s first album.
• Nigerian musician Nissi Ogulu (the sister of African superstar Burna Boy) has launched an NFT collection on Binance called Jigsaw Tribe. The collection features animated African instruments, exploring the continent’s musical heritage, and a percentage of Jigsaw Tribe’s NFTs will go towards The Reach, a Nigerian charity that provides meals to underprivileged people. Jigsaw Tribe is also part of Binance Charity’s NFT for Good campaign.
• Beatles legend Ringo Starr has released his first NFT project titled “Ringo Starr NFT Collection – The Creative Mind of a Beatle.” The collection features the drummer’s drawings and autographed physical canvases. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to benefit social-welfare charity The Lotus Foundation (Ringo’s proceeds benefit the foundation according to its website).

Ongoing NFT charity utility seems appealing for artists releasing NFTs and combat negative PR that still pervades some of the Web3 conversations in music. It may also be an opportunity for artists to test their fans’ appetites for digital collectibles more widely as the technology becomes more mainstream.