Crypto, NFTs & Disrupting of the Music Industry 

Going forward, many believe that NFTs are a way of disrupting this pattern and changing how artists can get funded. The rise of the internet has seen many artists able to build a following independently, giving them more leverage than ever before. But until now, record labels have still held the key to monetising music. 

Here some may argue that sites like Patreon or OnlyFans have already provided this new way of being funded, and whilst that may be true to an extent, Patreon only offers a way for independent creators to get paying subscribers. 

NFTs on the other hand have much broader application potential. With NFTs artists can potentially sell the rights to their songs directly to their fanbase. This means that if an artist has built up an independent following, the early believers in their work can pay to have a percentage of the rights, acting in place of a label. 

In the future, musicians may be able to access funding whilst maintaining much more control and ownership over their work. The value that musicians can offer isn’t just limited to song rights as well. We’ve already seen artists selling concert tickets and exclusive art works, who knows what creative offerings people will come up with in the future? 

Also, innovation isn’t just limited to the individual artist. Platforms such as Audius are aiming to use crypto to put more power into the hands of up and coming musicians. The music platform charges users directly for the amount they stream a certain song and then pays the artist the majority of that charge. Not only is this a much fairer deal for artists, but it’s also fairer for the consumer.  

The platform has grown to over 3 million monthly active users and is aiming to become the place for musicians to build community-owned fan-bases. Their protocols allow for interoperability across the web 3.0 ecosystem, meaning that Audius users can log in to NFT marketplaces with their Audius profiles and bring their following along. 

This could lead to models where every person that bids on an NFT release gets offered backstage passes to an artist’s upcoming tour – and this is just one small example that Audius has given. The sky really is the limit as artists become more empowered to directly interact with their fanbases.

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