May 25, 2021 -- InvestorsHub NewsWire -- via NetworkNewsWire
Editorial Coverage: With the onset of the digital universe over
the last decades, music has been steadily devalued with a race to
the bottom pricing to give subscribers access to massive databases
of music. Pandemic social shutdowns were another blow to musicians,
who now couldn’t even generate revenue from live performances. In
recent months, the emergence of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are
breathing life into the industry as musicians are getting creative
with ways to generate revenue and better connect with fans. An NFT
is, in essence, a collectible digital asset, which holds value as a
form of cryptocurrency and as a form of art or culture, and offers
artists the ability to monetize their art or music. Music DeFi
pioneer BAND Royalty (Profile) is taking NFTs to the next
level by structuring them with the opportunity to access royalties
from its constantly growing library of soundtracks. Just
as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:
AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:
AMZN) shook up the music industry with their
subscription services and exclusive content, NFTs are being hailed
as the next great disruptor, which would likely
benefit Riot
Blockchain Inc. (NASDAQ:
RIOT), Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:
COIN) and others already deep in the
cryptocurrency and blockchain markets.
- Sales of NFTs soared to more than $2 billion in Q1 2021, up
from $93 million in Q4 2020.
- BAND Royalty is creating a revolutionary ecosystem that
provides investors the opportunity to participate in the music
royalty market.
- BAND Royalty has amassed an impressive library of rights to
royalties for tracks from some of the music world’s most popular
artists.
- Once BAND’s NFT is staked, NFT holders can access music
royalties in four different ways.
Click here to view the custom infographic of
the BAND Royalty editorial.
NFTs Are Pure Gold for Artists
NFTs, one-of-a-kind assets stored and verified on immutable
blockchain technology exploded on
the scene in 2021, headlined by Christie’s auctioning a
collection of Beeple’s digital artwork for $69.3 million in March.
During the first quarter of 2021, NFT sales exceeded $2 billion, up
more than 20-fold from $93 million in Q4 2020. The $2-plus billion
wasn’t inflated by the Beeple auction, according to
nonfungible.com. Also excluded were sales of NBA Top Shots, video
highlights converted into NFTs. NBA Top Shot trade on the Flow
platform reached $472 million during Q1 2021.
Like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, NFTs can be held, sold
or traded. Working as part of the complex encryption network of the
Ethereum blockchain, NFTs are protected from counterfeiting as all
transactions are on the blockchain, open to the public for tracing
and authentication.
To date, the collectible space has been the primary attention
draw, but the breadth of the market is starting to push through,
including the music industry joining the mix. On March 12, Music
Business Worldwide reported that NFTs grossed $35
million for the music industry in the past month,
including Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda making more than $30,000 with
his new single “Happy Endings” and Kings of Leon becoming the first
brand name band to release a new album as an NFT on the blockchain
platform YellowHeart. YouTuber and musician PelleK in February
claimed to be the first ever to release an NFT music album, which
sold out in less than two hours when presales opened, generating
$160,000. BAND Royalty did a limited
private sale of its music NFTs, selling its three top NFTs
for more than $200,000 and resulting in combined NFT presales of
more than $700,000.
In the midst of this frenzy, BAND
Royalty is establishing a new NFT paradigm. The company is
democratizing music royalties by creating new opportunities to
participate in a valuable asset class that’s now gained stability
after years of decline with the advent of music streaming. The
company has already amassed an impressive library of rights to
royalties for tracks from popular artists such as Justin
Timberlake, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Cher, Rihanna, Demi Lovato, Timbaland,
Missy Elliott and more.
There is also a unique collection component to owning a BAND
NFT. The company has commissioned leading artists to create
distinctive, 3D artwork for each of the strictly limited-edition
BAND NFTs. With musician-facing foresight, BAND intends to dedicate
part of its platform to serve as a launchpad for new talent.
The BA & ND of BAND
“BAND” is more than just a memorable industry moniker. It also
comes from the company’s founders, Barnaby Andersun (BA) + Noble
Drakoln (ND), two key opinion leaders in blockchain. Andersun is
also CEO of BlockAlchemy, a blockchain, ecommerce and digital
design consulting firm, and a widely sought-after public speaker on
blockchain, including speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos
and Harvard University on the subject.
In addition to being a best-selling author and contributor to
mainstream media outlets such as Forbes, Fox Business News and
Bloomberg, Drakoln, CEO of AR/XR game designer WarePlay Games Inc.,
brings decades of experience to BAND as an avid music royalty
investor. The knowledge and networking into the inner sanctum of
the royalty business is a clear differentiator for BAND.
Don’t Just Listen to the Music, Make Money From
It
Currently retail investors can only get exposure to the music
industry by buying stock in a public music label, investing in
funds that buy/sell music royalties, or via websites that auction
royalty rights, often well into the six-figure dollar range. In
what many perceive as a ground-floor opportunity, BAND Royalty is
changing the landscape and making it accessible for retail
investors to participate by owning NFTs.
After a private sale of music NFTs that generated
almost $1 million, BAND launched its own NFT sales platform on
its website, creating the first music NFT-only platform this month.
The company opened up access to the first series of 3,000 BAND NFTs
on its platform, staggering the release based on rarity. The
company’s plan is to keep the NFT count tight, much like other
popular NFT projects such as CryptoPunks and Hashmasks, both of
which have had secondary
market sales in the millions of dollars. The long-term
intention is to have a maximum of 12,000 BAND NFTs across four
different series to be released over the next 18 months.
Once someone purchases a BAND NFT, they can hold or trade it
like any other cryptocurrency, or once they pass the BAND KYC
protocols, they will be able to “stake” their NFT for a chance to
participate in the revenues from one of three music royalty pools:
print music royalties, mechanical and public performance royalties,
or synchronization royalties, most likely with their share being
paid out in the upcoming BAND token. Staking can be for different
time periods ranging from 90 days up to 5 years.
Just the Beginning: Upcoming Catalysts
As explained by
Andersun on “The Nifty Show” podcast, the vision of the
company is starting to be realized. The first series of NFTs were
launched this month as the team works to complete the smart
contracts that undergird the staking mechanism. Those are expected
to be completed this quarter, which sets the royalty revenue
component in motion. The goal is to allow BAND NFT stakers the
ability to share in four different streams of income, including 50%
from all BAND royalty music catalog revenue, a percentage from any
auctions of single BAND music tracks sold, 5% on any BAND NFTs
traded in the secondary market on OpenSea (or the BAND platform),
and 5% from re-selling of music royalties on the BAND platform.
The playbook is for a comprehensive music royalty ecosystem,
complete with a launchpad for emerging artists. Presently,
musicians are at the mercy of the record industry, a dynamic that
BAND intends to disrupt with a platform that gives artists more
opportunity to earn and keep royalties with added perks to connect
with their fan base through exclusive offers.
Upending the Norm
The music industry has faced bona fide headwinds for decades, as
the internet and streaming music became the death knell for
terrestrial radio. But where technology taketh away, technology
giveth back in the form of blockchain and NFTs, which will likely
capture all the top players spanning the entire breadth of music,
crypto and blockchain domains looking for new methods of
monetization to enhance revenue streams.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:
AAPL) has been quiet as to how many Apple Music
subscribers it has since passing 60 million in June 2019,
but CFO Luca
Maestri did say last month that Apple had more than 660
million paid subscriptions across all its services as of Q1 2021.
The tech juggernaut still hasn’t made any moves into cryptocurrency
or NFTs yet, although their SVP of Internet Software and Services,
Eddy Cue, last month joined the advisory board of Autograph, an
upstart NFT company founded by NFL legend Tom Brady that is being
stacked with tech heavyweights, including Dawn Ostroff, the CCO of
Apple rival Spotify.
Amazon
(NASDAQ:
AMZN) isn’t peddling NFTs on its massive
ecommerce platform, but the company certainly has established a
standard for innovating the music industry. Last year the
company reported its
streaming service had reached more than 55 million
customers globally, with subscriptions to Amazon Music Unlimited growing by more than 50%
compared to the year before. In addition, the service saw
incredible growth around the world: Amazon Music grew nearly 50%
year-over-year across the United States, the United Kingdom,
Germany and Japan while more than doubling in newer countries such
as France, Italy, Spain, and Mexico. The company also introduced
Amazon Music HD, which brings music fans the highest-quality audio
available for streaming.
Riot
Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ:
RIOT) made its biggest move to date to establish
itself as the leader in mining of Bitcoin, the popular
cryptocurrency where data is stored on blockchain
technology. Riot in April agreed to by $651 million in cash
and stock to acquire all the assets and operations of Whinstone US,
Inc. Once the transaction is complete, Riot will own the largest
Bitcoin mining facility in North America, with very low power
costs, a key to efficient cryptocurrency mining.
Coinbase
Global Inc (NASDAQ:
COIN) was the first cryptocurrency exchange to go
public, making its debut on April 14 via a direct listing that
NASDAQ said valued shares at $250 each. COIN stock shot ahead to as
high as $429 in intraday trading before closing at $328.28, valuing
the company at $85.8 billion. Interestingly, Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas said that the company is
considering NFTs to diversify its revenue streams from trading
fees, although she stopped short of providing details about any
upcoming strategy (https://decrypt.co/66506/coinbase-is-eyeing-nfts-as-new-revenue-stream-cfo).
Digital content continues accelerating, underscored by
Millennials and Gen Zers valuing digital goods every bit as much as
tangible goods they can hold in their hands. NFTs have already
established a toehold in the new digital universe and BAND’s NFTs
look to claim even more turf.
For more information about BAND Royalty, please
visit BAND
Royalty.
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