I’ve spent the past few months researching, listening, and discovering songs being dropped as NFTs.
During this period, I’ve noticed that the most famous artists in the space are not necessarily the ones that make the best music (please, note that this is my subjective opinion), and with 120k songs being uploaded to streaming services every day, I wanted to reflect of the importance of community building for independent artists.
As reported a couple of weeks ago, there are now 120k new songs available on streaming services every single day.
In an era of low attention spans, listeners are constantly being bombarded with new music, making it harder for those musicians with lower budgets to break through the noise.
It’s important to note that most of these songs are low-quality products. In this case, I’m not referring to the quality of the composition but the fact that many poorly mixed/mastered songs are distributed to DSPs which “pollutes” (as depicted by MBW below) the growing ocean of songs.
If you’ve made it this far, I’m sure you’ve heard statements like “NFTs will change music”, or “web3 is helping revalue music”.
I’m still of the opinion that NFTs are currently being sold as a form of digital merch. They could be done differently, but right now, NFTs look like collectibles that don’t offer much (apart from being part of a community).
However, this might be the intrinsic value most music NFT buyers are looking for: not exclusive music, not added value perks, but the community.
As I mentioned at the very start of this post, the most popular artists in the NFT space are not necessarily the ones that make the best music.
And that’s okay.
It shows that musicians are building skills that were not needed as much in the past. This feels like a natural transition for those who will end up at the top.
Back in the day, musicians didn’t have to worry about how to set up a studio, or how to promote their records. Now, some artists manage to record & produce their music and do very creative things to get people to listen to their music.
What’s the saying? One just needs 1,000 true fans to have a career in music?
Well, there are examples where musicians attract 100 very dedicated NFT buyers and they’re able to make the salary for an entire year. Many artists struggle to sell $10 concert tickets while a group of NFT musicians sell thousands of $200 digital collectibles.
This is what I see as disruptive: entrepreneurial music makers who go out of their way to find a new avenue to sustain their careers.
Those who are good at building communities are succeeding in web3. There is, however, a discoverability limitation and those who are not as good at bringing people together are being left on the sidelines, many of whom are very talented artists with great songs.
The recipe for success will be different for each musician. In any case, whether someone is in the space to entertain, offer great music, or (hopefully) do both, we need to find ways to make it easier for potential NFT buyers to discover music they truly like.
Easier said than done, I know.
Might not be much, but as a humble music fan, I want to bring a spotlight to some of the good songs being sold as NFTs and I’ve created a playlist to showcase the best in web3.