# 2 Years of Minting Music By [AL3C](https://paragraph.com/@dalel) · 2023-02-18 --- Time flies ⏰ In 2017 I helped publish [the first book on blockchain for music](https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Its-Right-Place-Transparent-ebook/dp/B07BB69CNL). In 2018 I released my [first EP of original music](https://open.spotify.com/album/04WmhvvsEdLIHSf56Tr8Bn?si=PpZ0OBqGRIqVVmm3luprNA) as an independent artist. I spent the following years educating myself on the emerging creator economy. **Exactly two years ago on February 18th, 2021 I minted my first music NFT.** It was a lo-fi beat called “Afterglow” that I pulled from my vault to mint as a 1/1 on [Rarible](https://rarible.com/token/0x60f80121c31a0d46b5279700f9df786054aa5ee5:146534?tab=overview). [https://twitter.com/alecdalel/status/1363288551421526019?s=20](https://twitter.com/alecdalel/status/1363288551421526019?s=20) [https://rarible.com/token/0x60f80121c31a0d46b5279700f9df786054aa5ee5:146534?tab=overview](https://rarible.com/token/0x60f80121c31a0d46b5279700f9df786054aa5ee5:146534?tab=overview) I didn’t mint Afterglow with the intention of selling it or even promoting it. In fact, I would not formally kick off my web3 artist journey until much later. I like to learn by doing, and minting my own NFT felt like a necessary step for me to wrap my heard around the technology. On this particular day, music was probably not my sole focus. I was deep in the process of learning to code and developing my understanding of the tech that powered this emerging ecosystem (shout out to [Zora](https://zora.co/)). [https://twitter.com/alecdalel/status/1362276248026816512?s=20](https://twitter.com/alecdalel/status/1362276248026816512?s=20) It wasn’t long before I fell deep into the rabbit hole 🕳️ Two weeks later on March 5th, I collected my first music NFT: a 1/1 record by artist Supa Bwe on Zora ([Catalog launched four days later](https://catalogworks.medium.com/catalog-where-music-is-worth-it-5707863c5e53)) called [THUNDERDOME](https://market.zora.co/collections/zora/1520). A month after that, I became a founding member of [BeetsDAO](https://www.beetsdao.com/): a music NFT collector DAO that would go on to work with some of the best in music, most notably for the launch of [Snoop Dogg’s 4/20/2021 collection](https://www.nyandogg.com/). Since then, I have supported over 150 musicians as an independent collector on [Sound](https://sound.xyz/), [Catalog](https://beta.catalog.works/), [Decent](https://decent.xyz/) and [Zora](https://zora.co/). I am grateful for the opportunity to directly support so many creators in web3. [https://twitter.com/alecdalel/status/1625972470778847232?s=20](https://twitter.com/alecdalel/status/1625972470778847232?s=20) After years of collecting & building community, I am excited to double down on my personal artist journey as AL3C. I don’t think I could have landed on the name AL3C if not for web3. Early last year I attempted to mint the ENS address [alec.eth](https://twitter.com/Chipagosfinest) but it was already taken. I thought [al3c.eth](https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0x57f1887a8bf19b14fc0df6fd9b2acc9af147ea85/27115924722829734970752862492441960489267416760364513676058552276286780127490) was a strong enough replacement, and it grew on me from there. ![the one that got away ](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/e3294d4271e1b0257d71333086c5c8fb5efb48356ec88dc13060f6d417a282cb.png) the one that got away AL3C debuted with “NOT4ME” in December to an instant sellout on sound.xyz 🌊 [https://www.sound.xyz/al3c/not4me](https://www.sound.xyz/al3c/not4me) [![]({{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCZgL3xLjJ4) Since then I have released two more sold out collections on Sound which are available to [listen & collect](https://www.sound.xyz/al3c). Earlier this week, I minted my 4th: an open edition on Sound for 0.01 ETH. Por Tu Barrio is an acoustic-driven, hip-hop & cumbia inspired Spanglish heartbreak song featuring heybela and produced by Pete Rango. Available to [mint](https://www.sound.xyz/al3c/por-tu-barrio) until noon EST on 2/21! For years much of my favorite music has combined English and Spanish. The representation of Latin music in web3 is not indicative of [Latin music’s impact in the traditional music industry](https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/latin-music-has-gone-mainstream-in-the-us-and-is-having-a-huge-creative-and-commercial-impact/). As the web3 music space grows I am excited to see more music produced across languages, cultures and styles. [https://www.sound.xyz/al3c/por-tu-barrio](https://www.sound.xyz/al3c/por-tu-barrio) Another area of focus for me at the moment is web3 social, particularly [Lens Protocol](https://www.lens.xyz/). I see the potential in social protocols like Lens to empower the next generation of creators to build their communities in a healthier and potentially more sustainable way than traditional routes have allowed. [https://twitter.com/alecdalel/status/1626625115436744708](https://twitter.com/alecdalel/status/1626625115436744708) I was an early adopter of YouTube in 2008. Most recently, I built an audience of 10,000+ subscribers by sharing weekly acoustic covers and guitar lessons of my favorite songs, some of which contained both Spanish and English. [![]({{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCIkDsH0ZPE) This year, I am focusing my community-building efforts on Lens. I will be sharing new content on Lenstube and YouTube twice a week. On Fridays I share acoustic covers, and I also post weekly [“Sunday Solos”](https://www.lenstube.xyz/watch/0x0106ba-0x1c). Once a month I share covers of my favorite web3 songs in AL3C Acoustic Sessions. [https://mirror.xyz/dalel.eth/bba9N0M1IW0lFa38JUf9ty8AYkRLeh\_omCqjQ5DoeYc](https://mirror.xyz/dalel.eth/bba9N0M1IW0lFa38JUf9ty8AYkRLeh_omCqjQ5DoeYc) Follow me @ vibing.lens to stay up to date, and if you’ve collected anything from me you’re invited to vibe with us in the collectors chat where I share demos & early alpha! [https://guild.xyz/al3c-collectors](https://guild.xyz/al3c-collectors) Here’s to another 5 years of web3 music 🥂 --- *Originally published on [AL3C](https://paragraph.com/@dalel/2-years-of-minting-music)*