Major EDM record label Monstercat has highlighted how non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, can be a successful new revenue stream for artists and the music industry, generating $180,000 in the first two minutes of an NFT collection release. The collection consists of animated video clips with music backing and was created in collaboration with Australian-based digital artist Giant Swan, renowned for his use of VR technology, and Platinum producer Varien, who recorded “The Crown”. It was released on the Winklevoss-owned Nifty Gateway yesterday. The collection included 500 Constellations packs which were sold out in one second flat at $0.50 each, and …

Metapurse, a crypto and NFT fund financed by renowned NFT collector Metakovan and stewarded by Twobadour, recently announced that it had acquired all 20 of the 1/1 NFT artworks auctioned in December’s Beeple Everydays: The 2020 Collection. This in itself was a gargantuan undertaking, utilizing multiple accounts to put other bidders off the scent, costing around $2.2 million, and with no “Plan B” in case any of the artworks was won by somebody else. As Cointelegraph reported, the drop raised a total of $3.5 million, when open editions were also taken into account. Of course, one doesn’t spend $2.2 million …

International party brand Space Yacht is preparing to drop its second collection of nonfungible token artworks on the Nifty Gateway marketplace on Wednesday. Titled the “Space Yacht Iconography Collection,” the NFTs feature three of the brand’s core themes: pizza, smiley faces and its trademarked motto, “WE ARE SO F☻CKED.” The artworks also incorporate original music from Space Yacht co-founder Rami Perlman, aka LondonBridge. Twelve months ago, Space Yacht was better known for organizing over 150 electronic dance music, or EDM, events globally each year. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the events industry all but shut down. The brand pivoted …

The crypto-powered music streaming platform Rocki has sold its first “royalty income right NFT” — a token granting its owner a 50% share in all royalties generated by a specific track's streams on the site. The token corresponds to a track titled “Cotton Eyes” that has been exclusively released on Rocki by Malta-based progressive house producer Guy J. The ERC-721 royalty income right token was auctioned alongside an ERC-1155 “listening right” token, allowing the winning bidder to stream the song for free. The tokens were sold on decentralized auction protocol Bounce.finance for 40 Ether — worth $25,600 as of this …

Sean Ono Lennon — a British-American musician, songwriter and producer — has auctioned a tokenized digital illustration on nonfungible-token marketplace Rarible. According to Rarible data, Lennon sold a piece titled “Etharian 1” on Monday for 5.5 Wrapped Ether (WETH), worth about $3,200 at time of publication. The musician subsequently congratulated the new piece’s owner on Twitter: “Congrats @etyoung for winning the most important drawing ever drawn by anyone ever! May she treat you kindly in these winter months.” Lennon first announced his NFT auction on Sunday, noting that it was his first experience with NFT art, as well as his …

Today, a freshly-announced partnership between the music-focused blockchain protocol Utopia Genesis Foundation and digital securities issuance platform STOKR makes it clear that the two companies are looking to heat up competition in the increasingly crowded blockchain-backed music space. In a press release from Utopia Genesis, the company laid out a series of ways that the collaboration would help artists tokenize and securitize their work, as well as allow listeners access to unique investment vehicles. The release says that Utopia Genesis’ partnership with STOKR “will allow artists and owners of the music to tokenize assets and create equity or debt instruments …

Augmented reality artist Sutu is teaming up with Canadian DJ and producer deadmau5 to drop a 30-second audio-reactive artwork as a non-fungible token next week. The video, entitled In Titan’s Light is a 30-second loop paired with a section of the deadmau5 track SATRN. Sutu has worked on properties such the VR version of the Distracted Globe, an ‘80s-inspired nightclub from the movie Ready Player One, and he has worked with artists like John Legend and The Weeknd on Wave virtual concerts. He describes the scene as “a golden deadmau5 spacestation bathing in the twilight on the moon of Titan” …

Spotify, one of the world’s largest streaming audio providers, is looking for candidates with a crypto background to fill a new role at the company. According to a recent job post, the company is looking for an outstanding associate director to join its payments strategy and innovation department. According to an announcement on LinkedIn, the new job listing was published on Wednesday. The new position is expected to play a key role in defining and implementing Spotify’s payments strategy as well as furthering the company’s involvement in Facebook's recently rebranded crypto project, Diem. The position will also focus on wider …

Veteran Christian vocal trio Selah launched its own cryptocurrency fan token via the Rally platform on Tuesday. Following the group’s latest album debuting at number one on the iTunes Christian music chart, the 3CR8 token will give fans access to exclusive benefits such as private messages, video chats and signed merchandise. Selah, meaning “pause” in Hebrew, is a true giant of the Christian music genre, notching up 4 million albums sold and 10 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards in over two decades of making music. Step Into My Story is the trio’s 16th album release and the first on its …

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, some global events have chosen to move forward as planned. Instead of canceling, they are working to limit close contact between attendees through the introduction of new technologies. One such solution involves a cashless payment system powered by blockchain. Mystic Valley, one the largest music festivals in Thailand, will be issuing its own token for cashless payments during its upcoming three-day event. According to a Thursday announcement, Mystic Valley organizers partnered with local cryptocurrency exchange Bitazza and blockchain startup Fuse.io to mint its own crypto token, MYST. The new token is designed to provide all …

The crypto-powered Spotify competitor Audius has retroactively distributed 50 million of its native AUDIO tokens to artists and listeners using the platform. The distribution came alongside the launch of the AUDIO governance token on the Audius mainnet, with 5% of the token’s initial one billion supply distributed to its “top 10,000 artists and fans.” Audius seeks to reward content creators and listeners using its governance token, affording them voting rights over how the protocol will evolve in future. The project plans to use blockchain technology to increase transparency and reduce middle-men across the musical supply chain. However, the native token …

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is funding a major decentralized audio streaming service through its investment and incubation arm. According to an Oct. 23 announcement, Binance Labs led a $1.25 million extension round for Audius, a blockchain-enabled streaming service that connects music fans with artists. The latest investment round follows a $3.1 million round co-led by Multicoin Capital and Blockchange Ventures in July 2020. Major industry players like Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures also participated in the round, as previously announced. According to Audius Co-founder and CEO Roneil Rumburg, the latest rounds brings the platform's total investment up to …