What do music labels have to do with the metaverse?
It seems like a lot. As Snoop Dogg revealed last Sunday during his performance at the Super Bowl, Death Row Records, a label he recently acquired, will be the first NFT record label.
The rapper said:
“Death Row will be an NFT label. We will be putting out artists through the metaverse. Just like we broke the industry when we were the first independent to be major, I want to be the first major in the metaverse.”
Snoop also dropped his latest album B.O.D.R exclusively on Gala Music, a blockchain platform, and it included three exclusive bonus tracks and one NFT song; however, his first incursion into the Metaverse was in March 2021 when he dropped memories from his younger years as well as unreleased songs and videos as an NFT collection.
Although his label would be the first to go into the Metaverse, this is not entirely unexpected. Musicians and other artists have been using NFT technology for a while for different reasons. In 2021, Legacy Records became the first record label to pay its artists in cryptos. Legacy Records is currently working to release NFT tokens with unique content of their performers. Once NFT tokens are released to the public, they are considered as an asset, an investment, and a collectible due to their exclusivity.
Why are so many musicians fascinated with NFTs?
For once, it gives them freedom. In the past, musicians had to go through record agencies to get their music published. Thanks to NFTs, there can be a more direct economic exchange between the fans and the artists. Without these restrictions, artists can make more money from their work and they can profit from it in different ways: documents, album digital art, collectibles, bonus tracks, and music videos. These would all be unique to the artists’ ownership.
There is also more artistic freedom. When an artist is not tied to a specific music label, he or she can collaborate with anyone they chose. It’s worth noting that the owner of the NFT has the exclusive right to control how the work is used. So when a fan buys an NFT from the creator, he would obtain its ownership. This can be a major incentive for fans to purchase musicians’ content as they would be supporting their favorite artist.
