{"id":1581,"date":"2022-05-06T23:59:17","date_gmt":"2022-05-07T03:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/62-830\/s2022\/?p=1581"},"modified":"2022-05-06T23:59:17","modified_gmt":"2022-05-07T03:59:17","slug":"what-is-an-nfts-place-in-classical-music%ef%bf%bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/62-830\/s2022\/?p=1581","title":{"rendered":"What is an NFT\u2019s Place in Classical Music?\ufffc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NFT or non-fungible tokens are digital collectibles bought and sold using cryptocurrency. They are all the rage right now generating upwards of $25 billion in overall sales in 2021, but we don\u2019t often hear about their place in music – especially classical music. In an artistic medium so rooted in analog tradition, how, if at all, can NFT be useful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Popularity of NFTs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what makes NFT\u2019s so popular? The main factors here are rarity and scarcity. Just like owning baseball cards or Pokemon cards, NFTs are unique investments that hold value because they are unique. While some NFTs do provide the owner real life benefits such as exclusive content, that is not the main draw of owning one or why prices are skyrocketing so high.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NFTs in the Music Industry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First let\u2019s take a look at the music world in general. The early adopters of NFT in music were EDM artists. 3LAU in particular minted NFT collectible versions of his album Ultraviolet <\/em>which was the first album to become a token. Another early adopter was Snoop Dog who recently announced that his label Death Row Records would become an NFT label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

back into the hands of the musicians directly. With\u00a0huge streaming corporations such as Spotify and Apple Music taking away from individual artists’ sales, there is a lot at stake for artists to make it big on those platforms and develop a loyal fanbase that will make purchases past their use of streaming. There is also a lot of money taken out by middle men like record companies. By capitalizing on the current rends and minting and selling their own NFTs, musicians can make a huge profit directly and rely on their fanbase rather than the biased algorithms of streaming services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What does a music NFT Look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a couple different forms an NFT can take in the music industry. There are audio NFTs of albums and songs and even individual instrument parts. But there are also NFT concert tickets, collectibles, and access to extras like special online content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One question I had when starting my research into musical and audio NFTs is who own\u2019s the rights? I quickly learned that purchasing a minted audio file usually does not provide any rights to things such as royalties of the music even if you are the only one with that particular pie e of music. Additionally, just because every NFT is unique does not mean that multiple of the same content can not be made. For example if an NFT is a concert ticket, that does not mean you are the only person able to purchase one and go to the concert.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two great examples of how NFTs have been used in the classical music industry. One of these was a joint project between the Dallas Symphony and the musicians of The Met Opera Orchestra.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During pandemic shut downs of The Met, The Dallas Symphony<\/a> invited the musicians of the Met Opera Orchestra to perform Mahler\u2019s Symphony No.1 with them as they were able to resume concerts much earlier. The Dallas Symphony raised money<\/a> to pay all of the Met musicians by creating an exclusive NFT<\/a> commemorating the historic, collaborative concert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benefits that came with the purchase of a token included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n