gm music fans,
This week I noticed the average price of a music NFT was creeping higher after hitting a bottom in June. We’re going to dive into these stats today, plus the usual roundup of headlines and biggest music drops. Let’s get into it!
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Are music NFT prices increasing? 📈
It seems like a lifetime ago, but rare music nfts occassionally sold $10k or higher back in 2021, while limited editions were selling at $400 each.
These days, the average price of a music NFT has dropped to ~$12 and we’ve seen the narrative shift from scarcity and exclusivity (“music as fine art”) to abundance and unlimited editions (“accessible mints to build community”). Both are valid in my opinion but I am keen to see prices moving higher.
After hitting a bottom in June, it seems like the average price is climbing back up again. (Note: this data relates to Sound.xyz which I tend to use as a proxy for the market since it currently has the largest volume).
What’s going on? We’ve seen a return of limited editions at higher prices. Iman Europe dropped an EP priced at 0.05 ETH (~$100) each. Daniel Allan priced his track CHANGE at 0.1 ETH each. The return of limited editions has also spurred the secondary market. For example, the latest Songcamp golden egg sold for 0.9 ETH.
Surprise? I’m actually quite surprised at the data. Although we’re seeing some higher prices at the top end of the market, there are now thousands of low-cost mints on Sound since the platform opened up at the start of the month which I thought would skew the average. If this data is accurate it’s very encouraging to see.
Headlines 🗞️
Limewire shares ad-revenue with users - Since pivoting to Web3, Limewire has launched a token and is now sharing advertising revenue with users in its native $LMW token.
1 million AI voice transformations - Kits.ai has processed 1 million voice transformations since launching its AI tool. It claims to now have 100,000 users.
Tiga launches Web3 community - Canadian DJ and producer has launched a Web3-powered community using Medallion. Medallion has powered communities for Santigold, Sigur Ros, Illenium and other big artists.
Don’t sleep on Solana - Solana-based Vault Music just launched “Cassette Culture 3.0” — a new series of limited edition live albums (I’m a long way from a Solana expert, but I’ve noticed a string of interesting consumer apps on Solana that deserve a deeper exploration).
Artist strategy 🧩
Are tokens back?
For a long time there was a narrative around artist social tokens. Electronic artist RAC launched $RAC in 2020 and Harrison First created $FIRST but the idea fizzled out when NFTs took over and became a more tangible way to support and ‘invest’ in an artist’s journey.
BUT… we’ve seen artists experimenting with tokens again. Black Dave launched Black Dave Token earlier this year and now UK producer Sound of Fractures has just created SoFTKN. Jamie from Sound of Fractures says any funds raised from the token will be directly invested into dev costs and marketing to power his upcoming music project.
Anyone that buys 200 tokens will get an executive producer credit on the upcoming album project. It’s a novel approach to raising funds and proof that Web3 offers countless ways to build community and participate in an artist’s journey beyond selling NFTs.
Biggest drops of the week 🎧
Zoratopia - Meet the Topians series
Zora’s culture brand Zoratopia has launched a series of videos dedicated to artists and musicians building in Web3. The first one dropped this week featuring rapper Heno.
Meej Mix 3
DJ and producer Mija is back with her third mixtape on Sound with artwork curated from her community Telegram group.
Genesis track of the week - Ayokay
Platinum-selling songwriter Ayokay is going independent after two mega albums, and putting his new EP onchain. Ayokay’s genesis track “Surrender to the Feeling” drops on Friday.
Every week we bring you the music and strategies from Lens Protocol — the Web3 social layer where a thriving music community is growing.
Best features of Lens V2
One of the biggest pain points of our current social media platforms is the “link in bio” problem. It’s very difficult (or in some cases impossible) to link away from social media. Lens just launched V2 with a neat solution to this problem.
There’s a new feature called “Open Actions” which means you can interact with other crypto apps within the Lens social feeds. For example, you could collect a music NFT from Zora or Sound.xyz directly from the Lens feed without having to go to the external website.
Stats 🧮
I’ll leave you with more gloomy statistics from the world of NFTs this week! Here’s a chart of the ‘large cap PFP index’ - which tracks the major profile-pic collections like Bored Apes, Azuki and others. The index has been on a steady downtrend since the start of the year. Shout out to Punk9059 for the chart.
Thanks for reading!
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Ziggy Ziggy Music Season 2 is supported by Spinamp and Lens Protocol.
Disclaimers: We may own NFTs mentioned in this article, have previous or current contracts with companies mentioned and may earn referral income from links to music NFTs. This newsletter is purely informational and should not be considered financial advice. Nothing in this content should be considered a recommendation to buy a particular NFT, only an expression of our opinion.