gm music fans.
One of the world’s biggest metal bands just airdropped NFTs to fans that attended their tour this summer. Is this a new model for the future of live events?
In today’s newsletter we’ll explore all the new opportunities this unlocks, as well as the biggest stories of the week (including Sound.xyz’s new “Tiers” format and a Joy Division NFT).
Let’s get into it!
Ziggy Ziggy Season 3 is powered by Beatport.io.
One thing I love about the first collection on Beatport.io is how the imagery evolves. The first (free) edition was completely abstract. The Wardrobe Edition gets clearer. And by the final Dancefloor Edition you see the full photography, capturing portraits from 175 different personalities from the Berlin club scene.
The final Dancefloor Edition features an exclusive, downloadable track from techno DJ Len Faki. It’s been a pleasure highlighting this whole series - hope you’ve discovered something cool from it!
Music headlines 🎧
1. Go to a gig, get an airdrop?
Metal band Avenged Sevenfold just airdropped an NFT to fan club members that attended their summer tour (each city has a different artwork).
They’ll follow up with a claimable NFT powered by Ticketmaster for all attendees.
I love this idea as a digital memory for fans — like a virtual ticket stub to prove they attended. It’s also an easy way for artists to surprise and delight their fans after a show.
But it gets more interesting after that…
Artists, managers and labels now have unprecedented levels of insight into who’s coming to their shows because the NFT and the connected wallet can be tracked over time to see the activity.
Who attended the most gigs? How often are they engaging with the fan club? And beyond that… What other NFTs are they collecting? What other communities/bands can they partner with? How much spending power do their fans have?
For the first time ever, artists will own all this data (not a ticketing company). It’s very early in this process but the ability to see granular details of fan activity will completely change live music and fan connection in my opinion.
2. Sound launches “Tiers”
Leading music platform Sound.xyz has launched a new way to drop music. Previously, artists had to choose between scarcity (limited editions) and reach (through open editions or free mints).
The new Tiers format means artists can combine both, creating different levels of rarity, allowing fans to collect forever *and* making sure artists get paid for both. (Read more).
Disclaimer: I worked with Sound on the rollout of this feature.
3. Joy Division NFT?
The band’s legendary cover art from “Unknown Pleasures” is being reimagined and released as an NFT next week, complete with unheard vocal samples from late singer Ian Curtis. It will be available on art platform Pace Verso. (Read more).
4. LNRZ goes multichain
Web3 music incubator LNRZ just released three different tracks across three different layer 2 chains.
One on Optimism (via Sound).
One on BASE (via Anotherblock).
One on Zora Network (via Zora).
It’s a very cool experiment and points to the current culture of low-cost, accessible music collecting made possible by the growth of L2s this summer. (Read more).
What’s a Layer 2? A layer 2 is like a fast lane for Ethereum. It batches transactions together so they can be executed cheap and fast before settling them all later on the Ethereum mainchain.
5. San Holo plays live in the metaverse
Producer and DJ San Holo played a digital live set via On Cyber this week. (Read more).
Zooming out: broader Web3 news we’re watching 👀
🐧 Pudgy Penguins in Walmart - The Pudgy Penguins PFP collection has already sold $10m+ plushies. Now they’re available in Walmart. This is how you build a real business around NFTs. Take note! (Read more).
💅 Paris Hilton NFT? - Paris Hilton launched a new evolving NFT similar to Tamogotchis. (Read more).
🤔 NFT regulation confusion - SEC chair Gary Gensler refuses to explain the difference between Pokemon cards and tokenised Pokemon cards. (Read more).
🎮 Crypto on XBox? - Microsoft is exploring ways to integrate crypto into XBox according to leaked documents. (Read more).
🏦 UK banks crypto crackdown? - Chase UK bans crypto transactions. (Read more).
Biggest drops of the week
NOISE DAO Returns
NOISE is the biggest DAO in the music space with a treasury of ~$2.7 million (read our exclusive interview here - my favourite I’ve done on Ziggy). They launched their wildly successful compilation album earlier this year and now they’re back with Volume 2. The first track drops today featuring Daniel Allan using Sound’s new Tier format.
Full Tiers lineup on Sound
Below are all the drops on Sound using the new Tiers format this week.
Violetta Zironi - Heavenly Angels
Lyrah - Dream You Better
LNRZ - Another Life / Kill Me Off
NOISE - Daniel Allan - UES
Mija - I Wanna Be A Big Star
Bloody - Orchid
Stat of the week
Ethereum wallets are at internet user levels in 1999.
Thanks for reading!
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Ziggy Ziggy Music Season 2 is supported by Beatport.io and Spinamp.
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.