How to bring a billion people into NFTs
Coinbase launches its own chain + biggest Web3 music stories
gm music fans,
I’m always skeptical when companies promise to bring millions of users and mainstream adoption to NFTs…
But if anyone can do it … it’s Coinbase.
Coinbase has already attracted 100 million users and now aims to bring “1 billion people” onchain with the launch of its own blockchain BASE.
This week I’m diving deep into BASE and what it means for the music community. As always, we’ll also recap the week’s main headlines and biggest music drops.
Let’s get into it!
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Onchain summer (of music?) ☀️
Coinbase has officially opened its own blockchain BASE to the public - aiming to bring “the next billion users onchain.”
To celebrate, they’re launching Onchain Summer — a campaign featuring 100 brands, apps and platforms (including several Web3 music drops).
💡 Wait, what is BASE? BASE is a “layer two” built on top of Ethereum designed to make transactions faster and cheaper. Created by Coinbase, it has the potential to funnel many of the platform’s 100 million users into user-friendly blockchain apps across music, gaming and finance.
Music brands on BASE 🎧
Music is strongly represented in the Onchain Summer campaign:
Anotherblock - Best known for selling streaming royalties in huge hits (like Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money”), Anotherblock is joining Onchain Summer with an ultra low-cost music drop. Holders will get streaming royalties in DJ Laidback Luke’s new song “ORIGINATOR.” It launches on Saturday August 12 for just $2. (Get it here)
Showtime - Famous for its ‘Presave’ campaigns where fans can presave a song on Spotify and get a free collectible, Showtime is launching a new feature called Star Drops on BASE where fans can unlock exclusive content from musicians and pay with Apple Pay. (Read more)
Zora, Bonfire, Mirror and Guild - Several other major tools and platforms in the Web3 music ecosystem are also part of the launch including Bonfire (Web3 website builder), Zora (minting platform), Guild (token-gated communities) and Mirror (Web3 blogging).
The BASE strategy to onboard a billion people here is through free or low-cost, accessible NFTs as an incentive for people to get their first experience with Web3. Let’s see how it plays out.
Web3 Headlines 🗞️
PayPay launches a stablecoin - the PYUSD coin will use Ethereum (Read more)
World’s most expensive painting will be turned into an NFT - Leonardo DaVinci’s Salvator Mundi — last valued at $450m — will be turned into an NFT and sold as editions. The Mona Lisa was previously sold as 330 NFT editions at £150 each. (Read more)
Zora rewards collectors $50k - NFT protocol Zora announced it would share a percentage of its $1 mint fee with creators. Since the announcement last week, the platform has shared more than $50k. (Read more)
Reddit expands NFT offering - Reddit has introduced NFT rewards for engagement on the platform (Read more)
Adidas teases new NFT activation (Read more)
Music headlines 🗞️
Liam Gallagher announces new NFT - The Oasis front-man announced a “digital pressing” that unlocks a live album, commentary and other exclusives (Read more).
Music x gaming crossover - Web3 record label NVAK outlines a full breakdown of music and gaming crossovers in Web3 (Read more)
New Web3 hip hop show - UVR is probably the biggest daily Twitter Space in the Web3 music world. They just launched a new hip-hop show hosted by Jarod T and Jamee Cornelia (Read more)
Biggest music drops of the week 🎧
Tove Lo - I like u
Multiplatinum pop superstar Tove Lo has teamed up with NFT animation studio Galverse to create a dreamy anime music video. In addition to a traditional release, the video was also minted on LensTube.
Beatport - NACHTS (free)
The world’s biggest electronic music platform Beatport launched its Web3 platfrom Beatport.io last week. They released a free music x photography NFT which celebrates underground dance culture (Get it here).
Kaien Cruz - Shows n Hoes
Kaien was one of the earliest artists to drop on Sound.xyz back in 2022. Now they return with a new teaser track and a full EP coming up soon (Get it here).
Stats 🧮
Zooming out to the full NFT market, there’s not much change in volume but there is a small uptick in unique buyers (@NFTStats). Don’t get too excited, though. NFTStats was quick to say that this is probably not the start of a bigger wave.
Music stat of the week
Here’s one of my favorite statistics. Only 30% of songs minted onchain are available on Spotify (stats via FutureTape). There’s a whole world of onchain music that does not exist in Web2 at all.
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.
#OnChainSummer