How to rewire the music industry with onchain splits
Get the first ever Ziggy Ziggy mixtape
gm music fans,
Big announcement today. We are dropping our first Ziggy Ziggy mixtape on Sound.xyz.
Mixtapes are the killer feature of web3 music, with onchain splits that instantly pay out all the featured artists — a complete rewiring of how musicians get paid.
This tape puts a spotlight on London and the UK (where we’re based) and features 10 rising artists. Only 100 editions are available, sticking to our ethos of releasing music like streetwear — limited edition and deeply rooted in an underground culture.
Ziggy Ziggy Season 3 is powered by Beatport.io.
The big one is here. Disclosure. The UK duo are dropping a web3 collection called Disclosure Bronze Editions exclusively on Beatport.io. We don’t know much about it yet, but the project is showing at The Gateway Miami during Art Basel until Dec 10th and more details will be announced shortly afterwards.
Rewiring the music industry with onchain splits
The music industry payout system is wildly outdated and inefficient. In music I’ve had money locked up, lost, delayed. Honestly I still don’t even know where some of my royalties go.
Instant, transparent onchain splits was a lightbulb moment for me. And nothing demonstrates it better than a mixtape where one drop can payout dozens of participants instantly.
On top of that, our 86 previous collectors and previous Ziggy artists have also been added to a small percentage of the split via two separate 0xSplits contract. We can now bring our supporters with us. We’re a long way from rewiring the whole music industry but experiments like this are key to getting there.
Let’s meet the artists on the mixtape!
Biggest drop of the week
ZIGGY ZIGGY MIX 001: UK RISING
This mixtape highlights the rising class of UK talent onchain. It includes Beatport chart-toppers, Disclosure collaborators and icons of British club and indie music scenes. Very proud of this one.
ATRIP is a rising producer from South London whose music has become a staple of Disclosure’s live DJ sets and late night Radio 1 dance shows. ATRIP released his Tanzpartei EP earlier this year, alongside an official remix for Disclosure, and dropped two tracks on Sound.xyz. “All Night” is the electric opening track on the mixtape.
Sound of Fractures is a London producer and one of the pioneers of onchain music. Inspired by Jamie XX and Burial, his emotional electronic sound captured us immediately and we become long-time collectors. Sound of Fractures has experimented with every aspect of the web3 spectrum through 1/1s on Catalog, visuals on Zora, limited editions on Sound and his own token — all culminating in his latest project Scenes.
Talking Palm Tree by ALYSS is the soulful heart of the mixtape. A deep UK house sound with a stunning, powerful chorus with hints of Jessie Ware and Alicia Keys. ALYSS’s debut EP was released on PMR (Disclosure, Jessie Ware) with singles hitting the coveted “Hottest Record” on BBC Radio 1. This year she released a string of tracks onchain via Sound.xyz.
Sometimes a genesis drop comes along and blows you away. Elcee the Alchemist dropped Netflix on Sound and immediately announced himself with a fiery delivery and razor sharp lyrics. Elcee is a shining example of how to achieve success onchain — immersing himself in the culture and contributing to dozens of communities. “Elcee the fucking Alchemist. You don’t know yet but you will.”
A Beatport chart-topper in traditional music and trailblazer onchain. Scottish producer Acutek makes some of the hardest pure dance music in web3, but he’s also gifted at building melodic and emotional sounds. His track Okay Okay explores the melodic side with samples from fellow web3 artists Sara Phillips and Sound of Fractures.
It’s an absolute honour to have Tom Vek close out the mixtape. He’s been an icon of British indie since releasing his cult classic album We Have Sound in 2005 which soundtracked a lot of my formative years in music. First minted on Catalog, “Slippery New Fish” is the epic closer to the mixtape. Outside of music, Tom is the co-founder of artist-friendly blockchain powered music marketplace Supercollector which is helping artists release albums and EPs of tracks on-chain at a new value.
Simmerdown is a beatmaker from the UK’s south coast, fusing hip hop influences and rhythmic samples. The result is somewhere between J Dilla and Jamie XX, with hints of Bonobo and Four Tet. It’s magical.
Reset Robot is a legend of the UK dance scene and a staple of iconic London nightclubs like Fabric. The producer and DJ began dropping music on sound.xyz earlier in 2023 and we highlight his collaboration with Jon Gurd — another British DJ with releases on Anjunadeep.
A producer from South London specialising in smooth, chill hip hop beats. “Trip to M Town” is a self-described “sonic journey from the gritty streets of London to the soulful vibes of Memphis” which is entirely accurate. Brand new to Sound, we encourage people to go check this one out.
drgnr is a completely mysterious London producer (or producers?) with little or no presence on social media. We discovered the handful of tracks organically on Sound and instantly fell in love with the sparse, melodic sound, giving hints of Burial.
Thanks for reading!
We believe a new generation of independent music will be born out of Web3 culture. Discover the best music here first. Follow us on Twitter where we share the best music every day.
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.