Kanye + Rihanna producer launches Web3 remix tool
(+ are music NFTs a ponzi?)
gm music fans,
Every week we bring you a deep dive into a leading artist in Web3 music, followed by the best music drops to look out for.
This week our lead feature is Keyon Christ, a producer for Kanye West and Rihanna who just launched a Web3 remix tool. Let’s get into it!
Discover some of the best music in Web3 through our Spinamp playlists, where we curate songs from various NFT platforms into one place.
Ziggy Ziggy Daily - Our favourite music in Web3 updated every day.
Ziggy Ziggy Breakouts - Artists at the cutting edge with potential to break into something bigger.
Ziggy Ziggy Beats - Our favourite underground dance and electronic music.
“It was ghetto as fuck.”
Keyon Christ grew up in Atlanta, making beats in his teenage bedroom and trying to find a way to break out into something bigger. “My mom drove me to these ghetto-ass Atlanta studios. I was playing my beats for anyone who would listen to them, trying to drop out of high school,” he told the Invest in Music podcast.
Music was his spiritual calling and it didn’t take long to pay off.
“I had the CEO of Roc Nation calling my phone, like ‘we want this beat, we’ve been trying to track it down’.”
By the age of 18, Keyon Christ was the youngest producer to sell his music to Rihanna. One of those beats became Goodnight Gotham — an iconic Rihanna track with tens of millions of streams.
In the same year he produced music for Kanye West and signed a deal with Yeezy’s GOOD Music. You can hear him on FML from the Life of Pablo album.
At 18, Keyon had already achieved most producers’ dream. He was in the studio with music royalty — smoking a joint with Rihanna — but he always felt there was something bigger and more spiritually fulfilling out there for him.
“What can’t I do if I put my mind to it?”
The Gameboy for remixing music
Fast forward to today and Keyon Christ is now the founder of a music tech company and remixing tool called Spores, alongside a small team of artists, developers and visionaries KAJÉ, Zamorrah and Alez.
It’s a “Gameboy for remixing music” that gives everyone the power to flip their favourite tracks in real time. Add reverb and stutter, change the tempo and mix it with samples from other producers — all by dragging your finger across the interface.
Launching in Web3
The tool launched natively in Web3 last week, loaded with songs from the biggest artists in the space (Reo Cragun, Daniel Allan, Beachcrimes, Latasha, Dot and more).
Think of it like a Gameboy and the songs are your cartridges.
It made sense for Keyon to launch this in the Web3 community. He’s a member of PleasrDAO (which famously purchased the Wu-Tang Clan album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, for $4 million) and the first artist to put an AI rap song onchain.
But Spores could easily break beyond the Web3 bubble. The team envisions a future where you can plug in any song and easily remix it instantly, driving user-generated content across TikTok and social media.
Mint pass discount for Ziggy Ziggy holders
We’ve been proud early supporters of Keyon and collected an early version of the Spores NFT last year. So we’re excited to partner with the team to offer Ziggy Ziggy NFT holders a discount on the mint pass, giving you access to the remix tool, which is minting now on Zora.
Collect: 0.008 ETH for Ziggy Ziggy holders / 0.01 ETH for public.
Biggest drops this week
Sound.xyz
Are music NFTs a ponzi scheme? Well, this one is! Producer and songwriter Bloody White is back with “Currency” a series of four tracks with a unique ‘pyramid scheme’ of royalty sharing and curator rewards. It's a very smart meta-drop, and the music is amazing. The first track sold 500 mints and collectors will receive 20% of all royalties on the next 3 songs.
Beachcrimes are also back with a blissed-out summer bop called Thinkin Bout U, dropping on Friday.
And one of our favourites Sara Phillips teams up with LNRZ for their Spotlight drop this week.
Every week we bring you the best music from Lens Protocol — the Web3 social layer where a thriving music community is growing.
Million Records — a dance label based in Instanbul has made Lens Protocol its home in Web3, posting daily music videos, exclusive tracks and weekly mixes. Check out this week’s mix put together by the label’s founder Emra Is. It’s a trip through deep house and good vibes.
Catalog
Catalog is the home of exclusive 1/1s - like browsing through a record store.
This week, check out Black Dave — one of the foremost rappers and thinkers in onchain music. His track Newtype Poetry features classic anime samples, deep beats and thoughtful bars (bidding has already started).
Gala Music
EDM producer PLS&TY has billions of streams in Web2 and a strong catalog onchain, too. He’s released audiovisual art projects on Super Rare, music NFTs on Gamestop, and now a new collection on Gala Music.
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 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.
The discount for ziggy holders was awesome! Congrats ben 💪