gm music fans,
Today we’re launching a new weekly feature called Cover Stories — highly visual, magazine stories on artists that are pushing the boundaries in music and tech.
Our goal is to celebrate the music culture in Web3 and introduce you to the artists at the cutting edge. The first feature is Annika Rose and her immersive new video game experience. We’ll also round-up some of the best music in Web3 across different platforms.
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.
The World’s First Music Video Game
The game begins in a strange bedroom. You jump off the bed and follow the trail of collectible icons to the wardrobe in the corner. From there, you enter the mystical, make-believe world of Annika Rose’s new video game — the world’s first Web3 music video game.
A lush soundtrack plays as you navigate the different gaming realms, made from elements of Annika’s breakout song “Bruises.” The gaming world itself is inspired by her aesthetic — including giant butterflies. Eventually, you arrive at the Listening Room where you can unlock access to a new song, “Dad” by collecting a free NFT access ticket.
A Web3 counterculture to TikTok music
The video game is an experiment in deeper fan connection and a rebellion against short-form video culture which currently dominates the music industry.
“The industry’s reliance on TikTok to break artists has caused several issues in modern music, and direct-to-fan engagement offers an alternate, more sustainable approach to artist career longevity” - NVAK Collective (Annika Rose’s record label).
Instead of passive, fleeting TikTok videos, Annika is creating a deeply immersive, storytelling experience that took months to build. The team believes it will create a long-lasting, sustainable connection with fans.
At the same time, it’s a trojan horse for Web3 adoption.
Fans are lured in with an exciting artist experience and can explore the game without using any Web3 tech. But if they want to unlock the new song and the Listening Room experience they can collect a free NFT and set up a wallet.
Collect?
You can collect the game’s opening cut scene on Glass here. The full video game will be released on May 30 and you can read NVAK’s full Mirror article here.
BONUS: Ziggy Ziggy Season 1 NFT holders will get early access through an allowlisted ticket.
Biggest drops this week
Let’s DANC3
Meet DANC3 — a music community built around a love for dance music and meme culture, built by one of the most prolific and respected music NFT collectors Crittie.
Their first drop is a mixtape featuring Web3 icons like Bloody White, LNRZ and Snoop Dogg, seamlessly mixed by producer Serboy. The drop takes place on Wednesday on Sound. Check it out here.
Sara Philips - “everybody knows”
Sara is consistently one of our favorite artists in Web3, sitting somewhere between pop queen and ballad songwriter. Her latest track “everybody knows” drops on Wednesday on Sound.
Every week we bring you the best music from Lens Protocol — the Web3 social layer where a thriving music community is growing.
Last week rapper Heno minted the first ever live audio from Coachella on Lens. You can still collect the snippet for free here and the full track here.
Exclusive: look out for the genesis Lens drop from Tarot — a leading singer songwriter in Web3 who burst onto the scene last year minting 28 songs in 28 days. Her new track Iridescent drops on Wednesday exclusively on Lens’ native music app Riff.
Crate Digging on Catalog
Catalog is the home of ultra-exclusive 1/1s — like browsing through a record store.
This week, get lost in this smokey, laid back, soulful hip hop beat from Dutchyyy. This wouldn't be out of place on a J Dilla beat tape it's that good.
Self-releases
Singer-songwriter Emma Miller has almost sold out a collection of 1,000 music NFTs at 0.05 ETH each. The collection features five different tracks and unique artwork, all hosted on her own website.
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: Ziggy Ziggy Music may own NFTs mentioned in this article, have previous or current contracts with projects and may earn referral income from links to music NFTs.