Photo: Viberate
Can tokenizing the rights to a live performance solve future bookings? At Viberate, the blockchain-based music research and analytics platform, we’ll soon test the concept in partnership with digital asset marketplace Blockparty.
The following partner piece comes from Vasja Veber, co-founder of Viberate.
The upcoming NFT drop (the release and subsequent 24-hour auction of non-fungible tokens) will be verified by Viberate and feature the work of world-renowned Techno DJ UMEK. Specifically, three exclusive remixes of UMEK’s 1999 hit track “Lanicor”, one livestream performance, and one live gig. The owner of UMEK’s NFT will thus either purchase the rights to one of his original remixes, book UMEK for an exclusive online event, or book him for a real-life live performance.
So far, we’ve seen several NFT concepts, ranging from collectible albums, VIP tickets, and digital art. But what NFTs – and blockchain technology in general – can also do for a music artist, is open up a new, more transparent way of arranging and handling bookings, no matter whether the artist is backed by a major label or working independently. The buyer of such NFT can also be a fan who wants to book an artist directly, or show them support. Such opportunities are the ones that excite us the most.
The industry’s been in a sort of limbo this past year. As there are no live events, the artists try to make do by streaming their performances, but there’s no clear answer as to when and how things will return to normal – or even what ‘normal’ will mean by then. We hope to prove three points with our NFT drop: that any artist can make sure they have a booking waiting for them once live gigs are back in the picture, that the terms of that booking are securely agreed upon in advance, and that NFTs are a way for fans to support their favorite artists directly.
If the concept is validated and the industry shows interest, Viberate plans on providing the option of gig token minting to nearly half a million music artists in our database, along with minting artist ID NFTs through a secure verification process. These ID NFTs will then act as a certificate of authenticity, reassuring the buyer that the contents indeed come from a verified artist, and not someone else selling their content.
UMEK’s NFT drop will launch on Blockparty on Thursday, April 29th, 2021, at 8:00 pm GMT+1 (3:00 pm EST).