Unreleased music from (and footage of) “SAD!” artist XXXTentacion will soon debut as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
YellowHeart – The Chainsmokers-backed ticketing and non-fungible token platform behind Kings of Leon’s multimillion-dollar NFT album – revealed the imminent auction of the XXXTentacion NFT collection today, via a formal release as well as a brief video. The artist, whose full name was Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, passed away from gunshot wounds in June of 2018.
Set to become available to fans next Monday, May 10th, at 9 AM PST, said “history-making” collection (as the first to encompass NFT music from an artist who passed away) will coordinate with the official launch of YellowHeart’s NFT marketplace. Interested individuals will have until Saturday, May 15th, to place their bids.
It goes without saying that YellowHeart’s marketplace appears poised to host a substantial number of music-related NFT auctions and sales moving forward, given the quick-rising digital assets’ considerable presence in the industry. On this front, YellowHeart founder and CEO Josh Katz noted that “there has been a massive gold rush over the past several months, with new companies in the space launching almost daily,” but his team has worked “tirelessly on launching our NFT marketplace for over three years.”
The four-year-old company will accept both credit-card and cryptocurrency payments from customers, who will have the chance to acquire NFTs featuring XXXTentacion “tracks that have never been commercially released,” besides “never-before-seen” content from the Plantation, Florida, native’s 26-stop Revenge Tour.
Lastly, in terms of the NFT auction’s nuances, YellowHeart intends to “donate the proceeds from the collection to the XXXFoundation, a nonprofit the rapper’s manager, Solomon, and mother, Cleopatra Bernard, started after he passed.” This NPO is an extension of the Helping Hand Challenge that XXXTentacion spearheaded and which “aimed to support children in foster care and people in group homes.”
Addressing the quick-approaching NFT auction in a statement, Solomon Sounds, XXXTentacion’s estate manager, said: “The most important thing for me since X has passed is growing and protecting his legacy. With NFTs becoming such an important tool for artists, it’s great to have the opportunity to expand X’s legacy into the digital space where it can be shared and treasured by his current and future fans.”
Late March saw NFT startup Open Sea raise $23 million in a funding round led by A16z Crypto, a division of Andreessen Horowitz – though Action Bronson, in an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience about one month later, requested a clear-cut explanation of NFTs’ nuances.
Separately, Death Row Records – which The Harry Fox Agency and SESAC owner The Blackstone Group acquired in its $385 million purchase of Hasbro’s eOne Music – has released several multi-thousand-dollar NFTs.
In other cryptocurrency news, Dr. Luke’s Prescription Songs announced early last month that it would provide songwriters with the option of receiving their royalties in Bitcoin moving forward. Also in April, Nas earned a reported $40 million from an eight-year-old investment that his QueensBridge Venture Partners made in cryptocurrency-exchange platform Coinbase.