The Ultimate Guide to Music NFT Marketplaces
Music NFTs have revolutionized the way musicians engage with their audiences and sell their wares. For artists, a music NFT marketplace offers an opportunity to sell music directly to fans, sometimes even offering up pieces of the publishing rights in the process. This not only nets artists more money than traditional “per play” streaming solutions, but it also helps create a sense of community among fans, who feel even more compelled to spread the word about their favorite artists.
For collectors, music NFT marketplaces are a digital solution to many real-world problems, thanks to built-in features to make them less expensive and more secure to use. For these reasons and more, we’re excited about the potential of music NFT marketplaces for selling music collectibles.
Whichever side of the industry you occupy, here’s a brief primer on everything you need to know to get started selling music assets on a music NFT marketplace.
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What is a Music NFT Marketplace?
An Introduction to Music NFTs
Music NFTs can be anything from a single music track to an ultra-rare guitar. NFTs, or “non-fungible tokens,” are digital assets represented on a blockchain. Each NFT is unique, identifiable, and unalterable due to the dispersed nature of blockchains, and they can be tokens for digital assets or physically-backed ones.
A blockchain is a digital ledger stored across multiple servers. It is secured in such a way that it is uneditable, meaning every NFT transaction recorded on the blockchain is permanent and cannot be changed. This makes buying and selling NFTs extremely secure and means selling music collectibles on the blockchain is safer than selling them in a physical marketplace. There is less chance for fraud, and ownership is incontestable.
Music NFTs are usually “minted” to a blockchain using the process outlined by each music NFT marketplace. Physically-backed music NFTs, like signed instruments or hard-to-find merch, are turned into NFTs through a process called “tokenization.” Here are some examples of prominent artists who have seen success selling their work in this way:
- Doja Cat’s first-ever NFT auction sold for $188,888 on music NFT marketplace OneOf. The winner of the single edition crystal token became the “inaugural honorary mayor” of OneOf’s Planet Doja Discord channel, received an all-expenses paid trip to see the musician on tour, and will also receive gold tier NFTs from every OneOf curated music artist collection in perpetuity.
- Method Man launched his own crypto-community-centric project called Tical World using the TuneGo platform, allowing NFT owners to guide the creative direction of a comic book universe. Tical World also entitles owners to access new product drops and exclusive physical apparel.
- Don Diablo sold a full-length concert video called Destination Hexagonia for nearly $1.3 million on SuperRare. The holder of the NFT received a handcrafted box that contains the only high-quality copy of the film in existence.
Want to learn more? Our articles "NFTs for Music Artists: What Modern Musicians Need to Know" and "The 5 Best Music NFT Platforms for 2023" can help!
What is a Music NFT Marketplace?
A music NFT marketplace is a platform for buying or selling music NFTs. These can be marketplaces that specialize in music NFTs or more generalized marketplaces that sell a variety of blockchain tokens. Either way, working with an established marketplace will aid you in minting your music NFTs and selling them, brokering each transaction between you and your customers.
NFT marketplaces utilize one or more blockchains that are usually tied to a particular cryptocurrency, such as Ethereum. The specific blockchain a music NFT marketplace is tied to will, in part, determine the process and fees required to sell an NFT there. The length of time it takes to complete a transaction can vary between blockchains, and some charge a “gas fee” to cover cryptographic computation costs. Other factors like popularity, size, and discoverability will help you determine which music NFT marketplace is right for you.
If you’re interested in turning physical assets you already own, such as signed instruments or concert-worn costumes, into new sources of revenue with the blockchain, finding the right partner can make all the difference. Physically-backed NFTs present exciting new opportunities to connect with and monetize your audience, but they also introduce new layers of complexity.
Fortunately, Dibbs already has a proven system for safely vaulting and tokenizing assets to turn them into new earners for your music business, all with the peace of mind of working with an established and insured partner in the space. Fill out the form below or book a demo to find out what we can do for your brand.
We've gathered a list of the 5 best NFT marketplaces for music so you can review and choose the best fit for you. Check out our article and find your partner!
How Do I Get Started?
To get started selling music NFTs, you will need to join the crypto economy. This requires a crypto wallet that will contain all of your cryptocurrency. Some wallets are linked to a specific cryptocurrency, while others can contain a variety of currencies; if you know you will be selling on a music NFT marketplace that uses a specific cryptocurrency, you will want a wallet that is compatible with that currency.
Next, pick your music NFT marketplace. As outlined above, these come in different shapes and sizes. A larger music NFT marketplace might have more potential customers, but discoverability could be an issue. Specialty music NFT marketplaces might have fewer users overall but can be more curated, offering a higher quality of customers.
The music NFT marketplace you choose will also determine the process of tokenizing your music NFT. This process varies from marketplace to marketplace but, generally speaking, digital assets are turned into NFTs through a process called “minting.” This creates a blockchain-based counterpart for your digital file or physical asset, and each subsequent transaction involving this digital counterpart will also be recorded on the blockchain. Physically backed NFTs should be authenticated and securely stored before their associated token is traded to ensure their value.
Get a head start and peek into the future with our article, "5 Music NFT Companies Bringing Art & Culture to the Metaverse."
If you’d like to learn more about how tokenizing real-world assets can create a stronger community and recurring revenue for your music, book a demo with Dibbs today.