🎵 Metaproof Music

Hey friends, this is Sophia from 🎵 Metaproof Music, the weekly newsletter where we keep you informed on how the metaverse and web3 are changing the music industry.

Stay informed via our Twitter and Subscribe here to get your metaverse music news every Tuesday.

💌 A quick thanks to our friends…

Our friends at Player Zero are changing the music game by being a record label for the metaverse of Animated Virtual Artists (AVAs) that create hit songs like “Deeper” by Amari. Check them out today!

Sponsored post

📲 By the numbers

Web3 music last year saw the following numbers and statistics - how will players follow suit or exceed expectations in 2023? (Source)

• With a total of 11,010 NFTs across three collections, Coachella Collectibles offered fans the opportunity to purchase lifetime festival passes, unlock unique on-site experiences, physical items, and more.

• In April, an exclusive NFT featuring a 360-degree immersive experience of the Antarctic Dome at Coachella sold for $145,000, breaking the Solana blockchain’s single NFT (non-PFP) sales record.

• Peer-to-peer file-sharing client LimeWire resurrected itself as a music NFT platform after closing a $10.4M private token sale.

• Collective web3 lab SongCamp set forth on one of the most sizable ventures in the music NFT space: Chaos was conceived as a 77-person “headless band” set to create 45 songs to be released as an NFT collection totaling over 20,000 unique tokens.

📫 News & trends

🎧 Spotify launches an AI DJ

In its continuing bid for personalized music listening experiences, streaming platform Spotify has launched an AI DJ that isn’t a far cry from a radio DJ in that it delivers a curated selection of music alongside AI-powered spoken commentary about the tracks and artists. Get the lowdown below:

• To access the DJ: head to the Music Feed on the Homepage of the app. Tap Play on the DJ card to begin, then the DJ will begin to play a lineup of music and short commentary.

• Get a personalized stream of songs that includes both newer tracks and old favorites, as well as a variety of genres.

• Spotify is leveraging generative AI through OpenAI to create the commentary while its AI voice comes from its 2022 Sonantic acquisition. While a market leader in personalization for years in this space, Spotify seeks to attract and retain users who want a more lean-back experience and amid rivals’ use of similar technologies.

💯 Spotify is testing playlists that could be unlocked by NFT holders

In a move that transforms music ownership, Spotify is piloting token-gated playlists that can be unlocked with NFTs. It is currently piloting the feature that allows Android users in certain geographies (US, UK, DE, AU and NZ) to unlock exclusive playlists by buying NFTs, which then serve as tokens that grant access to specific playlists and thus create a new form of music ownership.

This development comes as Spotify continues to experiment with web3-related technologies, launch AI-powered DJ curation, and post web3-related job listings. It’s worth noting that while the pilot is a bold move for Spotify, it is not available to iPhone users due to Apple's restrictions on NFTs, and the current environment has prompted many companies to shelve their web3 ambitions.

💸 Spotify testing web3 wallets integration

In partnership with web3 gaming ecosystem Overlord, Spotify keeps expanding its footprint in web3 via testing token-enabled playlists in several key markets. The token-enabled community-curated playlist may now be accessed via web3 wallets of those who hold the Creepz NFTs on Spotify, where Android users from the US, UK, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand can unlock the playlists. The three-month pilot also involves Fluf, Moonbirds, and Kingship metaverse communities; On Twitter, Kingship confirmed its part in the pilot and noted that users need a Kingship Key Card NFT to unlock the tracklist that include hits by Queen, Missy Eliott, Snoop Dogg, and Led Zeppelin. As the music market remains one of the thriving areas of crypto adoption, we’ll keep watching this space for further developments.

💃 Web3 music streaming platform Audius integrates TikTok

Web3 music streaming platform Audius has integrated with the wildly popular social media platform TikTok, enabling its users to easily create accounts by linking their TikTok profiles. Audius songs can now be shared in TikTok videos, opening up new promotional opportunities for artists and giving them access to a massive audience of music-savvy young people.

Audius has been in partnership talks with TikTok since August 2021, with its CEO Roneil Rumburg citing the partnership as "a huge step forward” to “bring the power of web3 music to even more creators and fans around the world." The price of Audius' native token AUDIO spiked shortly after the news (albeit short-lived), yet the platform has previously courted the attention of musicians such as Katy Perry, Nas, and the Chainsmokers, who contributed to the company’s $5M funding round in September 2021.

🎤 Virtual idol: Is it hype or future of K-pop industry?

The Korean music industry is no stranger to innovation, and a new trend is on the rise: virtual idols. These computer-generated characters are becoming increasingly popular, and industry insiders are debating what this means for the future of music:

• Virtual idols are the handiwork of entertainment agencies and tech companies as a blend of music, animation, and gaming, with the technology becoming more and more sophisticated.

• The trend is crossing genres: There are now virtual idols in K-pop, J-pop, rock, and even country music in a bid to cater to all kinds of audiences.

• Virtual idols have an edge over human performers: They do not age, are free from scandals, and they can do whatever companies tell them to do - a steady source of content without delays or drama.

• It remains to be seen if they will be able to build a devoted fan base and tap into the mainstream market.

🎶 Playing it by ear: Money and music rights in the metaverse

The intersection of music with the metaverse, particularly when it comes to legal intellectual property rights, remains a mystery to many. Laws concerning music in an alternate realm and optimal strategies for stakeholders such as performers, distributors, labels, and venues are faced with challenges depending on the answer to the following questions:

• How will people use music in the metaverse?

• What are the likely new sources of revenue from music in the metaverse?

• Can “real world” laws be applied, or do we need brand new laws for the metaverse?

• What are the key issues metaverse companies and emerging technology platforms need to know about music rights over the metaverse?

• How will music rights be protected, laws enforced, and bad actors caught and penalized?

🦍 Gorillaz: Cracker Island review – smaller, subtler, and better for it

Gorillaz’s album Cracker Island arrives 22 years on from its debut single Clint Eastwood and after a string of successes that includes US Top 10 albums (including a double-platinum), a Grammy award, and entente cordiale with the band Oasis. The album, loosely based around a quasi-religious cult, comprises a track that appears to discuss the perils of the metaverse and living online, “a made-up paradise where the truth was Auto-Tuned” as the title track puts it. The Guardian dubs it “a fantastic pop album” in this review.

🏃‍♂️ Quick hits

• Rihanna’s hit song “B***h Better Have My Money” sells out NFTs and generates $63,000 in revenue.

• Sunset Town kicked off as Taiwan’s first metaverse music festival last February 25 to 28, treating audiences to visual and music interactions online from acts that included Sunset Rollercoaster, ØZI, 9m88, and Lee Yinghung a.k.a. DJ Didilong.

• Emerging music fan engagement platform MusicFX launched its FoundersX NFT membership, where fans can buy a lifelong, digital membership and earn access to all upcoming MusicFX fan clubs regardless of the artist or genre.

• Sony Group’s new president Hiroki Totoki is assuming office starting April as the global giant seeks to break new ground in areas like the metaverse and electric vehicles.

• Tunedly is a masked music discovery platform that aims to destroy the bias in the music industry: no likes or views, and you can’t even see who wrote or even sang the song - just value a song for what it is, not because who’s behind it.

💸 Finance buzz

• Warner Music Group-backed Styngr announced a music deal with licensing hub ICE, where the more than 330,000 rights holders who ICE represents will be able to receive publishing royalties for usage of their works by Styngr’s clients. (Source)

• Immersive, VR-ready non-gamer metaverse Ethereum Worlds partnered with music management firm TAP Music to bring music to the virtual realm. (Source)

🗣️ Quote of the week

--

All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse.

Stay informed via our Twitter and Subscribe here to get your metaverse music news every Tuesday.