Category: News

Even as sectors like art are experimenting with NFTs these days, the music industry is fast becoming an adopter of the technology. We’ve seen the Chainsmokers offer portions of their album royalties as NFTs, Limewire announce a new NFT collection, and much more. 

The latest music-NFT venture comes from Warner Music’s UK division which announced a new partnership with Bose on July 11, 2022. This new partnership will see the two release an NFT collection titled Stickmen Toys, whose assets come with both virtual and real-life benefits for their holders. 

All About the Collection

According to the official press release, the Stickmen Toys collection will feature 5,000 free audio-visual NFTs. These assets will feature Bose-themed Stickmen Toys NFTs which can, in turn, be used to redeem limited edition Stickmen Toys x Bose QuietComfort® 45 headphones or SoundLink Flex Bluetooth® speakers. There will also be the option for NFT holders to access exclusive Stickmen Toys x Bose merchandise. 

Those who hold the NFTs will also have access to live events, Stickmen Toys streetwear, physical collectables, global brand collaborations and future Warner Records NFT projects.

This collection has also seen contributions from Kapsule, a company which is serving as the tech-culture partner. As such, each NFT has been equipped with unique features. For example, each NFT has its own song, comprising of bass lines, drums, melodies, sound effects and vocal samples that were created specifically for the project.

This makes it perhaps one of the more unique NFT offerings to come out of the music industry recently. But as the management of Warner Music has explained, these NFTs are designed to enhance the relationship between fans and the artists they love.

“NFTs present a powerful extension of the artist-to-fan relationship, giving people the opportunity to invest in an artist’s future success and providing them value along the way. We’re proud to be the first major label providing collectors with authentic and meaningful ownership of the underlying audio-visual copyright, free to collectors,” says Seb Simone, Vice President, Audience & Strategy at Warner Records. 

Jeremy Fall, the Founder of Probably Nothing, a web3 company that contributed to the project, it is rare to see audio and visual content being used simultaneously in NFT projects and he is hoping that more people are endeared towards web3 through projects like this one.

The release date for the project will be announced soon.

MusicXNFTs

Warner Music and Bose are two of the most well-known brands in the music business so clearly, this NFT collection will likely garner a lot of attention from fans. There is also the fact that the NFTs essentially come with a free song as well as merchandise. 

Over time, we will probably see more record labels release collections that offer their own unique benefits to their holders. Whether these will be custom audio-visual content, merchandise, or in-person events is yet to be seen. Either way, it is clear that NFTs will be playing a bigger part in the music industry for years to come.

It is safe to say that subscription services are an important part of our modern lives. Whether this is a streaming service subscription, a subscription box for a meal kit, or anything else, the average person has at least a few that they pay for. 

Now, subscriptions are about to become intertwined with the world of NFTs thanks to Revuto, a Croatian NFT company. As per a recent announcement, Revuto will be teaming up with Railsr, a crypto-focused digital banking company, to sell lifetime subscriptions to major streaming services at NFTs. 

Enter the Streaming Era

The new NFTs to be made available for sale are called Revulution NFTs and the first batch will be based on Netflix or Spotify NFTs.  The collection will feature 10,000 assets at a floor price of $349 each that can be bought with debit cards, credit cards, or cryptocurrency. 

Once the NFTs are bought, virtual debit cards will be issued and these will be used to pay for the subscriptions. Should the NFTs be resold on the secondary market, the initial card will be cancelled and a new one issued for the new owner. 

The subscriptions can also be frozen or cancelled at any time and be bought for oneself or given as a gift. As Vedran Vukman, the CEO and co-founder of Revuto, explains, this service is very flexible and can adapt to users’ needs at any time.

“Based on the feedback we received from our 350,000 active and verified users, we have decided to give the community exactly what they have asked for – a solution that guarantees a stable subscription fee, that they can share with their friends or family members in a simple and straightforward way. Moreover, in case they are not using the service, the users can simply get their money back or even profit from selling the NFTs,” he explains. 

Josipa Majić, the co-founder of Revuto, has explained that the company plans to go even further than just Spotify or Netflix. Over time, more popular subscription services will be added and just like with the first collection, will offer discounts on the services for those who buy. 

As he puts it, Revuto wants to revolutionalize the world of subscriptions and create an entirely new market for unused subscriptions that people can use for themselves, make a profit from, or gift to their loved ones.

Netflix Meets NFTs

At this point, streaming services aren’t going anywhere anytime soon and neither are NFTs. This venture provides a unique utility for NFTs among consumers. With the prices of some streaming services going up periodically, a lifetime subscription would be very attractive to a lot of people. 

Not only is there a guarantee for those who buy these NFTs of how much they will pay for these services, but there is also the option to gift or sell them. Needless to say, once more services are added to Revuto’s roster, we will see an even bigger market for subscriptions being sold via NFTs.

These days, it seems everyone is getting into NFTs. There are celebrities like Madonna and Bella Hadid who are launching NFT collections, companies like Meta and Starbucks that are developing NFT-related features and projects, and many more. 

With this in mind, it is no surprise that royalty has caught on to the trend. It was recently announced that Princess Charlene of Monaco would be launching her own NFT collection. However, this will not be a private commercial endeavour but instead, the NFTs will be sold to benefit a charitable cause. 

Details About the New Collection

As per the official announcement, this NFT collection will be a collaboration between the Princess herself and the South African artist Junaid Sénéchal-Senekal. The collection, titled  “OurVisionTogether”, will consist of 15 artworks of portraits of the princess. 

Once released, the NFTs will be sold online and all the proceeds will be directed towards the #feed2gether initiative, which is supported by the Princess Charlene Foundation and the LOUIS57 Foundation, which was founded by South African golf champion Louis Oosthuizen. 

The charity specializes in providing support to South African children in need. It was noted that during the creation of the project, Sénéchal-Senekal voluntarily fasted, which is on theme with the mission behind the initiative. 

“Thank you to the artist @junaidssart who put his heart and soul into this creation, as well as his health for fasting for the entire duration of this work. What he experienced is a tragic reality for many and something most take for granted everyday. It highlights the importance of this project,” the Princess said on her official Instagram page. 

An official release date for the collection has not yet been announced but they are expected to go on sale in the near future. This is yet another example of both NFTs being used for a charitable cause and also being used to sell artwork. 

In the case of the former, we’ve seen several NFT collections, such as the one released by the Ukraine government, that are used for non-profit fundraising purposes. In the case of the latter, NFTs have become the darling of the art world, with many top creators releasing their works as NFTs and earning a living that way. 

The Power of Royal NFTs

While this collection is not necessarily the first of its kind, it is one of the first times we are seeing a member of royalty get involved with NFTs. Naturally, this lends a certain level of credibility to the industry, as well as visibility overall.

Monaco, and its royal family, are seen as the pinnacle of wealth and prestige and NFTs being used by a member would grant them some sort of validation among the public. 

NFTs are also fast becoming the hottest item for charitable purposes. In the past, artworks being auctioned for charity was quite common and now that digital art via NFTs is the popular thing in the art world, a natural shift towards them has happened.

With eCommerce being worth billions of dollars, it is no secret that we as consumers buy a lot of things online. And in a hyper-consumerist world, there are many more options for us to buy now without necessarily having to pay now. Platforms like Afterpay and even merchant sites allow us to split and defer payments. 

Pay off your shopping cart in 4 interest-free instalments or pay off your summer vacation over a year! But what if you could pay for more than just clothes and vacations in instalments? What if this practice was extended to NFTs? 

This is what Teller, a DeFi lending protocol, is trying to offer with its new ‘Ape Now, Pay Later’ feature. 

Ape Now, Pay Later

This new feature has been developed on the Polygon blockchain and is modelled after other buy now, pay later services like Klarna. However, it is only compatible with specific NFT projects and not all collections. 

Some of the projects supported by this feature include Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Moonbirds, Doodles, Cool Cats, and so on. How it works is that the prospective buyer must indicate the NFT (which must be listed on a marketplace like Opensea) that they want to buy and make a deposit of part of the total amount. 

This deposit can be up to half of the total price of the asset and different collections come with different requirements for the down payment.

After this is done, Teller reaches out to the seller with an offer. If they accept, the NFT is held in escrow until the full amount is repaid. Once the repayment is made in full, they can then take possession of the asset. According to Ryan Berkun, the founder and CEO of Teller Finance, this is a much-needed service for the emerging web3 space. 

“Buying NFTs is one of the core things Web3 consumers want to do right now. Buy now, pay later is a no-brainer,” he said in an interview with Decrypt. 

As time goes on, he predicts that being able to pay for NFTs in later instalments will become more popular on all sorts of marketplaces and platforms.

“This is core infrastructure, I believe, of where Web3 goes. Especially as we start thinking about the intersection of DeFi and the NFT space,” he says. 

Buying NFTs

While this is one of the first of its kind, there is likely some truth in Berkun’s prediction. Many more people want to get into NFTs to make a profit but don’t want to deal with the high cost of buying one upfront. 

Just like with people using Klarna to pay for clothes, if demand exists, the market will supply. While some aspects of this setup might need to be addressed, such as the potential for market volatility exploitation, Berkun has a point when he says that this is a natural development in the web3 space. Hopefully, in a few years, we will see the effects of this effort.

NFTs…taking you to the moon and the sky. 

One surefire way to get people excited about an NFT collection is to attach some benefits to them. NFTs that offer entry to Coachella? What about NFTs that are used to purchase a luxury watch? Many brands are playing around with this concept these days and giving great experiences to their customers. 

The latest company to leverage NFTs for customer benefits is Etihad Airways. The UAE–based airline announced on July 6, 2022, an NFT collection called EY-ZERO1 which grants its holders Etihad Guest Silver tier membership for one year, among other things. 

NFTs in the Sky

As per the announcement on the Etihad website, 2003 NFTs in total will be released as part of the collection, with the number representing the year that the airline was founded. The NFTs themselves will be 3D models of aircrafts, each with a unique Etihad Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner livery. Some of the aircrafts to be featured as NFTs include Etihad’s Manchester City FC and Greenliner-themed aircraft. 

The NFT sale will be going live on July 21, 2022, at 6 pm UAE time, with assets priced at ​​ $349 excluding tax. The NFTs will be listed on a dedicated site, as well as on the Etihad gift shop.

According to Tony Douglas, Group Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Aviation Group, the company is excited to release the NFTs, not just as collectable art pieces but also to offer unique perks to its customers. 

“NFTs and other metaverse technologies are revolutionising the digital economy, and we are proud to be one of the first airlines in the world to explore their potential to provide additional utility for our customers,” he says. 

All of those who buy the NFTs will immediately receive Etihad Guest Silver tier membership for a whole year and will also be entered into a raffle. 10 winners will emerge and they will receive free Etihad flight tickets. NFT holders for this collection will also have advanced access to future collections and upcoming web3 products. 

The sale will hold until August 18, 2021, and those who register before July 16, 2022, stand to win one of 20 free NFTs that the airline is giving out. 

“As well as recognising the artistic value of our aircraft liveries, our NFT collection has been designed to be as efficient as possible and support our wider sustainability and decarbonisation efforts at Etihad Airways,” Douglas said, adding that the NFTs will be minted on the Polygon blockchain and that the proceeds of the sale will be used to buy sustainable aviation fuel. 

Flying NFTs

The airline industry seems to have caught NFT fever with this new announcement from Etihad, If this collection proves to be a successful one, more airlines might release their own and customers can tap into a world of travel-related benefits thanks to NFTs. 

It is also quite telling that the Etihad announcement emphasised the sustainability of the program and the fact that proceeds would also go towards sustainable efforts.

Reddit is commonly referred to as the front page of the internet and there is a good reason for this. Posts on the site often go viral across the internet, breaking news is circulated to its millions of users, and there are communities (called subreddits) for practically every topic under the sun. Needless to say, it has truly earned that name.

Now, NFTs will be making their debut on this front page of the internet as it has been announced that Reddit will be launching NFT avatars. This means its plethora of users will be able to use NFTs in their daily interactions on the site. 

About Reddit 

As per the official announcement, Reddit will not only allow its users to use NFTs as their account profile pictures but will launch a full-on marketplace where they can be bought and sold. This is very significant given the size of Reddit’s userbase and the adoption this could drive. 

In the initial stage, 90 designs have been created by Reddit and tens of thousands of NFTs will be released in total. To make these NFTs more accessible, users don’t have to buy them with cryptocurrency. Instead, debit or credit cards can be used. 

Currently, the prices for these NFTs have been set at $9.99, $24.99, $49.99, $74.99 or $99.99. Also, there is no option to ‘bid’ for the NFTs as is often done on sites like Opensea as all prices are fixed. 

The NFTs are also not relegated only to Reddit as they can be used on other sites as well as customized by their owners. The NFTs have been minted on the Polygon blockchain and as for storage, they can be put in Reddit’s native Vault wallets.

For now, only members of the invite-only subreddit r/CollectibleAvatars will have access to the NFTs while others will be able to buy them in the coming weeks. Many of the NFTs were designed in collaboration with artists within the Reddit community and in the statement from the company, community and the empowerment that blockchain can offer were emphasised. 

“Reddit has always been a model for what decentralization could look like online; our communities are self-built and run, and as part of our mission to better empower our communities, we are exploring tools to help them be even more self-sustaining and self-governed,” the statement said.

NFTs Come to Social Media

Reddit onboarding NFTs onto its platform is more than just them being used as profile pictures; it is normalizing NFT use on one of the biggest social media sites in the world. And we’re seeing a lot of these lately. 

Instagram and Facebook are currently testing NFT features for their users and Linktree has announced NFT compatibility coming soon. All of these mean that we will soon be using NFTs in our everyday social media lives. 

Not only does this normalize them on a global scale but it means that even more NFT use and investments can be expected.

We’ve seen NFTs be used for many different things. They’ve been used to sell art and souls, issued as sentimental collectables and even used to distribute royalties. But every other day, we find another quirky application of these blockchain-based assets.

The latest application comes from Vincenzo Sospiri Racing, a Lamborghini-backed racing team. It has been announced that the team will be partnering with Go2NFT in order to leverage NFTs for the authentication of racing car parts. This marks the first time NFTs are being used in the racing industry for this purpose. 

Vroom Vroom

As per the announcement, the NFT certifications for the car parts will be held on the  Skey Network blockchain. All these efforts are in a bid to ensure that all parts are confirmed to be authentic and that there are permanent records of all of them.

The quality of the parts used in a car can make all the difference in a race and to be able to create this level of quality control is invaluable for a team. 

“This also brings great responsibility to ensure that we can securely authenticate and audit every part of our racing fleet to monitor performance and ensure provenance,” the team says.

Blockchain, in general, has been used to confirm authenticity in the past, with even universities storing diplomas on blockchains to combat degree fraud. As such, NFTs can easily be applied to the racing industry for recording the details of car parts. 

But Vincenzo Sospiri Racing isn’t stopping here. Besides the parts, there are also plans to authenticate the team’s merchandise using NFTs. This way, its fans can rest assured that the merchandise they are paying for is legitimate. The counterfeit sports merchandise market is worth billions and leads to lost revenue for teams all around the world. 

NFTs are already being used to deliver and authenticate ownership of all sorts of assets, both digital and physical, so this is likely a good match. 

“We believe that NFT utility can help create more trust and transparency for brands and their fans. This project with VSR is just the start of many such co-operations for beloved brands across the globe,” said Go2NFT executive Boris Ejsymont in an interview with Cointelegraph.

More announcements are expected regarding both the part and merchandise authentification program soon. 

NFTs in Racing 

We’ve seen NFTs in many industries over the years but it is surprising to see them applied to the racing sector. Usually, they would be leveraged to release collectables for teams or racers but their use for authentification is somewhat new territory. 

But this could be a very good thing for NFTs. a lot of the hype surrounding them right now is about them as speculative assets or collectables. If more emphasis is put on their utility within industries, they are more likely to stand the test of time and be widely used well into the future. Needless to say, they seem to have found their place on the racing track.

Serena Williams has been at the top of the sports arena for years now and is famous around the world. Naturally, her image has appeared on billboards, commercials, magazines, and many more. Now, the tennis star is having her image, along with her daughter’s, immortalized on the blockchain.

This is thanks to comic book artist Amanda Conner who was commissioned as part of the rollout for a new feature on an art platform called Zestworld, to create a depiction of the two. The commission came from non-other than Reddit co-founder and Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian. 

Super Serena 

This comic book art is part of Zestworld ‘s new feature that allows users to request commissioned works from artists they enjoy. In the case of Ohanian, he asked Conner to create artwork that would depict both his tennis player wife and their daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. as superheroes. 

Noting that Williams is a supergirl fan, the final product depicts the two as superheroes in outer space. While it is obviously a touching tribute to Williams, it also represents the platform embracing NFTs. They have become quite popular with artists in the last few years, especially for independent artists looking to make an income. 

As Conner herself explains, she was reluctant to get into NFTs but then saw the connection it can foster between fans and artists. 

“I began as ‘that person’ who was like ‘NFTs? What? You can’t hold them.’ But when I sat and thought about it … There are so many people that grew up with ‘The Sims’ and just having a real life and a digital life. Consuming comics digitally is so convenient… It totally makes sense that it would spill over into NFTs,” she says, adding that the royalty-based nature of NFTs means that artists can earn an income in perpetuity and that digital art offers more convenience for fans. 

Chris Giliberti, the co-founder and CEO of Zestworld, agrees with this and notes that NFTs allow fans to get their hands on pieces from their favourite artist without limitations. Indeed, there have been several stories of artists finding success with NFTs, some of which might have struggled in the traditional art world. 

But as NFTs become more popular overall, they are fast becoming the favourite of the art world, whether for eager fans or for ambitious artists. Needless to say, its presence in this sector is likely to continue. 

A Place for NFTs

As Conner explained, many people struggle to find the utility in NFTs. But the art world has, for a long time, been able to. In the case of Zestworld, they are being used to issue one-of-a-kind art pieces to fans. 

Because of the inherent nature of NFTs and the use of an official platform, buyers can rest assured that the art they are receiving is authentic, just like with the Serena Williams comicbook. Also, given that both Williams and her husband are big investors in tech, we might see this application of NFTs make even more news soon.

Many people, whether they buy NFTs or not, are aware of how valuable Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs can be. From being bought by celebrities like Madonna for millions to being the poster child for the industry, their worth is public knowledge at this point. 

But what is not often discussed are the rights and benefits that come with owning an NFT from the collection. The truth is that along with being worth a lot of money, the Bored Ape NFTs also grant their owners IP rights to the apes depicted on them. 

This means that the image and likeness of the apes can be used by their owners commercially. This fact came to light after the actor Seth Green had his NFTs stolen and then had to put plans for an animated TV show on hold that was to star one of the apes in the assets. Simply put, Bored Ape NFTs can be leveraged creatively and commercially. 

Now, a new platform called Boredjobs has announced plans to help Bored Ape owners profit from the likeness of their apes without ever having to do anything creatively. 

Profiting Off NFTs

This new platform was developed by blockchain accelerator Mouse Belt Labs and is looking to list all 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs. When listed, brands will be able to license the IP rights to the apes to be used commercially. 

“The Bored Ape Yacht Club gave its owners a fantastic opportunity to utilize the IP rights of the NFTs they purchased. Unfortunately, they did not provide them with an instruction manual on how to put them to work. Bored Jobs is creating that instruction manual,” the official announcement reads. 

Since the launch of the platform on June 29, 2022, Mouse Belt co-founder Patrick McLain has said that over 200 Bored Ape owners have reached out to have their assets signed up. He also explains that the site acts as more of a facilitator of contact as opposed to a third-party negotiator. 

This means that all agreements must be worked out between the companies and the Bored Ape holders themselves. The site also has high ambitions and plans to onboard Mutant Apes, Gutter Cats and CryptoPunks in the near future. 

While licensing has always been a part of the entertainment industry, the NFT sector has been somewhat underdeveloped in that aspect. Now, it seems we’re going to see many more apes used in creative and commercial works. 

The Age of NFT Licensing 

This project, perhaps the first of its kind, is set to explore a new angle of NFT ownership. NFT critics often ask what exactly NFTs ‘do’ to warrant their value and this shows that they can be used in more ways than one. 

What we will likely see will be more sites that allow NFT holders to license out their assets, more NFT character appearances in the media, more deliberate creation of NFTs specifically for licensing, and a more robust industry overall.

The last week has certainly been full of announcements of NFTs being used within the mobile phone sector. First, it was HTC announcing that its upcoming phone would feature an NFT wallet, along with web3 capabilities. 

Now, we have Nothing, a newer phone maker, announcing that it will be airdropping NFTs to the buyers of its first phone. This is being done as a collaboration between Nothing and Polygon, which is a popular scaling solution to Ethereum, and will also see Polygon-based technology be infused into the upcoming Nothing phone (1). 

NFTs Calling 

As per the official announcement made by Nothing on Twitter, the first set of NFTs to be distributed will be called Black Dot NFTs. These are to be given to all those who contributed to the crowdfunding of the company’s first phone.

This can be done by visiting the official Nothing site and signing up for the airdrops, which are to hold from July 7, 2022, to August 13, 2022. Those who preordered the Nothing phone (1) can also enjoy both this airdrop and the ones to come in the future. 

At the end of the Twitter thread was a note saying ‘introducing the Black Dot NFT’ along with the image of a black dot in a transparent cube. These NFTs are, however, not just for aesthetic value as they will also grant their holders access to products and events. 

But as Polygon Vice President of Growth Arjun Kalsy said in an interview with Decrypt, the company has many more plans with Nothing. Some of these will include installing Polygon’s payment system on the Nothing phones and its platform in general. According to Kalsy, this is a way to spread NFT and web3 adoption. 

“How do we get even closer to the user? The largest distribution platform in the world is the mobile phone. Basically, the timing was right that now we can take this technology to the masses,” he says.

These efforts, however, are not for pushing web3 adoption for the sake of it. Instead, he believes that decentralized technology can put power and privacy back into the hands of consumers. 

“If you look at any Android or Apple phone, you log in with either a Google ID or an Apple ID, and to an extent, Apple or Google owns the customer, right? That is where the value comes from. In a decentralized world, we need to help the user take back control,” Kalsy says.

Coming to a Phone Near You 

As Kalsy himself explained, phones are one of the biggest ‘distribution channels’ that exist in the world today and if NFTs can find a solid place in them, the sky is the limit. For starters, while some people might be reluctant to embrace a technology on its own, it will be seen as more palpable if coming from the maker of their phone. 

With the influx of phone makers embracing NFTs these says, this seems like a likely outcome.