Today, DJs Steve Aoki and Justin Blau (3LAU) released their first single as the CryptoPunks’ inspired duo “PUNX.” The glitchy, techno track called “Concentrate” draws on the OG NFT collection’s roots — underground, techie, and futuristic. Aoki posted a video with the track and an official visualizer on YouTube:
The two well-known NFT enthusiasts have another surprise in store for collectors: the chance to own royalties of the song. They will give away 99 NFT tokens, with each representing 0.5% of the royalties to the new beat, to democratize ownership of the song. Aoki and Blau’s respective non-fungible token communities — AOKIVERSE, CryptoPunks holders, and 3LAU’s collectors — will get first dibs.
The move aligns with the ethos of the two musicians, especially Blau, who is the founder of Royal, a music platform that seeks to bring the music industry into Web3 by selling song royalties as non-fungible tokens. “Concentrate” will release on that platform, with users able to trade the 99 royalty tokens there after issuance.
In a statement, Blau called the release of “Concentrate” a major moment for the duo, adding that it offers their earliest supporters a chance to co-own the song along with the two DJs. He said that by releasing the song on Royal, they’re empowering the community and letting them share in the success of the duo from day one.
Aoki stated that it is incredible to be “at the center of this evolution,” not only building community but giving back to it directly. According to Aoki, what the two are planning to do with the royalties of “Concentrate” was impossible to think of until recently.
Royal Recruits High-Profile Music Artists
Blau founded Royal in May 2021, just as the most recent NFT bull run was kicking off. Quickly, it made waves, enabling the first fan-owned song in the history of music and attracting the attention of popular artists Logic and Kygo. Here are two stories we have covered about musicians partnering with Royal to sell royalties of their songs.
First, about a year ago, Grammy-winning DJ Diplo sold a tokenized version of his song “Don’t Forget My Love” on the Royal platform. The tokens came in three tiers — gold, platinum, and diamond — with each having its own price tag and corresponding to a different percentage of the song’s royalties.
Lastly, a year ago, The Chainsmokers gave away the equivalent of 1% of streaming royalties to their album So Far So Good. The giveaway was heavily weighted to mega-fans of the music duo, with 4,000 of the 5,000 NFTs going to The Chainsmokers’ VIP list members. The two musicians compiled their VIP list by analyzing ticket sales, streams, and Discord activity.
Other artists who have released tokenized songs on Royal include rapper Nas, singer-songwriter Vérité, and innovative producer Elephante (Tim Wu). Music NFTs, in their many forms, are often considered utility NFTs, a type of non-fungible token that has offers some type of value in exchange for purchasing it.
To learn more about music NFTs, check out our latest article: