An Australian company is about to change the way musicians release music, authors fund books releases and artists protect their art with the help of NFT – Non-Fungible Tokens.
Bad Boys Media, who started in the podcast space with the popular Bad Boys Podcast, have unveiled plans to help the creative communities change the way they release their products. The company’s director has worked with artists for over 10 years and understands their struggles especially when it comes to monetising their music. “The system is definitely broken. Artists are usually the last link in the payment chain and in some cases it can take months or years to see that income.” Shayne Brian, director of Bad Boys Media and co-host of the Bad Boys Podcast said “Because of the decreasing royalties in music sales, artists have had to rely on touring as a solid source of income and 2020 demonstrated that it can all be removed in a blink of an eye. There has to be a solution.”
Brian said that Bad Boys Media’s new project will offer artists a direct to fan model using a platform that is secured by one of the fastest growing technologies, the Blockchain. Non-Fungible Tokens are unique collectible crypto assets and are used to represent any type of real or tangible item. Called We Are Tribes, the project will assist artists in creating an NFT to securely sell an album, a VIP experience, a tour package, exclusive merchandise, or any other income stream. Brian explained We Are Tribes creates a token secured by the Blockchain that allows fans to directly invest in their artist. Apart from the direct sale profit, the token ensures proof of identity for the creation, attributing the product to the creator on the blockchain and effecting an immediate payment rather than waiting months or years.
Brian pointed out that recently several artists like Kings of Leon, Grimes, William Shatner and deadmau5 have successfully used NFT to sell their product and at the same time have seen a profitable return. Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, sold a digital artwork piece via auctioning an NFT for $69M US and will continue to make a profit every time the artwork is onsold. Bad Boys Media sees this event as the beginning of a huge surge in interest around the whole NFT phenomenon and expects to help hundreds of artists and indie labels create their own NFT vehicle on the blockchain. “In addition to musicians and artists, I can see how NFT can be used to monetise podcasts and events as well protecting indigenous artwork which has become a massive issue with artists fighting for recognition.” Brian commented.
