In our recent search for music NFTs that were more than just an animated GIF, one of our picks was rock band Avenged Sevenfold’s ‘Deathbats Club’. Now frontman M. Shadows has written a thoughtful piece for Billboard outlining his thoughts on the potential of web3 technologies for music.
He ranges across NFTs, the metaverse and real-time royalties for musicians, as well as a future where “many record labels will be DAOs, which means the people that work at the label actually own it”. He also thinks new artists will be able to “use NFTs to crowdfund albums and music videos, pulling fans into the process: They buy digital tokens that represent fractional ownership in the artist’s new songs”.
Above all, the piece is a call for musicians to get involved and experiment. “We, as artists, need to participate so that we have a voice in this future – and that it doesn’t end up simply replicating the traditional music business,” wrote Shadows.
“I don’t want a few companies to own the whole thing while trolling us with at best, low royalties, and at worst ‘hearts and likes!’ Artists, alongside their communities, deserve full ownership and a direct say in how they’ll wield these powers.”
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