Why Indian musicians are betting on NFTs

By Amit Gurbaxani
01 December, 2021

Why Indian musicians are betting on NFTs

By Amit Gurbaxani
01 December, 2021

NFTs are proving a great new way for artists to monetise their fandom and sustain their careers

Internationally, they first gained mainstream media attention in March when alternative rock band Kings of Leon released their most recent album in the form of an NFT. In India, the music industry took notice of their potential in May when Tamil singer-composer Kaber Vasuki sold an old demo recording for 50ETH, valued at around Rs 1.5 crore at the point of sale. Since then, there’s been a series of high-profile drops.

This July, the promoters of electronic music festival Sunburn hopped on to the bandwagon with its first batch of NFTs inspired by the event’s logo and stage backdrops. In August, electronic music producers Ritviz and Nucleya marked the release of their collaborative EP Baaraat, with 20 NFTs. Next, veteran Hindi rock band Euphoria put out their new album Sale as an NFT in September. Last month, hip-hop producer Sez on the Beat’s collective THE MVMNT unveiled 17 ‘moonhead’ NFTs. Today, rapper DIVINE’s long-anticipated series, created with popular illustrator Santanu Hazarika, goes up for sale.

The fans, it appears, can’t get enough of them. On the Indian NFT marketplace WazirX—which currently lists over 560 music NFTs, including those by Sunburn, Ritviz and Nucleya, and THE MVMNT—they have a “success rate” (the number of NFTs sold as a percentage of the total number listed) of 41.87 per cent. This is slightly higher than the 40.15 per cent success rate of all the NFTs available on the platform. The MVMNT’s drop sold out within 48 hours, and Ritviz and Nucleya’s series has generated the most revenue, with a combined sale value of 4,491.5WRX (approximately $5,000).

Ritviz and Nucleya marked the release of their collaborative EP Baaraat with 20 NFTs

The MVMNT's NFTs were bundled with perks such as free entry and backstage access

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