As the wave of NFT continues to hit the whole world by storm, Africa is also having its fair share in adoption. And now NFTs are steadily gaining popularity in the African music industry because they are being used to provide artists with new revenue streams in innovative ways.
In 2021, veteran Music Producer – Michael Collins Ajereh, popularly known as Don Jazzy became the pacesetter in that sector. In an interview, he revealed how he made a whopping sum of three hundred thousand dollars in ten minutes from NFT. He earned the $300,000 after collaborating with a digital artist who created three artworks and had him add a background sound to them. In that same year, 2021, we also saw Nigerian rapper – M.I launch an exclusive NFT collection as part of 100 Creators on Binance NFT Marketplace.
And now in 2022, Daniel Benson, now known as BNXN is dipping toes in the NFT waters. In January, on a twitter space, the artiste formerly known as Buju revealed details about his NFT project tagged “HeadsByBuju”, a collection of 10,001 unique NFTs of his face. Holders of these NFTs would get perks like access to physical and virtual concerts hosted by him, merch items, and a part of the revenue the musician makes from specific music projects. The roadmap for the project, whose Discord channel has close to 4,500 members, is divided into 3 quarters for this year. More plans will be provided in quarter 1 of 2023.
In this article, we are going to examine how more African artistes can leverage on the innovation known as NFT
Unlimited Opportunities For Independent Artistes
As a digital asset, NFTs expand the alternatives of how art, music, literature, and other cultural assets can be distributed and consumed. ‘Blown’ and emerging African artists can reach out directly to their fans and sell unique, tokenized versions of their songs, albums and artworks without the help or publicity of a record label which would not be profitable for them in the long run.
Independent African musicians can make much higher profits through the benefit of not having a middleman. NFT as a concept offers the opportunity to share the returns and royalties within an independent, digitized ecosystem of followers and creators.
BNXN is probably one of the best-known African artistes offering their fans shares of streaming revenue via NFTs. The returns are automatically divided between the community and the producers according to the terms of the smart contract established during the original minting.
NFTs offer African artists the opportunity to make a living from their work while earning a much higher return than that which can currently be earned with a third-party entity such as a record label.
Exploring The Metaverse
In the world of virtual reality known as Metaverse, people are not bound by physical barriers. As more people enter the metaverse, more virtual pop stars are making entries too.
Metaverse concerts are said to embody everything live performers have ever wanted. From special effects, twinkling lights to floating players, the opportunities are limitless. These possibilities are the main advantage that captivates innovators, investors, entrepreneurs and professionals from all fields.
Virtual reality is a new opportunity for African artists to express themselves and connect with their fans in unimaginable ways. Given the emerging metaverse, it is very likely that NFTs will play an important role in the future.
A Western artiste that Africans can emulate in this field is hip-hop star – Snoop Dogg. He is known for his broad interest in non-fungible tokens. Snoop Dogg has been an active player in NFT since March 2021 when he released an original track called “NFT” and “Snoop Dogge Coins”. Snoop Dogg is virtually recreating his own LA mansion, allowing fans to enter it while viewing his NFT collection, attending parties, participating in his concerts, and even buying a piece of land in his neighborhood.
In The Sandbox, one of the most popular blockchain-based gaming platforms, the rapper’s fans can purchase a Snoop Dogg Private Party Pass. It is a limited token, which gives them access to Snoop Dogg’s legendary lifestyle. His newly acquired virtual neighbors compete to have the artist perform an exclusive concert on their land.
Snoop Dogg’s exploits in the NFT and Metaverse space is worthy of emulation for African artistes. He has made it open to the world that you can create virtual content, have fun and also make money. We hope more and more African artistes would follow his footsteps.
