Hip hop icon Nas will allow fans to own shares in his streaming royalty rights through NFTs.
Stakes in two of his songs, “Ultra Black” the lead single to the Grammy award winning ‘Kings Disease’ album and “Rare” are up for grabs.
Powered by Blockchain-based music investment platform Royal, the Queens rapper will be the first artist to let fans invest in his music on the platform.
Fans can invest in ‘limited digital assets’ (Royal’s extended version of an NFT) in the form of “Gold”, “Platinum” and “Diamond” digital tokens for each single, and the owners of the tokens will receive a share of royalties every time the track is streamed.
The sale starts Tuesday, January 11, working “on a first-come, first-serve basis,” says Justin Blau, Royal co-founder and EDM artist under the alias 3LAU. “There will be three tiers for each song; gold, platinum and diamond, with diamond being the most exclusive and representing the highest percentage of royalty ownership. Pricing is fixed in the primary sale.”
Up to 50% of each song will be on offer, with different tiers available for each track.
“There will be a limited amount of tokens available for each song,” says Blau, “ranging in tiers representing different royalty ownership. 1,110 total tokens for Rare and 760 for Ultra Black.”
“As a musician, my success is driven completely by my listeners. My livelihood is based on how much my fans support my music. Right now, my listeners aren’t compensated at all for that interaction,” Nas said through a spokesperson from his label Mass Appeal.
“Royal is changing that by turning music into an investment asset available to everyone.”
Royal raised $55 million in November and attracted funding from artists like The Chainsmokers, Nas, Logic, Stefflon Don, Kygo, Joyner Lucas and Disclosure.