Spofity opens up to NFTs…because they are more profitable for musicians than streaming

Spotify could soon offer music-related NFTs. He does not want to be left out of this new trend, for fear of losing artists and musical themes.

The streaming music not having a good time. At least from the point of view of artists. There is a new rebellion underway over the issue of lstreaming platform paymentsand NFTs They have become a stumbling block for Spotify and company.

Already converted into a majority, almost a monopoly, because they have killed physical sales and sales of rights to other television stations, streaming platforms are victims of their own success. Netflix spent 17,000 million dollars in 2021 to produce new series and movies, and despite this, subscribers have increased less than expected.

Something similar happens with music.. Spotify and company have more and more reproductions, which forces musicians to pay more, but subscribers are not growing fast enough, and the competition is increasing.

So there are only two solutions: either raise fees (they do it every few months), orreduce what they pay musicians.

This is especially painful for indie music, because Spotify’s algorithm gives priority to the most listened to musicand it is the most famous artists who are always on the cover.

A few weeks ago it was news, a band called The Pocket Gods, who has uploaded to Spotify an album with 1,000 songs of 30 seconds duration. It’s a way of protesting that Spotify pays a pittance for each playback and it only takes 30 seconds of playback to get paid. So it is more profitable to release only 30-second songs.

Mark Christopher Lee, the leader of the group, explains that Spotify pays only 0.002 euros for each reproduction of a song. Namely, 500 reproductions are needed to win 1 euro.

If you want to get a minimum salary to be able to eat, let’s say 1,500 euros, you need your music to generate 750,000 reproductions.

Very few groups can live from streaming, so they have turned their eyes to another source of income: NFTs.

Musicians like Kings of Leon and Grimes have sold NFTs of their music. Major record labels Warner and Universal have partnered with NFT projects, including a virtual band featuring characters from the Bored Ape Yacht Club, according to the Financial Times.

On Bloomberg, indie artist Iman Europe explains how selling NFTs with his music has become his new way of life: “With Spotify he only earned 300 euros despite having more than 4 million views. Now, I earn 60,000 euros“.

The NFT They allow the sale of digital assets (music files, images, videos, documents, etc.) with a kind of “certificate of authenticity”, because they are associated with a unique key registered in a cryptocurrency blockchain. You have a longer explanation in this video:

Many indie artists are starting to sell variations and customizations of your musical themes, including songs and sheet music as NFTs, and that is more profitable for them than the cents that streaming pays them for reproductions.

Spotify and company fear that they will begin to emerge musical NFT trading platforms outside of them, and artists begin to migrate there. Whether by conviction or by obligation, they have to enter the NFT business yes or yes.

That is why, according to the Financial Times, Spotify has put two job offers related to Web3which is a global way of calling the internet based on blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs.

No one knows if this is a flash in the pan, or if digital collecting is here to stay. But platforms like Spotify, Instagram or Twitter do not want to risk being left out.