While the hype surrounding non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has cooled, innovative use cases for digital assets continue to emerge especially in the music industry, which has been fertile ground for emerging Web3 tool use cases in recent years.
On April 5, the DJ, producer, and eco-warrior Blond:ish announced a new NFT item that unlocks a physical copy of her latest vinyl album upon purchase. Vinyl itself is made from "naturally occurring bacteria" that mimic plastic and can break down in any environment, including the ocean. Typically, vinyl records are pressed from polyvinyl chloride (also known as PVC) material, which emits 12 times the greenhouse gas emissions.
NFTs are already being used by artists as an integral part of album releases, and even as a new model for music streaming. This latest vinyl record is an example of a growing physical trend in the NFT scene, where digital assets have a physical component. In August 2022, pop-rock group Muse released an NFT album a milestone for the music industry, as it became the first new album format to qualify for the charts in seven years.
Many mainstream music artists such as Snoop Dogg, a longtime Web3 champion are already using NFTs in single releases, or to promote additional content outside of their music.
For artists who have made their releases inseparable from NFT projects, there has even been a conversation about a new NFT-driven music genre. Music industry giant Sony Music filed a trademark application for NFT-certified music in September 2022, while Spotify tested a new Web3 wallet integration for token-enabled playlists in March 2023.
