Swedish streaming giant Spotify looks to add blockchain and NFTs to its services, much to the excitement of artists whose earnings could receive a significant boost.
Recent job postings reveal that Spotify is headhunting individuals to work on Web 3.0, an umbrella term for a decentralized form of the internet underpinned by blockchain technology.
One posting indicates an exploratory foray into Web 3.0, with the potential engineering hire joining an “experimental growth” collective, responsible for “driving growth through…Web 3.0”. Another listing is for a manager to join its “Innovation and Market Intelligence” group, where Spotify is hunting for an individual experienced in “content, creator, media, web3, and emerging technology industries” to properly articulate the scope of ambitious projects.
Spotify joins the list of big technology companies venturing into Web3 and NFTs, following Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement earlier this week that Instagram would soon be adding NFT features into its platform.
Earlier this month, the old peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing platform Limewire announced it would be returning as a NFT marketplace, aiming to become “a more mature platform” following in its rival BitTorrent’s footsteps after its acquisition by TRON founder Justin Sun in 2018.
The total volume of NFTs traded has shown signs of slowing down in 2022, prompting crypto industry pundits to peg music as the next lucrative vehicle for NFTs via the sales of digital albums or the granting of special perks at live events.
NFTs becoming popular as artists struggle to generate revenue
Blockchain music platforms Royal and Catalog have begun selling NFTs of musicians’ work, touting NFTs as a more lucrative revenue stream than streaming services, which pay artists low royalty fees every time a song is streamed.
Royal, launched by DJ and producer 3LAU, enables musicians to sell royalty ownership in their songs to collectors, and give collectors access to perks. Royalties are earned by both the collectors and the artists. Catalog allows artists to upload music for free to their platform, allowing them to rake in 100% on primary sales.
American Rock band Kings of Leon and Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter Grimes have released NFTs of their music, while major labels Warner and Universal Music Group have inked deals with NFT projects, including a virtual band with members from Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Yacht Club collection.
Spotify’s partnership with Diem
Spotify has dipped its toes into the crypto pool before, having been an early partner in Facebook’s now-defunct cryptocurrency project, Diem. The goal then was to use blockchain and cryptocurrency to pay artists directly, even where artists had no access to bank accounts.
Spotify’s CEO at the time said that their partnership with Diem could have opened up opportunities to create links between artists and users on different continents.
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