London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Jul 04, 2025

Spotify Who? Musician’s Earnings Go From $300 to $60,000 in Web3

For smaller acts, NFTs offer financial gains once elusive in a music business dominated by streaming — at least for now.
A savvy cadre of recording artists has been using the new, blockchain-based digital frontier sometimes known as web3 to do what they’ve always dreamed of: Making money by making music.

The revenue they’re earning from selling their songs and music as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, is significantly larger than the pennies they pull in from streaming services such as Spotify. At the same time, they are providing a tangible use case for elements of web3, the preferred nomenclature of venture capitalists who invest in online services built using blockchain technology, where control isn’t concentrated in a single business entity.

Musicians took in $83 million in primary sales through NFTs last year, according to Water & Music, an organization that researches digital music innovation. Independent artists accounted for 70% of that revenue, the group found. It’s a trend that is attracting the attention of larger investors, including 12-time Grammy Award winner John Legend. With a group of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, he announced earlier this month that he’ll be launching a platform for artists to monetize their work using the technology.

Popularity with independent artists can partly be explained by the fact that the world of NFTs is much more accessible than landing a lucrative, corporate record deal. To release an NFT, artists attach their media — such as a song or video — to a verifiable digital token and then auction it off on an online marketplace such as Nifty Gateway or OpenSea. These operate on blockchain technology, which offers an online record of the transaction history.

Buyers get ownership of the digital asset as well as the cultural cache of having something released to a finite number of people, in some cases only to one person. At times the music is only available as an NFT; it’s a bit like owning the only copy of a CD by your favorite artist.

Alec D’Alelio, a 25-year-old living in Brooklyn, bought his first NFT of a song in February 2021. It was produced by an artist named Supa Bwe, who D’Alelio says is an influential artist in the Chicago music scene close to where he went to college at Northwestern University.

“It was still really, really early at that point for music NFTs, very few people were doing it,” D’Alelio said. “I wanted to show that people will buy this stuff, people care, people want to support.”

D’Alelio, who also produces music for fun, has since bought over a dozen NFTs of songs and albums from various artists. He estimates his total collection is worth 4.75 ETH, or about $12,000. He bought each piece for somewhere between 0.1 to 1 Ether.

Christian Kaczmarczyk, a principal at venture-capital firm Third Prime, owns more than 20 NFTs of songs from various artists. A few of the names in his inventory, such as rapper Jon Waltz, are artists he has listened to since college. Other musicians, he discovered directly on NFT platforms. He estimates his collection is worth about $150,000.

“There are some artists that I plan to never want to sell just because I’m a big supporter of their careers,” Kaczmarczyk, 27, said. But, he added, “It’s nice to be able to have this option that if it does become worth something, I could potentially sell it for a value.”

The opportunity to flip purchases for a higher price is one of the clearest financial incentives for buyers. Daniel Fowler, a music industry strategist based in London, said there is a concern about whales, entities or individuals with large sums of cryptocurrencies, buying up music NFTs. “You get into a world where people are essentially squatting on culture, in the same way that people would try and hoover up property and literally extract rent from that,” he said.

One study found the top 10% of NFT traders perform 85% of all transactions, and trade 97% of all assets at least once. Fowler, who used to work at a blockchain startup, said a key driver in the increase of NFT activity was “people having spare crypto and wanting to do other stuff with it that might be more interesting than just buying Bitcoin.”

Other complications abound. Collectors may be given bragging rights for “owning” the music or art in their NFTs, but not necessarily the copyright. It’s not always clear whether NFT collectors can alter or repurpose the music they pay for. Artists and the platforms they use say the answer is a resounding no. (Unless, they are selling open-source beats or instrumentals.)

“The convergence of copyright law with NFTs is still a great unknown,” said Kevin Greene, a law professor at Southwestern Law School who specializes in intellectual property and entertainment law. “A case is going to come at some point where some of these issues are clarified, but right now it's a Wild West and even copyright lawyers are struggling.”

There is also the issue that other NFT projects have come to face: mainstream players entering the arena. Headliners from Katy Perry to BTS are starting to cash in. While independent artists are pulling in the majority of revenue, the gap between them and major-label artists is closing, according to Cherie Hu, founder of Water & Music.

But independent artists have something bigger acts don’t: Licensing agreements often prevent A-list artists from listing singles or albums as NFTs. Instead, stars tend to release visual art. Perry, for instance, sold a collection of behind-the-scenes photos, moving art and a physical concert prop. Unsigned artists are able to avoid many of the legal hurdles to releasing music as NFTs. Also, because they often work with a few collaborators or alone entirely, they capture a greater portion of profits.

The business model attracted Allan Kyariga, a rapper living in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and known in the music world as Allan Kingdom. He says he stopped pursuing a full-time music career after being offered industry deals that “didn’t make sense” to take.

He started releasing NFTs when a fan recommended he sell a music video using the technology in November. After selling ten, his earnings total 15.8 Ether, or $40,000 — an amount, he says, is double the advance of a distribution deal advance for an artist of his level. One of the 28-year-old’s singles resold for as much as seven times the original price, which started at 0.1 Ether on a marketplace called Sound.xyz.

There is no guarantee that independent artists’ success with NFTs will continue. Last year was a bumper year for NFTs. With buy-in from celebrities, politicians and even socialites such as Paris Hilton, the market for these digital collectibles surpassed $17 billion. Yet with many cryptocurrencies down this year — most NFTs rely on the native token of Ethereum — some wonder if the model for musicians is sustainable.

“If this thing doesn’t get more popular anytime soon or doesn’t give incentives for people to get involved, then this will go away,” Kaczmarczyk, the music NFT collector, said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Political Dispute Escalates Between Trump and Musk
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
US Senate Votes to Remove AI Regulation Moratorium from Domestic Policy Bill
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
Jury Deliberations in Diddy Trial Yield Partial Verdict in Serious Criminal Charges
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
King Charles Plans Significant Role for Prince Harry in Coronation
Two Chinese Nationals Arrested for Espionage Activities Against U.S. Navy
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
Trump Administration Considers Withdrawal of Funding for Hospitals Providing Gender Treatment to Minors
Texas Enacts Law Allowing Gold and Silver Transactions
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
OpenAI Secures Multimillion-Dollar AI Contracts with Pentagon, India, and Grab
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Germany Votes to Suspend Family Reunification for Asylum Seekers
Elon Musk Critiques Senate Budget Proposal Over Job Losses and Strategic Risks
Los Angeles Riots ended with Federal Investigations into Funding
Budapest Pride Parade Draws 200,000 Participants Amid Government Ban
Southern Europe Experiences Extreme Heat
Xiaomi's YU7 SUV Launch Garners Record Pre-Orders Amid Market Challenges
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's Lavish Wedding in Venice
Russia Launches Largest Air Assault on Ukraine Since Invasion
Education Secretary Announces Overhaul of Complaints System Amid Rising Parental Grievances
Massive Anti-Government Protests Erupt in Belgrade
Trump Ends Trade Talks with Canada Over Digital Services Tax
UK Government Softens Welfare Reform Plans Amid Labour Party Rebellion
Labour Faces Rebellion Over Disability Benefit Reforms Ahead of Key Vote
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Host Lavish Wedding in Venice Amid Protests
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
North Korea to Open New Beach Resort to Boost Tourism Economy
UK Labour Party Faces Internal Tensions Over Welfare Reforms
Andrew Cuomo Hints at Potential November Comeback Amid Democratic Primary Results
Curtis Sliwa Champions His Vision for New York City Amid Rising Crime Concerns
Federal Reserve Proposes Changes to Capital Rule Affecting Major Banks
EU TO HUNGARY: LET THEM PRIDE OR PREP FOR SHADE. ORBÁN TO EU: STAY IN YOUR LANE AND FIX YOUR OWN MESS.
Trump Escalates Criticism of Media Over Iran Strike Coverage
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
Big Four Accounting Firms Fined in Exam Cheating Scandal
NATO Members Agree to 5% Defense Spending Target by 2035
Australia's Star Casino Secures $195 Million Rescue Package Amid Challenges
UK to Enhance Nuclear Capabilities with Acquisition of F-35A Fighter Jets
×