Diplo fans can now buy Gold, Platinum, or Diamond tokens. These tokens can be used to secure a share of future royalties or, in certain cases, Diplo access.
Another sign that blockchain is revolutionizing the music industry is Diplo’s release of “Don’t Forget My Love”, a three-time Grammy winner. This single will be released next Tuesday on royal. A site that allows artists to sell tokens which give fans ownership rights in their songs.
Diplo joins star Nas, and two independent musicians, who have issued tokens to Royal, which was created by DJ 3LAU to allow artists to use blockchain technology to build new relationships with their fans and tap into crypto-based revenue streams.
Fans will have the opportunity to listen to Diplo’s new single on Royal, and also to buy one of the three tiers tokens that entitle them to ownership of the song. This will allow them to share future royalties, as well as potentially flip the token for a profit.
The first tier will offer 2000 “Gold” tokens, which are priced at $99 and allow owners to receive 0.004% streaming royalties from Diplo’s song. Fans can also purchase 100 “Platinum” tokens for $999 to get 0.05% of royalties. A $9,999 “Diamond” tier offers 0.7% royalties.
Additionally, the respective tokens offer a variety of perks such as access to Discord for Gold token holders and in-person meetings from Diplo for Diamond token holders.
Justin Blau (aka 3LAU) says tokens are a fundamental shift in the economics and business of the music industry. Historically, artists have been left behind or placed at the mercy of unscrupulous middlemen.
Blau spoke with Decrypt and stated that tokens offer artists unprecedented opportunities to connect with their fans. This includes creating a shared economic artist through their work.
Royal tokens can technically be considered NFTs. However, Royal has decided to minimize the term and refer to the tokens instead as ” limited Digital Assets.”
Blau says that this is partly due to the fact that NFTs are traditionally viewed as visual artifacts to display and collect. However, songs don’t fit into the traditional NFT concept. Although it is possible to create an NFT to point to an audio file using the NFT, Blau says that due to the complexity of music copyright it is difficult to assign real rights to the NFT without creating legal tripswires.
Blau believes that the true value of owning a Royal token does not come from being a collector’s piece, but rather as an actual piece of ownership in the song that the fan shares with him.
