Today I would like to share some thoughts about Audio NFTs and some of my favorite ones so farā¦
Iām particularly excited about them because decentralization, remote connections, financial incentives for creators and fans, and many more elements unlocked by the blockchain and smart contracts could disrupt the music industry.
What are audio NFTs?
Well, anything related to sounds, music, tunes, audiovisuals, podcasts, or even videos. Weāve seen visual artists successfully exploring NFTs and building careers, but we havenāt seen that many āaudioā artists (is that a thing?) exploring the medium.
Here is a short list of artists pushing the boundaries in this art form. There are many more, but these caught my attention for one reason or anotherā¦
ZIGGURATS by Mike Shinoda
You probably know Mike from his rock band, Linkin Park. Last year, he dropped one of the first generative mixtapes + PFP projects called the ZIGGURATS. You can listen to the mixtape on Spotify.
The project was a great success, but of course, it was powered by Mike's track record and die-hard fansā¦ like me, I minted 3.
Agoria (SĆ©bastien Devaud) is an electronic music producer who has released five albums with both major Universal Music, Virgin, and indie labels Pias.
More recently, he has been captivated by Biological generative art.
I look for the immanence of the living into the code, especially in the {Compend-AI} series. The difficult part was to capture a human generative process that couldnāt be questioned. For a year I traveled capturing human gesture repetitions, in order to build my own precise database. It has been a long and exciting walk where the poster maker appears as evidence. I followed them a lot and I captured all remnants on the walls everywhere in the world, my DJ tour helped a lot here! Itās one of the most incredible human generative processes. First, it questions the culture we are constantly sold, close to Jacques Villegle or Raymond Heins works. Second, the remnants on the walls are the perfect results of the equation. The perfect iterations of our Biological Generative life.
{Compend-AI- X} 2022 #3 by Agoria - audio and animated AI artwork
Jburn has released Audio NFTs for a year. He produces a mix of hip-hop and lo-fi vibes and constantly makes collabs with visual artists and other musicians. His multiple collabs highlight another significant advantage of Audio NFTs: the automatic royal split between creators.
Glamour by Jburn, art by Adeliasvaa
Synesthesia has been producing abstract audio art using frequencies as input.
Translating audio frequencies into the fabric of the Universe. Abstract Audio Art.
You can claim the audio part if you own the visual NFT at his website.
Etienne de Crecy is a DJ originally from France. He has been creating music since 1993.
Although he hasnāt released many Audio NFTs (as far as I know), it is great to see established music artists jumping into the NFT world and exploring the possibilities of this medium.
DON'T THINK by Etienne de Crecy (generative coded collection on FxHash)
Poetics by Laurence Fueller & Company
This unique collection involves 19 artists - Laurence Fueller narrates the different pieces, while audio/visual artists collaborate to create stunning graphics and sounds.
False Prophets II by Laurence Fueller & Alonerone
Poetics are the shadows of art, wether visual or in language, they are the realm of mystery, weaving stories behind the vaunted spectacle.
Full lineup: Kopfgestaltung, goldcat, Tania Rivilis, Alonerone, Von Doyle, Val Kilmer, jopfe, Jenni Pasanen, agoria, Victoria West, Cynthia San Luis, 3dlyfer, Henrikaau, AD_AD, mihaigrecu, Mathijs, David Cheifetz, RubenFro.
Abel Okugawa has been releasing mixtapes, cinematic sound experiences, and AudioVisual Art as NFTs for a long time. You can find all his releases on his website.
816MIX Vinyl #1/10 by Abel Akugawa - Listen on OpenSea
I think visual and audio strike differently, and it takes more time to ādiggestā audio than just visuals. When you see an art piece (trad art, generative art, ai art, etc.), you form an opinion rather quickly. If you donāt like it, thatās it; you move on to something else.
In the case of audio, letās say a song, you need to listen to it multiple times before forming an opinion (most of the time). This is one of the reasons audio NFTs need more time to develop.
If you are an audiovisual artist or producer, or you would like to collect this kind of NFTs, you might be interested in Echo - a new Audio NFT platform launching soon on Tezos.
Sign up to the waiting list to get the launch airdrop and stay up with updates šø
Until next time,
- Kaloh
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