The most popular indie music based NFTs

Cryptocurrency may have experienced a slow rise to prominence but its boom in the last few years have revolutionized the world around us. It has become one of the most lucrative industries in the world, with the price of digital currency reaching heights previously unimaginable. As of writing, one bitcoin is worth over $20,500 with experts predicting that number to skyrocket up to $1m by 2030. Whilst bitcoin is the original and so far, most profitable digital currency, we have now begun to see the inception of other coins as more people have come to understand the blockchain technology behind it. Now, in 2022 there are over 6000 digital coins available to buy and trade with. However, cryptocurrency is not the only way that blockchain technology has been utilized with the advent of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in recent years.

As blockchain technology has become better understood and more accessible, we have seen it used for something far removed from currency in NFTs. The roots of NFTs can be traced back to 2014, although they didn’t enter the public psyche until late 2020/early 2021. It was around this time that some of the biggest name athletes, actors and musicians in the world started putting their names behind projects.

Some of you may still be struggling to understand what exactly an NFT is, but fear not. In short ‘Non-Fungible Tokens’ are digital art pieces that hold value just like physical art. They are made using the same kind of programming as cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin or Ethereum. However, unlike currency, NFTs are non-fungible meaning they cannot be traded or exchanged for something of the same value like a bitcoin could (one for one bitcoin). This is because these tokens are totally unique. You could almost think of them as Crypto-baseball cards. A one-of-a-kind card is Non-Fungible, as you cannot trade it for an identical card, just like an NFT.

You can keep up with some of the biggest drops and projects with Draftkings’ NFT Marketplace. With five drops on a drop day, Draftkings have some of the most exciting projects in the world of NFTs, collaborating with some of the biggest athletes in the world.

NFTs have been great for some of the biggest celebrities in the world with the likes of Lebron James, Eminem and Snoop Dogg lending their name to projects and making a killing in the process. However, it is not just established stars that NFTs have helped out. Hundreds of indie music artists have used NFTs to great success. Let’s look at some of the top indie music based NFTs.

Rick Valentin

Lead singer of Indie rock band Poster Children Rick Valentin also has a solo career as Thoughts Detecting Machines in which he has forayed into NFTs. For his first collection, Valentin created 100 unique, randomized arrangements of a single song, each with similarly unique pixel artwork. Speaking of the work, Valentin said: “NFTs totally connected in my mind with conceptual art, but figuring out how it worked for music took a while. And then once everything started happening this year, it made sense from a musical perspective, too. I look at it as a digital extension of limited-edition vinyl. It’s another way of creating unique copies of something that people who want to support you can buy.”

Imogen Heap

Singer-songwriter Imogen Heap was one of the first artists to use Cryptocurrency, namely Ethereum, for music back in 2015. She recently announced a collection of NFTs formed of recordings from live sessions alongside visualizations. She has been charitable in her efforts as well with 5% of profits going towards Nori, a startup that pays farmers to reduce carbon emissions. Heap is a true trailblazer in both the indie music and NFT/crypto community, being the first person to ever make an art sale on the Ethereum block chain.

Georgia Anne Muldrow

The LA based neo-soul singer put a twist on classic NFTs when she launched a token that also gifts the buyer a physical piece of art in the form of a signed print of the cover art for her album VWETO III. She has also been extremely charitable with this project with 50% of the proceeds going towards Critical Resistance, an advocacy group against the prison-industrial complex.

Nadya Tolokonnikova Member of the legendary protest group/punk rock band Pussy Riot, Nadya Tolokonnikova surprised some when she announced a four-part NFT series. The first token, released in conjunction with Pussy Riot’s “Panic Attack” music video, went for an eye watering $187,000. They have used this money to raise funds for a number of causes including a women’s refuge shelter for victims of domestic abuse. Speaking of the foray into crypto, Tolokonnikova said “For us, it’s important to have some power, and in this world, power partly comes from owning some financial means…So NFTs partly answer tha