by Abhimanyu Malhotra, The Sonic Arts Co.
NFTs & the Indian Music Industry
O
nce every 2 or 3 decades, a piece of technology comes along which drastically alters the shape of our industry. Right from the advent of the 2 track recorder, to 16 tracks, to digital consoles, to cassette tapes, compact discs and digital streaming - all these forms of technology have brought with them a degree of change which has required the industry to adapt to a new way of thinking and operating. The latest and possibly the most disruptive in this series of game-changing technology is the birth of block chain and what is called ‘NFT’, or a ‘non-fungible token’, which is in essence a public and decentralized record of ownership of an asset that can be verified in a completely transparent manner. The very nature of block chain brings transparency to the ownership of copyrights, and is about the shift of power from a central authority back to the creators of the content. It empowers creators to reach fans directly and eliminate the need for middlemen, whether it be record labels, publishing companies, distributors etc. It disrupts traditional industry to pave the way for something more directs, transparent and most of all, fair. It also enables fans to own a piece of work from an artist and till now the co-ownership of creative assets has always been out of reach for music fans. In a country where the systems of copyright control have long suffered due to abuse of power, the introduction of NFTs can shake things up. NFTs also have a potential to increase the following of an artist and bring more exposure to their content which resides on a digital streaming platform through populating their credentials on the digital ecosystem. This index is directly proportional to popularity, and as fans become co-investors in content, the word spreads like wildfire, and creates value for both, the fans
January July - August - February 2021 2020
and the content creators. NFTs can also help safeguard the tremendous value erosion in the content industry which all artists are subject to. Content which gets lost in the vastness of the internet will now have measurable scarcity, traceable value and proof of ownership. The Indian music Industry is a follower of global trends, and so it is only a matter of time before we see the
Ethereum, a currency which converted to roughly INR 1.5 crore at the time of sale. This made him a record holder in terms of Indian-origin musicians who have sold their music on the block chain. NFTs are creating a new paradigm of patronage at a time when earning music royalties is a frustrating and highly convoluted route, and live touring is still down for the count due
The very nature of block chain brings transparency to the ownership of copyrights and is about the shift of power from a central authority back to the creators of the content. It empowers creators to reach fans directly and eliminate the need for middlemen, whether it be record labels, publishing companies, distributors, etc. It disrupts traditional industry to pave the way for something more direct, transparent, and most of all, fair. It also enables fans to own a piece of work from an artist and till now the co-ownership of creative assets has always been out of reach for music fans.
major music studios and artists follow in the footsteps of Eminem, Deadmau5, Bappi Lahiri, Imogen Heap and more. Artists such as these have pioneered the demonstration of the future of fancommerce through the implementation of content through NFTs. Some of the main gateways for NFT sales and ownership include WazirX, Opensea and Rarible. In fact in late April of this year, a Singaporean-Tamil entrepreneur Vignesh Sundaresan purchased an NFT of Tamil singer-composer Kaber Vasuki’s 2012 demo version of a song called Vasanam. He bought it for 50
READ
to the pandemic. Hundreds of Indian artists have started issuing NFTs on the platforms mentioned above, and most of them are just testing the waters. They still need to understand how to drive perceived value and what it actually is that connects a tentative buyer with a particular NFT - is it emotion, is it representative of the intangible connection that we all feel with music and art? As more and more artists catch wind of this, the more we as a community can learn about this disruptive technology and how to harness it in the coming years.
00 20
January - February 2020