Spotify is drawing up plans to add blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens to its streaming service, fuelling excitement in the crypto and music industries about the potential of NFTs to boost artists’ earnings.
Two recent job ads show Spotify is recruiting people to work on early-stage projects related to “Web3”, a tech buzzword for a blockchain-powered network that some crypto enthusiasts hope will wrestle control back from the Big Tech platforms that dominate today’s internet.
Spotify is the latest tech giant to venture into NFTs and head off potential competition from crypto start-ups. This week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the FT’s report earlier this year that Instagram would soon start to support NFTs. Other social media companies, including Twitter and Reddit, are also working to build new features for displaying or trading NFTs.
NFTs use blockchain technology to certify ownership of digital assets. The vast majority of the $17.7bn worth of NFTs traded last year were for visual artworks, games and collectibles, according to market tracker Nonfungible.com.
But even as the frothy NFT market has shown signs of deceleration in recent weeks, many in the crypto industry have tipped music as a breakout new application for NFTs this year. That could include selling digital albums or using NFTs to unlock perks at gigs, from merchandise to backstage passes.
The use of NFTs in the music industry will allow artists to be paid more fairly as well as generate more income by selling digital albums and NFTs for exclusive and backstage content, merch and unreleased music.