What is the charm of Sound.xyz, the leader of the music NFT track, led by a16z?

Author: Golden Finance, Climber

On July 12, foreign media reported that Sound.xyz, a Web3 music NFT platform, had completed its Series A financing of US$20 million in February this year. This round of financing was led by a16z, with participation from singer Snoop Dogg, artist and producer Ryan Tedder, and Sound Ventures led by actor Ashton Kutcher. The investment lineup can be described as full of cards.

The disclosure of this financing information has been delayed for nearly five months. It can be seen that Sound.xyz and major investors are not eager to take advantage of this benefit to capture the early market value of the project, but to improve the project's functions and services in a low-key manner, intending to capture the music NFT track Bigger cake.

As early as December 2021, Sound.xyz had received a $5 million seed round led by a16z. Since its development, it has become a leader in the music NFT track project. So, why can Sound.xyz continue to be favored by a16z and major investors? How does it play with Web3 music NFT?

Sound.xyz Introduction

Sound.xyz is a Web3 music NFT platform that supports Ethereum and Optimism. It mainly helps creators earn income by making music into NFTs. Listeners can also buy and sell these NFTs to earn income.

According to statistics, 90% of the traffic in the Web2 music industry flows to the top 1% of artists, which means that most music creators have not been fully discovered. Additionally, many artists earn only about $0.003 per song, making it difficult for many talented artists to make a living from their music.

In this context, the emergence of Sound.xyz will eliminate intermediaries in the music industry that rob musicians of their interests, directly connect creators and listeners, and maximize the value exchange of talents and rewards.

So, as the official Sound.xyz said, Sound is a music platform without middlemen: a set of web3 native music and economic tools to provide motivation and benefits for the next generation of artists and their communities.

Specifically, Sound.xyz is giving artists the chance to debut new music in the form of a set of NFTs. Each version of the NFT is uniquely numbered, so listeners can show their early support on social platforms.

Every Sound NFT is not just a song. NFT supporters who own the song can post public comments on the song, but once the NFT is sold, the comments will disappear and be replaced by new commenters.

Since its initial investment in 2021, Sound.xyz has recruited over 500 artists who have earned over $5.5 million in primary sales and secondary royalties.

Features and Functions:

On Sound.xyz, songs are free to stream and users can curate their own playlists. Artists can showcase songs alongside a series of limited-edition NFTs that listeners can collect directly from creators and post public comments on songs they own.

Open to all artists, Sound.xyz allows users to distribute music at a price of their choice, sell directly to their personal community, and receive instant payout funding.

Usually, streaming platforms do not give artists a deep understanding of their fan base, but on Sound.xyz, based on the information already on the chain, creators can see exactly who their earliest and most loyal fans are.

In terms of revenue acquisition, Sound.xyz also has instant payment and song split functions, and the generated revenue can be directly deposited into the creator's wallet. Unlike the traditional music industry, where royalties can take months or even years to reach an account, at Sound.xyz it happens instantly and without a middleman.

By Sound.xyz**,**Artists can:

· Upload songs on-chain and keep creative ideas of what music to release, and decide how to order their music catalog.

· Fully control the relationship with the audience, without middlemen, creators are their own brokers.

· Instant, accurate and transparent payments every time fans collect their songs.

· Artists receive 100% of revenue and retain 100% ownership and publishing rights.

Again, as Sound.xyz web site and mobile app music fans can:

· Discover the hottest new music from emerging independent artists.

· Collect music to prove yourself to be the first to spot the next Billie Eilish.

· Let other listeners see your support by leaving permanent comments on favorite songs.

· Gain access to group chats with artists and other collectors, as well as other rewards and experiences.

· Earn money by making playlists and sharing links to your favorite songs.

Every Sound.xyz listener can be a builder of music, whether by collecting music or making playlists, and fans are rewarded for actively participating in the ecosystem and seeding other listeners. Meanwhile, on Sound.xyz, music lovers can also be credited for discovering new music.

In addition, Sound.xyz has also launched a creator editing function, and artists can now edit their works freely after uploading music.

Creators who would like to edit their own version of the music can navigate to their song page or "Your Version", click the ellipses (...), and then click "Edit Version".

then:

↳ Change song media and details, metadata or rewards ↳ Add/remove collaborators for a post, or change the split percentage ↳ Edit Drop's configuration (start time, price, duration of Open Drop or fixed version availability)

Once done, review the changes and click "Update" to sign the transaction to finalize the changes.

Charging Mode**:**

Each artist (not the platform) sets the terms of their relationship with backers through a unique, customizable digital item backed by smart contracts. By unlocking new web3-native revenue opportunities, Sound.xyz economically enables artists to bypass traditional intermediaries and retain the majority of revenue without sacrificing distribution.

And just on July 6, Sound.xyz made changes to the platform charging model, and artists can get 100% of the income generated by their music NFT distribution.

Sound.xyz did away with percentage-based minting fees (5% for starters and 2.5% for Sound Swap) and instead charged collectors a small minting fee per transaction. That is to say, the platform will charge a fixed fee of 0.0007 ETH for each transaction of the collector, but no matter whether the collector mint 1 version or 100 versions, the required fee is fixed. Doing so would incentivize collectors to collect multiple editions without fear of prohibitive cost.

For artists, this means that every dollar they make goes straight into their wallets.

Comparison of old and new charging models:

Old:

· 5% of the primary minting fee, borne by the artist

2.5% of the Sound Swap minting fee, borne by the artist

new mode:

· Collectors pay a fixed fee of 0.0007 ETH per transaction.

· Artists receive 100% of income from their work.

Sound no longer charges 5% to Junior Mint Artists

Sound will no longer charge a 2.5% fee on Sound Swap minting starting July 7, 2023

Conclusion

In the past year or two, music NFTs have not gained as much popularity as PFP NFTs. This is partly due to the fact that NFT or Web3 music is still an early market and application. Most music NFT platforms are biased towards the e-commerce model (e-commerce), which makes the Web3 ownership and transaction (or circulation) of music NFT The two core concepts have not been fully extended. And music has a higher barrier to entry than pictures, so how to get more fans to participate in music NFT is very important.

Although Sound.xyz is a music publishing platform, from the above introduction, we can find that it is trying its best to draw in the relationship between creators and collectors in terms of content creation and interactive gameplay. In addition, in terms of income, the platform is also trying its best to downplay the costs incurred in the creation and circulation of various music NFTs, and instead try its best to provide content creators with the maximum value income.