My Music NFT Playlist
Despite the initial plan when this series started on Monday, Part 5 is free for everyone. Yay! We end the series how we began. Don't worry though, paid subs, I'm keeping the artist deep dives just for you - and I have one more music NFT related post as a follow up to this one that I'll keep paywalled. It's a little data heavy. Why'd I opt to free up Part 5? Essentially because there was a pretty big announcement from Mint Songs in the middle of the week after construction of the series began.
That news was Mint Songs will be utilizing Moonpay as a fiat on-ramp. The Moonpay integration is important because it opens up the market opportunity to people who aren't crypto-native in a bigger way. I've now, obviously, unmasked Mint Songs as my chosen music NFT platform - paid subs found that out in Part 2. I've been buying music NFTs on Mint Songs for several months. I've probably spent days worth of hours listening to the music, researching the artists, analyzing the broader space, lurking on the Discord server, and writing about a lot of it here.
That brings us to now. I'll briefly elaborate on why the Moonpay integration is a big deal. I've said this before, but I'll say it again, unit pricing is critical. And while the prices on a lot of the editions on Mint Songs are very attractive compared to peers, total cost has still been an obstacle. In my opinion, what has been working against the artists on Mint Songs is the Ethereum gas fee associated with bridging ETH over to Polygon on the initial transactions. Look at this 3 year trend in average transaction fees on the Ethereum network:
$50 to move ETH? Gross. No thanks. While layer 2 networks like Polygon eliminate the gas fee from being paid on the Ethereum network every single time somebody mints an NFT, those of us buying still had to pay the gas fee upfront to bridge ETH over to Polygon. The most economical way to do this is to send large sums of ETH all at once. And, thus, the disconnect. If you only have $100 to spend on music NFTs, you can't do it. Because the total cost after ETH gas eats it up. Mint Songs NFTs are priced properly for the masses. But the masses aren't crypto native. When the non-crypto native music fan arrives on Mint Songs to buy an NFT of the artist who led them there, they quickly realize it doesn't make any sense to spend $50 to $100 to bridge over $10 to buy a music NFT. This makes onboarding an existing fanbase challenging. But if you're crypto-native already and you found the site, Mint Songs has been a friggin' gold mine of music NFT opportunity.
Moonpay fixes the initial gas fee problem because now buyers don't have to interact with the Ethereum blockchain at all. This is a big deal. There is now considerably less friction for the end users. So, now it is much easier for all of you to buy these NFTs with Moonpay. If you're interested in buying these NFTs, you'll want a Metamask wallet so you can custody assets. There's a good tutorial here that shows you how to get that setup. Without further ado, here's a list that I've been playing pretty much everyday.
I own editions of everything on this playlist
Art is subjective, obviously. And what is good to me may not be good to you. But I can confidently say I've stayed true to my approach to NFTs. I bought these tracks because I liked them. If they appreciate in value, that's great. If they don't, I'll still enjoy having them regardless and I'll know that I've supported independent artists in the process. I'll link to the Mint Songs pages for each of them below. Many of the tracks in that list have quite a few editions remaining. Some not as many. Four sold out their offerings. "Paranoia on Main Street" was a 1 of 1. Tracks that are sold out will instead link to the artist page.
50K by Alpha23
TALK by Danny Ali
$ & Problems by Samwyse
Wrong Guy by Zeke
Cherry by Jonny Lemons
Who by Elevate
Famous by Micky Blue
Tokyo Moon by AAA+
Versace by The Same Persons
I Need by capshun
Pull it Up by BASE
In My Soul by Griffter
Time Wasted by YATTE
Clay by Papi Thereso
Healing by Ayotemi
Grown Ass Kid by Benny Universe
FREE FROM MIND by SAGRADO
Old School Vibe by Deerock
Paranoia on Main Street by Demi the Daredevil
Blood Moon Voyage (Light) by FiFi Rong
This is just the beginning
This week I heard someone on a podcast describe our current position in the NFT boom as "Inning Zero." I completely agree. Just like cryptocurrencies in 2017, we need to get the speculative mania in the broad space out of the way before we can start to build real use cases. This is true in the NFT space. I believe we've had our speculative mania in NFTs and it manifested in Avatar projects. Most of those are going to crash, in my opinion. As long as digital assets remain in a bull market, 2022 will probably have a theme just like 2020 (DeFi) and 2021 (Avatars) did.
What will that theme be for the next 11 months? That's anybody's guess. Maybe Level 0 blockchains. Maybe Zero-Knowledge Proof projects. Maybe creator coins. Maybe Metaverse. Maybe gaming. Maybe music. I don't know. What I do know is we haven't even sniffed the potential for music NFTs yet and I'm convinced its going to be one of the most fun expressions of blockchain utility 10 years from now. The artists have to learn the basics. The fans have to learn with them. It's not easy and there is a learning curve. But when everybody is on the same page, look out. I tend to believe we're still at least a year or two away from that. But if music NFTs follow what we've seen in some of the other popular digital asset investment ideas, adoption is slow until it suddenly isn't.
What the future holds
I want to see music NFTs transform streaming entirely. I want to see streaming become completely decentralized. Here's the analog I envision: right now you can enter your wallet seed phrase in any wallet app and access your funds. If you have Bitcoin and you find out you don't like the user interface in Coinbase Wallet, you can import your seed phrase to Exodus, Unstoppable Domains, Edge, BRD, or countless others. Your BTC funds will be there because they aren't stored in the mobile app or in the extension. They're stored on the blockchain. How you get to them is entirely up to you. I want the music NFTs to be the same way. I want to be able to connect my Metamask wallet to a streaming platform and be able to create a playlist with the NFTs that I own. That's what I hope to see someday. I could go further with my 10 year vision, but I don't want anyone's head to explode. In time...
Here are some free NFTs to get you started
Before you jump into buying anything, download a Metamask wallet. Learn how to use it; here's that tutorial again. Add the Polygon network to your Metamask wallet; directions here. You're off to the races. Download some free NFTs from Mint Songs. Here are some links:
After you've collected some posters, pop over to Opensea.io, connect your Metemask wallet there and head over to your hidden folder. It is there that you'll find the Mint Songs posters that you claimed safe and sound. They're yours now. This process might help you figure out how some of this stuff works. Have fun and enjoy collecting. Remember, you don't need to buy Ethereum through Coinbase or any other exchange. Moonpay should allow you to buy Polygon ETH so long as your bank or credit card cooperates. The first time I tried with my Fidelity credit card it was blocked by the underwriter (Elan Financial Services). When the transaction failed, I used my BofA debit card instead and it worked fine. Some institutions don't like letting people use debt to buy magic internet money. I get it. But still. It's annoying.
Continued NFT Reading ICYMI
Disclaimer: None of this is investment advice. I’m not an investment advisor. I have no job. I live in my mother’s basement. That last part is a lie. I live in my wife’s basement. Everyone talking about NFTs could be a magic internet money charlatan, myself included. Do your own due diligence and allocate your investment capital according to your own personal risk tolerance. Digital trinkets and shitcoins are probably all going to zero. Remember: nobody cares about your personal wealth more than you do. Always consider the motivations of those who give you advice and only make decisions if they're good for you.
