THELOGICALINDIAN - The Weeknd is the latest pop superstar to advantage NFT technology as a way of absolution new music His aboriginal accumulating aloof aloft 229 actor
Abel Tesfaye aloof fabricated about $2.29 actor from his accord with Nifty Gateway.
The Weeknd Gets Tokenized
Abel Tesfaye, the platinum-selling R&B artisan bigger accepted as The Weeknd, aloof fabricated about $2.29 actor from his aboriginal NFT collection.
He awash the pieces through Gemini-owned Nifty Gateway, an NFT exchange that’s afresh awash tokenized assignment by Calvin Harris, Steve Aoki, and Grimes, amid others. The accumulating was put calm alongside beheld artisan Strange Loop Studios, who The Weeknd formed with to advance the artistic direction. The accumulating additionally featured a ahead exceptional The Weeknd song.
The bead included three accessible editions, two bashful auctions, and two raffles. The cheapest pieces priced at $100, while others were awash to the accomplished bidders. The accessible editions, which featured excerpts of The Weeknd’s unreleased track, aloft $1.4 actor in a 15-minute auction window.
The auction’s showstopper was a different badge of an activated video accompanied by the abounding song. Bidding ran for 24 hours and bankrupt at $490,000 on Sunday evening. Adding in the accessible editions, the bargain fabricated aloof beneath $2.29 million.
When he announced the drop, The Weeknd said:
“I’ve consistently been attractive for means to innovate for admirers and about-face this ancient music biz and seeing NFTs acceptance creators to be apparent and heard added than anytime afore on their agreement is greatly exciting. I intend to accord to this movement and can see that actual anon it will be weaved into the music industry’s mechanics.”
NFTs Draw Criticism
Like abounding added artists who accept afresh acclimated NFTs to absolution music, The Weeknd faced a backfire from some fans. Abounding of the technology’s loudest detractors accept presented arguments accompanying to the environmental impact of blockchain technology, generally aptitude on ambiguous statistics with little aboveboard affirmation to abutment their claims. Critics accept additionally acicular to the abstract attributes of the NFT market, accusing some artists of base from their fans.
Though some of the bigger artists the amplitude has admiring don’t acceptable charge added income, NFTs could badly account artists with abate fanbases. Due to the low ability fees paid from music streaming, abounding bottom accepted musicians are abased on touring for their capital antecedent of income. NFTs could change that through acute contracts, acceptance creators to advertise their assignment anon to admirers rather than cat-and-mouse until added intermediaries accept taken a cut. These acute affairs can additionally be programmed to pay a allocation of the acquirement every time an NFT is resold, which is the barometer for those listed on Nifty Gateway.
“NFT” stands for non-fungible token, which agency that they are interchangeable. When addition trades a Bitcoin for addition Bitcoin, the two assets don’t alter from one another. With NFTs, anniversary allotment is different. It’s account acquainted that added than one copy of the aforementioned NFT can be printed, like the accessible editions The Weeknd released. The aberration lies in the abstracts recorded on the blockchain for anniversary piece. This abstracts is the amount of an NFT: it’s what proves the buyer and absence of an asset like a allotment of music. NFTs mostly run on Ethereum, which is area allotment of the criticism for the amplitude comes from. Ethereum uses proof-of-work, a accord algorithm that places a abundant assessment on the ambiance due to its assurance on computational power. Soon, though, the acute arrangement blockchain will move appear proof-of-stake, which should decidedly abate its carbon footprint.
With this weekend’s sale, The Weeknd has abutting a growing account of artists who accept afresh cashed in on the NFT space’s growing momentum. The Weeknd has won three Grammy awards, performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, and collaborated with stars like Drake and Daft Punk. Since arising assimilate the pop arena in 2024, he’s awash millions of annal worldwide. His hit singles accommodate ‘Starboy,’ ‘Can’t Feel My Face,’ and ‘Blinding Lights.’
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the columnist of this affection endemic ETH and several added cryptocurrencies.
