This week’s Web3 Wrap includes Nina, a new player in the music NFT ecosystem, Royal’s monumental $55 million fundraise, new NFT announcements from The Game, Cypress Hill, and Death Row Records, a four-track EP of alternate versions from Haich Ber Na on Catalog, and more.
Dive into the wrap below.
NFT Music Marketplace and Streaming Platform Nina Closes its First Week
Last week, Nina, a new NFT marketplace and streaming platform, launched.
Nina is “a new infrastructure to buy, sell and stream music online,” built on the Solana protocol with Arweave support. Nina takes no cuts from the sales of the NFTs on the platform, although, artists pay a one-time fee when uploading, which “handles Solana and Arweave’s transaction and storage cost.” When uploading, artists get to choose the price, edition size, and the percentage cut they will receive from sales on the secondary market, and owners of a record can resell the record on the secondary market, from which Nina takes a 1.5% cut, paid by the seller. All NFTs can be streamed on the platform for free.
In its first week, the platform had over 43 releases minted from artists such as Container, Imaginary Softwoods, Torn Hawk, Helm, Gobby, Bergonist, Teen Daze, and many more. So far, 1207 sales have been made from 174 unique collectors with $3215.27 going direct to the artists.
You can check out Nina here
Poolsuite FM Executive Member NFTs Sell Out
Popular web radio service Poolsuite FM today sold out its inaugural NFT drop.
The NFT drop offered “Executive Member” cards and represented the platform’s transition to a Web3 institution under the name Poolsuite Internet Leisure Corporation. If you were a buyer, you are considered a founding member of The Poolsuite and, according to the microsite, Poolsuite will show you “an exceptional time throughout your membership and shower you with perks and gratitude commensurate with your status as a founding member.” NFT-holder perks include early access to projects and tokens, a VIP version of the popular Poolsuite streaming app, and member’s merchandise, with more member announcements reportedly on the way.
You can check out the project here.
Rap Icons The Game, Death Row Records, and Cypress Hill Announce NFT Drops
This week, rap icons The Game, Cypress Hill, and Death Row Records announced and released NFT drops.
The three drops each offer a different perspective of the NFT space, and are released with different partners, including Death Row Records’ Crypto.com release, celebrating the label’s 30th anniversary with seven exclusive NFTs inspired by Snoop Dog’s 1993 album, Doggystyle, and designed by Flux88 and TillaVision’s Lil Bitcoin; The Game lands on OneOf with Run The Game, featuring two sets of card collectibles—a gold and platinum version are available—and within each are All-Star, Compton, and Teardrop cards; and finally, Cypress Hill’s drop with Unblocked, which offers the opportunity to buy NFTs that are directly linked to fan experiences, and unique collectibles for fans that can’t attend IRL experiences.
Haich Ber Na Drops Four New NFTs on Catalog
Electronic polymath Haich Ber Na has released four new NFTs on Catalog.
Following on from his first Catalog single and NFT, “The Last Time I Saw You,” which sold for 0.5 ETH two weeks ago, the new NFTs are all alternative versions of tracks from his recent EP From Then Til Now, which dropped in February of this year. Haich Ber Na showcases his range across the four cuts, which range from the heads-down groove of “0594 Help” (Night Time Version) and its stripped-back lo-fi “Instrumental” to the beautiful pop stylings of “TODAY” (Demo) and “Think About It (MTMBO Remix).
You can check out the full drop here.
Royal Raises $55 Million
NFT startup Royal announced this week that it had secured $55 million in a new fundraising round.
Launched earlier this year by Justin Blau (a.k.a. 3LAU), Royal is an NFT-backed platform that allows fans to invest in artists by purchasing ownership in tracks, which they can, in turn, earn royalties from. In a Medium post, Royal announced that it closed a $55 million Series A round led by a16z, which included investment from artists Nas, Disclosure, and Logic, as well as venture funds Crush Music, Coinbase Ventures, and Paradigm, among others.
In the announcement, Royal also reports rapid growth, noting it has had over 120,000 sign-ups since announcing in August. It also goes on to detail the platform’s first use case, which last month saw 3LAU give away 333 royal NFTs that represented 50% of the streaming royalties for “Worst Case,” his latest single. Royal goes on to state that the song had “reached an implied value of over $6 million with fans holding half of the value, and the tokens have traded over $650,000 in secondary market volume, showing how an open market values ownership in music royalties.”
You can read the full announcement here.
What to Join and Who to Follow:
Buildspace: Web3 developer and general learning resource. The Discord is also a great place to learn.
shl0ms: shadowy artist and designer.
Mint Fund: community-owned initiative with an aim to empower artists from underrepresented communities in the NFT space.
Hvdson: producer, NFT artist, and Catalog developer.
Sound.xyz: platform building fan and artist connections, launching soon.
Jen Stark: renowned multimedia artist.
