Even through the bear market, FTX imploding, and NFT volumes being down 95%, crypto music had a good year. This is a roundup of the biggest crypto music news stories of 2022. 

Warner Music Group and LGND to Collaborate on Polygon Music NFT Releases

Warner Music Group has announced a multi-year partnership with LGND Music, a Web3 music startup and the Ethereum sidechain network, to release music NFTs on LGND's upcoming Polygon-based marketplace. Set to launch in January, LGND Music will provide an online platform where fans can purchase and listen to NFTs of songs from Warner Music Group artists and other digital collectibles from musicians. LGND will offer desktop and mobile apps for interacting with the NFTs, similar to the iTunes experience for Web3. Additionally, LGND will support music NFTs from other platforms.

Fractionalized Music Royalty Platforms Royal.io and AnotherBlock Launch Music NFTs

Royal and AnotherBlock led the way in the fractionalized music royalty industry. Royal, which has released NFTs in partnership with Diplo, Nas, The Chainsmokers, Vérité, Elephante, and 3LAU, is adding Bingo Players and Zookëper to its roster of artists as part of its marketplace launch. In addition, AnotherBlock has released NFTs representing royalty shares on tracks by The Weeknd, Laidback Luke, R3hab, Alan Walker, and Offset. These NFTs grant buyers a percentage of the royalties generated by the artist's songs on streaming services when purchased.

Coachella NFTs Get Stuck on FTX

Coachella, a famous music festival, made headlines in February when it announced its partnership with FTX US and released 10 lifetime festival passes as NFTs. The move was seen as a significant step in the mainstream adoption of Web3 and the practical use of digital assets. In addition to the lifetime passes, Coachella also released various other NFT collectibles. However, some users in the Coachella Discord server have reported after the exchange failure that they cannot transfer their purchased NFTs from their FTX wallets, and others have stated that the NFTs in their self-custody wallets are not displaying the associated artwork. Discord moderators have said that the issue may be related to FTX's server, which hosts the artwork for the NFTs, being down.

Snoop Dogg and Eminem Make Crypto Music News After VMA Metaverse Performance

Rap icons Eminem and Snoop Dogg made their debut performance of "From the D 2 the LBC" at the MTV Video Music Awards in a virtual, metaverse-hosted event featuring the popular NFT series, Bored Ape Yacht Club. Despite the uniqueness of the performance, NFT critics took to social media to express their dislike for the event. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital tokens linked to unique content that provide proof of ownership and are often considered status symbols, with some selling for thousands of dollars. The Bored Ape collection has a current market capitalization of $1.2 billion and continues to make inroads into Web3 music, according to Dappradar.

In Summary

Crypto music had a successful year despite the bear market and declining NFT volumes. Some of the biggest crypto music news stories of 2022 include: Warner Music Group partnering with LGND Music to release music NFTs on the Polygon-based marketplace, fractionalized music royalty platforms Royal and AnotherBlock launching music NFTs, Coachella releasing lifetime festival passes as NFTs on FTX, and Eminem and Snoop Dogg performing in a virtual, metaverse-hosted event featuring the popular NFT series, Bored Ape Yacht Club.

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