Important NFT platform for musicians: BandNFTs, the new venture from Band Royalty

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The Band Royalty ecosystem unveiled its latest creation, BandNFTs. An NFT marketplace akin to OpenSea or Rarible, but for digital assets that contain music or video files, i.e. music NFTs. With this new product, BAND comes one step closer to freeing the music industry from its shackles. Plus, it comes one step closer to linking the public with their favorite artists in a win-win relationship. Keep reading to find out exactly how the company accomplishes these goals. 

I interviewed BAND’s founder Barnaby Andersun In a recent Cryptonized episode. He also happens to be the CEO of BlockAlchemy, a blockchain, ecommerce and digital design consulting firm. Andersun enthusiastically explained the complexities of Band Royalty and BandNFTs, and the different tokens and NFTs that the public can use to participate and earn in the ecosystem.

According to BAND’s whitepaper, the system is “designed to empower all the stakeholders involved in creating music, from the performing artists, songwriters, engineers, labels, and businesses that have collaborated to make the magic of music.” Not only that, they promise it will be “governed by the artists and their communities of fans.” BAND “re-imagines the income streams of royalties earned from music, bringing everyone closer together around the music they love.”

In the following text, we’ll use Band Royalty’s official texts to simply explain what the $RYLT tokens are, how the governance model works, and, more importantly, how to stake NFTs to earn royalties. As the whitepaper states, “The intention is for a world-class decentralized music royalties system, accountable to all participants such that it cannot be corrupted and is genuinely for the community.”

We’ll also explain how to participate in the BandNFTs project, an NFT platform that uses the core mechanics of DeFi to interact with the whole BAND ecosystem.

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Everything about Band NFTs and its revolutionary multi-track music NFTs

In time, “any musician will be able to launch and mint their own music NFTs for sale.” To begin with, though, BandNFTs is periodically launching curated music in NFT form. The first drop was YouTube superstar Andie Case’s “I Think I’m God.” It consists of a total supply of 777 copies, each one costs 0.03 ETH. Checkout the site to listen to Andie’s single and the following drops.

It’s important to note that these particular NFTs are only collectibles and don’t give you royalty rights over the song. However, per the whitepaper, “when you stake a BAND NFT, you gain access to the royalties from all songs in the BAND Royalty music catalog.“ More on that catalog later. Also remember that, as with art-based NFTs, if the artist catches fire, the price of the NFT should increase.

Then, there’s the multi-track aspect of these drops. All of the other NFTs in the market have “a single MP3 or MP4” attached to them. In this platform’s case, BAND promises, “we have cracked the code that enables multiple MP3 files that you can move through, and select whichever track you want to play from a list of tracks all in one NFT.” That simple twist can make all the difference in the world.

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Everything about Band Royalty, the heart of the ecosystem

The first thing you need to know is that “BAND was able to acquire a performance royalty catalog of top songs, sung by multi-platinum artists worldwide and we are in the process of acquiring more.” According to the whitepaper, the catalog features “tracks performed from some of the biggest names in music, including Beyonce, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Cher, will.i.am, Timbaland, Missy Elliott & Rihanna.”

These artists are NOT associated with Band Royalty in the slightest, but you can earn passive income from the royalties their songs produce. How does it work? You have to buy a BR1-NFT and stake it in one of the catalog’s royalty pools. As with most DeFi platforms, your staking generates yield. “The core difference with Band Royalty, is that this passive yield comes from real outside money, from a real-world industry = music royalties.”

Unlike other NFTs, the BR1-NFTs generate instant utility. According to the FAQ, “As the BAND Royalty music catalogs grow, so does the royalty income stream, and so does the 50% royalty payout.” Since all of this varies, BAND can’t guarantee a specific ROI. However, they will provide statistics and real world data that can guide you on what to expect.

Remember that, “simply owning a BAND NFT does not automatically grant you access to these top-tier music artist royalty pools, nor are any music royalty rights transferred to or shared with BAND NFT buyers. The only way to access royalty revenue is to put one of your BAND NFTs into one of these music royalty pools and activate the staking of your BAND NFTs.”

It’s important that you know that owning the NFTs doesn’t mean that you own the song or their royalties. Nonetheless, you will get paid. In the FAQ, BAND explains, “This revenue comes in from streaming and publishing. We work with top industry administrators who collect these streaming and publishing royalties on our behalf. These include major royalty collectors ASCAP and BMI, plus others from around the world.”

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The three different tokens and governance

We already mentioned the BR1-NFT, from which there will be 3,000 units. According to the whitepaper, it’s “an ERC721 non-fungible token used to register access to the Music Mogul Club, which can then earn the holder exclusive NFTs, rewards, perks, as well as the mining of BSTAGE governance tokens.” 

The users will get every reward in $RYLT tokens. These are, “a non-refundable ERC20 fungible token with social utility across the entire BAND ecosystem, used as the medium of exchange between participants on the BAND Royalty platform in a decentralized manner.” In other words, it’s the ecosystem’s native currency.

Then, there’s $BSTAGE. This one is “an ERC20 fungible governance token created to assist the decentralized growth of the BAND Royalty ecosystem.” How does the governance work? Here’s an example, “BSTAGE holders have the power to remove NFTs listed for sale that contradicts community guidelines from the marketplace.” That participation, in turn, “will deliver back to the owner of the BSTAGE a share in the NFT trading fees earned from the entire BANDnft.com marketplace, paid in RYLT.”

It all comes full circle. 

Last but not least, you should know that, “The initial offer of RYLT tokens will be limited to a maximum of 75,000 token holders, with a total of 75M minted RYLT tokens. All RYLT token holders and their tokens are fully identified to comply with KYC and AML regulations.” So, take that into consideration. Also, even though you can use ETH throughout the Band Royalty ecosystem, if you choose to use the $RYLT token you’ll pay less fees and earn different rewards. 

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Get in early if you believe

The BAND ecosystem already has two promising products out there, however, the project is still in its opening stages. If everything you read sounds good and you believe that they can revolutionize the music industry, it would make sense to invest early and learn how everything works before the masses discover it.

The whitepaper puts it best, “a system with no gatekeepers or intermediaries of musicians’ distribution of songs and the collection of their royalties. No more monopoly streaming platforms that control how the money flows. No more milking artists and paying them fractions of a penny for each play.”

Does it sound like something you’d want to be a part of? Or is it too good to be true?

The choice is yours.