Quick take:
- The NFT album will be the first new format added to the UK charts since 2015.
- Muse’s NFT album will be priced at £20, limited to 1,000 copies globally.
- Buyers will receive a downloadable version of the NFT album digitally signed by the band.
British rock band, Muse, will release an NFT version of its ninth album, ‘Will of the People’, on August 26. It will be the first release of its kind and the first new format to qualify for the official UK and Australia charts since album streams in 2015.
The album will be sold on Polygon-based “eco-friendly” NFT platform, Serenade, which recently raised $4.2 million last month, backed by Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman. The platform was founded and run by Australian tech entrepreneur, Max Shand, who’s aiming to build a “genre-agnostic music NFT marketplace.”
When released, Muse’s NFT album will be sold at £20 ($24.50), limited to 1,000 copies globally. Buyers will receive a downloadable version of the NFT album as hi-res FLAC files, with a different album sleeve digitally signed by the band. Each of the 1,000 buyers will also have their names permanently listed on the linked roster of purchasers.
Buyers are not required to set up a standalone crypto wallet to buy the NFT album. After purchasing the album on Serenade, it will be transferred to a digital wallet automatically created on the site. However, buyers can also use their existing Bitcoin or Ethereum wallet to store the album.
According to The Guardian, Warner Records, the label that Muse is signed to, had been in talks with Serenade for several months about releasing an NFT album. However, this is not Muse’s first entrance into the NFT space. In 2020, CryptoKitties and Warner Music collaborated to release NFTs inspired by the band. Last year, Muse’s frontman Matt Bellamy released three new songs as NFTs.
Warner Music Group and Warner Records UK have also been onboarding artists to Web3 with NFT and blockchain gaming partnerships as well as free NFT drops.
“Muse have always been at the forefront of technological innovation and were one of the first music artists to pioneer in Web3 back in 2020. Their fans have an appetite for collectible rarities and this format brings them closer to Muse than ever before, propelling them into a new space and offering an entirely unique experience,” said Sebastian Simone, Vice President, Audience & Strategy of Warner Records UK.
The UK’s Official Charts Company (OCC) made NFT albums eligible for the charts since April but Muse’s release is the first that meets the entry criteria, with Serenade being approved as a chart-return digital retailer. According to data by NFTGo, the market cap of music NFTs is $102 million.
“As a simple, standardised and chart eligible format, Digital Pressings will be a gamechanger on the global stage, and we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without the support of the visionary teams at Warner Records and the Official Charts Company, who all want to give artists every opportunity to bring creativity and innovation into their campaigns,” said Serenade founder, Max Shand. “I have always been a huge fan of Muse, so I am beyond excited that they will be the first artist to release a Digital Pressing with Serenade.”
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