Sony’s blockchain platform Soneium has launched its first-ever music NFT assortment, that includes unreleased tracks from Tokyo-based producer NUU$HI in collaboration with Web3 label Coop Data.
The gathering, hosted on Sonova, Soneium’s NFT market, is priced at 0.000777 ETH ($2.11), operating till the tip of the month, with roughly 124 out of 999,999 NFTs minted to date.
Soneium, an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain developed by subsidiary Sony Block Options Labs, has positioned itself as a platform for digital content material distribution, although adoption stays in its early phases.
In the meantime, Coop Data, based by crypto entrepreneur Cooper Turley, has beforehand introduced over 600 songs on-chain, working with artists equivalent to Zeds Useless, San Holo, and Barry Can’t Swim.
The label promotes NFT-based music possession as a substitute for conventional trade fashions regardless of Web3 music monetization failing to succeed in sustained mainstream adoption.
Music NFTs face market hurdles
Turley has beforehand acknowledged the challenges of creator monetization in crypto, notably in tokenized ecosystems.
“It is principally unimaginable for creators with a excessive profile to launch a token, and it not finish poorly for them in immediately’s market,” he wrote in a Thursday put up on X.
He added that greatest practices for sustainable token-based monetization fashions don’t but exist and that Web3 income expectations for creators stay misaligned with investor habits.
Whereas NFTs have been promoted as a manner for artists to bypass report labels and retain better management over income, gross sales have fluctuated.
Music NFTs noticed notable early successes in 2021, together with Kings of Leon’s $2 million NFT album launch, however the sector has since struggled to realize constant development amid a broader NFT market downturn.
Sony’s Web3 growth
Sony has been increasing its presence in blockchain infrastructure, however Soneium’s focus stays largely experimental.
The platform formally launched its mainnet on January 14, 2025, following a four-month testnet section that started in August 2024.
Throughout the take a look at interval, Soneium stated it recorded over 14 million consumer accounts and processed 47 million transactions, although its long-term adoption stays unsure.
The corporate has not but introduced plans to combine the platform into its wider leisure or music enterprise.
Whereas the NUU$HI drop is a part of a deliberate sequence of releases on Sonova, it stays unclear whether or not Sony will scale its involvement in blockchain-based music distribution.
A Soneium consultant didn’t instantly reply to Decrypt’s request for touch upon these factors.
