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Ever wanted to own a tiny slice of a Justin Bieber song? Writer and producer Andreas “Axident” Schuller is set to sell NFTs that will grant owners a percentage of future streaming royalties to Justin Bieber’s hit song “Company.”
Schuller, who has also worked with the likes of Pitbull and Jason Derulo, has teamed up with blockchain-based music rights platform AnotherBlock to sell a 1% total portion of the streaming royalty rights to Bieber’s “Company” via 2,000 Ethereum NFTs.
Each ERC-721 token will be available to purchase from 0.017 ETH (about $28) and give each holder 0.0005% of future streaming proceeds from digital service providers like Apple Music, Tidal, and Spotify. As it stands, royalty payments will be made every six months—but AnotherBlock has previously teased “major updates” on this front.
we are incredibly proud to work together with the best artists and producers in the world
AXIDENT invites you to become a co-owner of the world renown JUSTIN BIEBER song "COMPANY"◾️
beliebers out there deserve to transform from passive listeners to empowered music stakeholders pic.twitter.com/bbSjLIezoc
— anotherblock (@anotherblock_io) September 6, 2023
The “Company” sale begins on September 7, with both credit card and crypto payments accepted by AnotherBlock.
“Company” was released in 2015 as part of Bieber’s Grammy-nominated fourth album “Purpose,” with Axident working on the lush pop track as a writer and producer. To date, the song has racked up over 500 million streams on Spotify alone.
“‘Company’ holds a special place in my heart, and I immediately embraced the concept of sharing a portion of it with Justin's remarkably devoted fans,” said Schuller in a statement. “In this industry, nothing holds greater significance than our fans, and the fusion of blockchain and music rights opens the door to an entirely new realm for both rights holders and enthusiasts. This approach is democratic and signifies the future.”
“The ownership of a song bears far greater weight than its monetary value; it forges a profound connection to the art that, until now, has been beyond the reach of fans,” he added.
AnotherBlock has previously sold streaming royalty rights to Rhianna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money”, MIMS’ “This Is Why I’m Hot,” and David Guetta and Martin Garrix’s “So Far Away” alongside a series of NFTs that don’t offer a share of streaming royalty payments.
“By moving ownership in the music industry to people who truly love music we increase the value of music and also make it clear to artists what the value of their rights is,” the AnotherBlock website claims.
Bieber himself is not personally involved in the sale of Axident’s share of streaming royalty rights on “Company,” much as Rihanna herself wasn’t involved in the sale of a producer’s partial rights to “Bitch Better Have My Money.” Even so, Bieber has dabbled in the NFT space as the owner of a Bored Ape Yacht Club profile picture (PFP), among other assets.
Axident’s move comes as more and more musicians turn to Web3 technologies to try and earn more money from their art.
Last November, electronic musician Justin “3LAU” Blau’s Web3 music platform Royal launched its music rights marketplace after a $16 million investment the previous year. In February, Royal claimed it had already paid out over $132,000 in royalties to its NFT collectors.
Meanwhile, Solana-based music platform Vault launched an ongoing NFT project last month that is designed to help underground bands distribute live recordings via limited-edition tokens.