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NFT music platform FanTiger completed a $5.5 million capital raise as part of a seed funding round on May 25.
The seed round was led by Multicoin Capital and included participation from Krafton, Pravega Ventures, GAMA, Woodstock Fund, IOSG Ventures, and Polygon Studios.
It also saw participation from individual investors, including Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Coinbase board member Gokul Rajaram, Tykhe Block Ventures founder Prashant Malik, and CRED’s chief architect Miten Sampat.
In a press release, the firm said the funding would be used to develop blockchain technology to further its goals of empowering independent artists and building fan communities.
At the heart of this plan is non-fungible tokens (NFTs). But how do NFTs fit into what the firm calls Music 3.0?
NFTs driving music innovation
The music industry is a tough business to crack. Artists face multiple seemingly insurmountable challenges, mainly stemming from the power imbalance in favor of record labels.
But FanTiger hopes to shake things up by enabling the direct support of artists through NFTs. Fans can also benefit financially via the Rewards Pool system.
Artists sell NFTs of their music through the platform and control how the sale proceeds are used, such as for production, shooting videos, and so on.
A certain percentage of the royalties earned from a particular NFT can be committed to a vaulted Rewards Pool. At the end of a set period, the NFT holders of that song get paid out from the Rewards Pool. The more popular the song, the more is paid out to holders.
These NFTs will be tradable in the secondary market once FanTiger builds out its NFT marketplace.
Meanwhile, fans get to connect to the artist through community access, rewards, and what FanTiger calls “exclusive money-can’t-buy privileges.” These privileges include behind-the-scenes content, meet and greet opportunities, access to unreleased music, and backstage access at concerts.
FanTiger Early Access Program Now Open
FanTiger CEO and co-founder Prashan Agarwal said the music business should favor artists over record labels. He added that blockchain technology and music NFTs will turn the traditional music industry structure on its head.
According to Agarwal:
“FanTiger is at the forefront of this revolution to show the world how NFTs can reshape the music industry. FanTiger helps create Artist-Fan relationships as has never existed before, this will give birth to a new era for Music.”
Agarwal has bold ambitions to onboard 10 million users and 100,000 artists to the FanTiger platform.
Ahead of the company’s official launch, an Early Access Program is available for those keen to get in early. The first 5,000 early members will receive a free NFT and benefits such as priority access to the most in-demand music NFTs, concert tickets, and limited edition merch.