What Does a Live Gig NFT Mean for the Music Industry? Viberate First to Test the Concept

Music research and analytics platform Viberate will be the first to test the concept of a “live performance NFT”, in partnership with digital asset marketplace Blockparty.

The upcoming “NFT drop” (the release and subsequent auction of non-fungible tokens) will start on April 29 and run for 24 hours and feature the work of world-renowned Techno DJ UMEK. Specifically, three exclusive remixes of UMEK’s 1999 hit track “Lanicor”, one livestream performance, and one live gig. The buyers of UMEK’s NFT will thus either purchase the rights to one of his original remixes, book him for an exclusive online event, or book him for a real-life live performance.

“We’re excited about NFTs and blockchain technology in general, as it really opens up new opportunities for artists and organizers to create transparent and secure bookings,” explains Vasja Veber, Viberate co-founder and UMEK’s manager. “The industry’s been in a sort of limbo this past year. As there are no live events, the artists try to make do by streaming their performances, but there’s no clear answer as to when and how things will return to normal – or even what ‘normal’ will mean by then. We hope to prove a concept with our NFT drop: any artist can make sure they’ll have a booking waiting for them once live gigs are back in the picture, and the terms of that booking are agreed upon in advance.”

If the concept proves to be successful, Viberate plans on providing their unique verification and token-minting services to hundreds of thousands of artists in their database.

So far, several music artists have explored the possibilities of NFTs in the form of collectible albums, VIP tickets, digital art and other concepts. The upcoming drop by Viberate, UMEK and Blockparty is the first ever to propose an entirely new way of booking artists, no matter whether they’re backed by major labels or working independently.

UMEK’s NFT drop will launch on Blockparty on Thursday, April 29, 2021, at 8:00 pm GMT+1 (3:00 pm EST).

What Does a Live Gig NFT Mean for the Music Industry? Viberate First to Test the Concept