Sterling Proffer

1. Sell music or visual art as a collectible NFT: This is the most common model for music NFTs today. Artists will sell music or media (photo/video) related to their music as an NFT. Platforms like Catalog, Sound, Nina or MintSongs focus on music itself. But you can also offer derivative assets like music videos, demo recordings, alternative... See more

The first TikTok stars were slow to realize how much negotiating power they actually possessed—they’re just youngsters, after all. So they got dazzled by the promise of a big upfront payment from a label. But in the last few months, many have started to figure out that the so-called ‘advance against future royalties’ is actually just a loan under a... See more

Substack become a haven for writers who find, for one reason or another, that traditional media no longer works for them. Substack will never be able to offer the deep institutional backing and editorial muscle that comes with working at a place like The New York Times. But it’s able to provide limited assistance with editing, legal, design, photo... See more

Let’s cut to the chase. If this TikTok-ification of the music biz continues, what will be the end result? Here it is, in a single sentence: Only unsuccessful musicians still need a label. Think over the deep implications of that fact.

This is the publishing paradox nowadays: opportunities come to you in direct proportion to your ability to operate without them.