Sterling Proffer

2. Fractionalize ownership with royalty-bearing NFTs: “Fractional ownership” is one of the more widely discussed use cases around NFTs. Here, a fraction of a song is sold as an NFT, with the owner then being entitled to the equivalent portion of royalties generated from the commercial exploitation of the song.

What artists really need, writes Amy Whitaker in Art Thinking, “is not to be paid to make the things they already know how to make, but to somehow find space inside their financials to play and take risks to develop the next thing.”

The rule is simple: Do not be a commodity. Do not be easily comparable to other people who have, roughly, the same set of skills and the same background. The rule may be simple, but its history and implications are incredibly rich.

Record labels are digging their own grave. They finally have achieved their dream—which is to make money while doing as little work as possible. But the end result is a world in which they add so little value that no successful musician will want them any longer.