The NFT music niche is rapidly growing as NFTs gain increasing popularity worldwide. There are numerous world-renowned music artists using NFTs to engage with their fans in new and innovative ways. Additionally,  smaller creators are experimenting with the technology and using it as a new medium to monetize their craft.

Below we briefly look at the top NFT musicians and how they’re driving the space forward.

3LAU

3LAU is a renowned DJ and producer who has been one of the early movers and proponents of the NFT space, having sold his first digital collectible in 2020. In 2021, he ran a massive campaign to sell his Ultraviolet collection for $11.7 million, comprising of 33 different NFTs that included a special edition vinyl copy, digital copies of unreleased songs, and a custom-made song which was produced with creative inputs from the buyer himself.

He also released a subsequent drop with famous digital artist Slime Sunday and is still maintaining an active role in the music NFT community. He is one of the founders of the Royal – a marketplace that deals with granting royalty rights from musicians’ music to token owners.

Grimes

Grimes, the Canadian singer, producer, and digital artist, has been one of the early vocal supporters of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, so it hasn’t been a surprise for the community to see a 2021 release of the WarNympth Collection that sold on Nifty Gateway for $5.8 million. It consisted of 10 exclusive digital artworks, most of them accompanied by her music. Since then, Grimes has also been an active and vocal supporter of the developments in the world of music NFTs.

Steve Aoki

Steve Aoki, a 2X Grammy-nominated DJ and producer, has also been very eager to popularize NFTs over the last number of years. He has stated numerous times that he makes more money from NFTs than from streaming royalties, and has worked with digital artists such as Atoni Tudisco and Jason Ebeyer, selling his Dream Catcher collection for $4.25 million.

The collection itself was made up of immersive audiovisuals limited to 11 unique works. Since the sale of these NFTs, Steve has been an active collector and even paused a gig to show the crowd his recent purchase of a digital NFT of a pink alien from the Doodles collection.

Imogen Heap

Imogen Heap, a famous British composer and recording artist, is probably one of the first activists in the space of decentralization of the music business. She advocated for using blockchain to address the music industry’s issues as far back as 2016.

An early backer of Ethereum, she is also now active in the space of music NFTs, having released a collection of six audiovisual tokens that also offer a set of live recordings from a live online jam session. She has used most of the proceeds from the sale to donate to environmental charity and offset the carbon footprint of the deal.

Kings of Leon

In 2021, the Kings of Leon, a legendary Nashville rock band, became the first music artists to do a simultaneous drop of an album on streaming services, as well as an NFT bundle. “When You See Yourself” was a collection consisting of three tokens that included unique and exclusive versions of the album on vinyl, digital artworks, and a lifetime concert pass to their show. After selling the collection for $2 million, the band has been active in promoting blockchain technology in music.

VERITE

VÉRITÉ is a Brooklyn-based singer and independent music artist who is truly a prominent presence in the world of music NFTs. She made over ten thousand dollars from selling a token that grants 2.3% of the master recording to her song “By Now,” which represents a significant milestone for an artist that is not backed by a record label. Since that moment, VÉRITÉ has been a frequent creator of NFTs, especially on platforms like Catalogue and sounds.xyz.

Latasha

Latasha is a singer and rapper who is a big advocate and supporter of blockchain and music NFTs. She has been one of the first artists to mint her music video to a song GOGO WYNE as an exclusive NFT, selling it for $50,000. Since the release, she has been a vocal proponent of the advances in music tech and currently spends her time on onboarding and education in the music decentralization space.

Mike Casey

Mike Casey is a jazz saxophonist and producer known for his cutting edge sound and a fusion of jazz with other modern genres. He is one of the frontrunners of the NFT space within a more niche music genre family, having released several collections on OpenSea. These collections consisted of audiovisual album artwork NFTs, music videos, and unreleased album digital artworks.

Panther Modern

Panther Modern, the electronic project of Brady Keehn, an NFT-savvy artist from LA. He is a community-oriented musician and a profound singer-songwriter. He is all about teaching people how to work with NFTs, and after being dissatisfied with the income from Spotify, he decided to sell music NFTs, which has proved to be a viable source of income.