7digital venture to offer artist non-fungible tokens

The AIM-traded firm said the Aces, performing from Los Angeles' Conway Recording Studios as part of LA Pride on 15 June, would become the first band to offer NFTs on the platform.

A total of 300 tickets sold for the event would come with a free, limited series NFT.

Additionally, the livestream would make use of the range of other commercial and engagement tools available through eMusic Live.

The company described NFTs as “digital collectibles”, that are created and sold using the security of a blockchain ledger.

NFTs can be music, artwork, tickets or other assets that are created, licensed and authenticated by the artists.

7digital said NFTs on the eMusic Live platform would be available on the Ethereum sidechain Polygon, (formerly Matic), which would support the NFTs with “minimal” energy consumption making it environmentally friendly.

Typically, fans participate in auctions for NFTs and the highest bidders receive the content in a secure transaction.

In such exchanges, artists could auction off content and keep all of the money raised as the transaction was conducted directly between the artists and their fans.

“We are pleased to see that eMusic Live, our joint venture with eMusic, continues to innovate and use cutting edge technology to support artists in directly engaging with their fans,” said chief executive officer Paul Langworthy.

“We were already giving artists the only end-to-end monetisation platform offering engagement, sponsorship, merchandising and direct chat experiences.

“By adding NFTs - an industry first - we are leading the way in the evolution of digital merchandising: allowing fans to own genuine content and substantially increase artists' monetisation ability.”

At 1523 BST, shares in 7digital Group were down 0.57% at 1.32p.