When people think of NFTs, they tend to think of illustrations or PFP NFTs like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club. Others might think of cross-media sculptures like Beeple’s Human One.
However, NFTs can also be audio-based, giving birth to music NFTs. Today at What are NFTs, we’ll present you with the ten best music NFT marketplaces and platforms in 2022.
What is an NFT?
An NFT is a non-fungible token, meaning a digital asset minted on a blockchain that cannot be replicated.
Music NFTs work no differently than songs you could listen to on a musical platform: except that only the owner of the music NFT can listen to it.
Where to buy NFT?
Music NFTs can be purchased in a variety of NFT marketplaces. The traditional marketplaces, such as OpenSea and Rarible, have the option to mint music files as NFTs. Other specialized marketplaces also mint music NFTs.
OpenSea
OpenSea is not only the leading marketplace for visual NFTs but also the leader in NFTs in general. OpenSea happens to feature the largest NFT marketplace for musicians, thanks to its sheer size.
OpenSea allows you to share your music NFTs on Twitter and Facebook and even embed the listing on your website. OpenSea’s minting tool enables you to add properties to your music NFT, including tempo, genre, attitude, and topic, making it easier for possible fans to find your music.
On top of that, OpenSea is one of the few mainstream NFT marketplaces with multi-chain support, allowing the minting of both Ethereum and Solana music NFTs. As the top-selling NFT marketplace of Web3, it’s always a good idea to start selling your NFTs on OpenSea.
Binance NFT
Similar to crypto.com, Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange and an NFT marketplace. They also provide other services such as crypto trading. Their NFT marketplace uses its own Binance blockchain protocol. It allows users to mint, sell, and bid music NFTs.
Creators can also launch exclusive premium music NFTs for those who follow their work using Binance NFT. Finally, Binance NFT offers mystery boxes.
Mystery boxes contain random music NFTs from an NFT collection: it could be a track, a special edition, or an exclusive song. It could also be a common song in the album. The purpose of the mystery box is to generate intrigue among fans of the artist, as they might be enticed to pay the fixed price to get their hands and ears on a special edition song.
Royal
Even if you’re into NFTs, chances are you might not know about Royal. Royal is the only specialized music NFT marketplace. Royal provides creators with the option to give fan experiences or unique tracks. It also can send airdrops music NFTs. It hosts music NFTs on Ethereum and Polygon, where most of the music NFTs are minted.
Royal allows you to share a part of the streaming royalty rights with fans of the artist, allowing them to become co-owners of the music file.
Royal is specifically tailored to music NFTs, making it more attractive to established content creators with an audience. Music artists tend to praise Royal as the best music NFT marketplace.
On top of that, Royal makes the purchasing process very intuitive for buyers. Royal accepts debit/credit cards, crypto, and wallets such as Metamask. You can even develop a new wallet on the platform.
SuperRare
SuperRare is a peer-to-peer marketplace for Ethereum NFTs, founded in 2017 by John Crain, Charles Crain, and Jonathan Perkins.
SuperRare prompts digital art loves to connect and socially collect NFTs. Social collecting makes the distribution of music NFTs easier as buyers share their musical passion. They can inquire about trending artists, pieces they’ve purchased or created, and how much ETH they have gathered. You can also obtain the art and a description of its owners.
SuperRare’s smart contract system allows the artist to obtain fees from resale prices, essentially allowing for royalties. Whenever an NFT is resold, the creator earns a royalty fee.
If it’s a new musical NFT piece, the musician receives 85% of the commission, while SuperRare keeps 15%. Further commissions provide artists with a 3% commission.
SuperRare’s main pros are its exclusivity and high royalty percentage. You can make offers to artists and creators even if their pieces are not for sale, allowing you to show artists that you’re interested in the work.
If a musician posts some of their songs on SuperRare, and someone’s interested in buying them, this might inspire the artist to create more pieces or special editions for the buyer, thus making a profit.
SuperRare transactions are done with Ethereum, which buyers and sellers can obtain from a crypto exchange such as Binance, Coinbase, or Gemini.
Crypto.com
Crypto.com can make NFT purchases easier than in other marketplaces, thanks to them making it possible to pay with a USD account balance or credit card. Crypto.com is both an NFT marketplace and crypto exchange, using the Crypto.org Chain as its blockchain of choice.
You can find music NFTs on Crypto.com.
It features a wide array of music NFTs and lacks additional fees for buyers.
Nifty Gateway
Nifty Gateway is famous for being the marketplace where visual artist and musician Grimes dropped her 2021 NFT, WarNymphs. This was a collection of art and video set to her music, which was auctioned for $7 million.
Nifty Gateway drops collections at a specific date and time, leaving them available for purchase during a limited time. Unlike other marketplaces on today’s list, Nifty Gateway is open by invitation only, making it exclusive but ensuring prestige and high sales of music NFTs minted on their platform.
AsyncArt
AsyncArt is an NFT marketplace powered by the Ethereum blockchain, hosting a multi-layered protocol of programmable NFTs. It’s also hosted on Pinata Cloud, a pinning service that permits users to save files on the IPFS network.
Async Art offers both an NFT art gallery and an NFT music gallery. This means musicians can mint graphic visual arts and their music NFTs on AsyncArt.
On the downside, AsyncArt doesn’t offer the same exposure or sales volume as OpenSea or other mainstream marketplaces do. Their low sales volume is understandable, given how AsyncArt is specialized in graphic and music NFTs.
There aren’t many musicians minting their music NFTs on AsyncArt yet, which could make it a good choice if you’re trying to establish yourself in a marketplace with little competition.
OneOf
OneOf is an NFT platform that connects fans and collectors of musical work with their favorite artists. It sells the NFT version of famous music albums from big-name artists. Due to this, NFT buyers in OneOf lack royalties or the IP rights to these songs, which might be a dealbreaker for some.
They have a $0 minting cost, allowing for unrivaled economic opportunity and the chance to bid on or buy digital collectibles from your favorite artists. Their minimal minting cost is thanks to OneOf using the Tezos blockchain, which offers low gas fees for minting NFTs. Authors can share, buy and mint their work as NFTs using OneOf.
The Musician Marketplace
The Musician Marketplace is one of the best places for NFT musicians to make a living out of their music. It features a tool that helps buyers and investors find musicians selling NFTs in the genre of their choice. Musicians can keep 100% of their earnings and enjoy buyers requesting them to make custom songs.
The Musician Marketplace motivates artists to create music as an end product for their clients, securing their payment using an escrow system. Purchases can be made via ETH.
This one’s a different proposal as an NFT music marketplace, and many NFT musicians have earned much income from minting here.
AirNFT
For musicians just starting, AirNFT might be their best choice. AirNFT has a low volume compared to OpenSea, but its low startup costs and user-friendly interface make it attractive for musicians seeking to make a name for themselves in the crypto space.
AirNFTs provide options for content creators and collectors, allowing them to create, buy and sell with their NFTs. They give the users royalties and a cross-chain feature to allow for access to the Binance Smart Chain, Fantom, and Polygon.
Which one’s the best music NFT marketplace?
Choosing the best music NFT marketplace depends on what you want to get out of your music NFTs. If you want more exposure and a user-friendly interface, a large marketplace like OpenSea would be better for a newcomer.
If you’re an established musician with an existing audience and want to start earning more than pennies for your songs, then register on Royal.
Check out our other guides on What are NFTs here.