Upcoming Solana-based NFT platform Snowcrash is partnering with music-company titans Sony Music and Universal Music Group (UMG), with Bob Dylan and Miles Davis NFT drops in the works.

So only the two largest music labels in the world then, and two of the world’s greatest ever recording artists… “probably nothing” as they say.

How did this happen? The co-founder of Snowcrash, Jesse Dylan, just happens to be Bob’s son… so that definitely helped.

Snowcrash, incidentally, takes its name from Neal Stephenson’s 1992 sci-fi novel, which is credited with coining the term “metaverse“. (You knew there had to be a metaverse angle, right?)

Jesse Dylan, a filmmaker created the Snowcrash platform with Walter De Brouwer, an expert in financial engineering and decentralised finance, along with entertainment executive Jeff Rosen.

“By creating Snowcrash, we have a platform that brings artists together with impactful organisations,” said Dylan. “I believe we have seen just the tip of the iceberg in this emerging space.”

Snowcrash founders Jessie Dylan (left) and Walter De Brouwer.

According to an official statement, the two music labels will be releasing the Bob Dylan and Miles Davis-themed NFT collections later this year, ahead of broader output involving more artists from their rosters.

“Sony Music is planning to work with Snowcrash to “develop a range of opportunities for our recording artists with a focus on delivering accessible, user-friendly experiences for both creators and fans,” said Dennis Kooker, Sony’s president of global digital business.

Michael Nash, executive vice president of Universal Music, meanwhile said that “[NFTs] enable our artists and labels to advance their cultural influence at the forefront of innovation”.

In 2020 UMG forked out about US$400 million for Bob Dylan’s song catalogue, while Sony bought his recorded music rights for more than US$150 million last year. It’s clear both companies are looking at various avenues to maximise their return on such significant investment – and NFTs fit that bill.

If Snowcrash can achieve anything close to the success of the leading NFT marketplace OpenSea, then it’s in big business. OpenSea saw nearly 3.6 billion in sales in February, and hit its record in January – a scarcely believable US$5 billion in sales volume.

As mentioned, Snowcrash is a Solana NFT-focused platform, but as a major competitor to Ethereum, Solana is definitely one of the fastest-growing blockchain ecosystems. And while OpenSea currently only offers NFTs minted on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains, it reportedly could be adding Solana NFTs soon.

 

Warner Music gets in on the act with Splinterlands

 Last week, Warner Music Group (WMG) also revealed its taking the Web3/NFT/metaverse plunge, announcing a partnership with blockchain gaming company Splinterlands.

In a statement, Oana Ruxandra, chief digital officer and executive vice president of business development at WMG, said:

“I don’t think we can underestimate how massive the opportunity around P2E gaming is. Our partnership with Splinterlands pulls focus to our artists and their music as we all work together to develop and maintain tokenised games.

“As we build, we will be unlocking new revenue streams for our artists while further solidifying fans’ participation in value created.”

Splinterlands, founded in 2018, is a fantasy-themed collectible card game that currently has about 1.8 million registered users and 450,000 daily users.

The Splinterlands company and and WMG will apparently be aiming to produce arcade-style, mobile-friendly games with fast and wide adoption and gaming-community building in mind.