There are two challenges in the music industry – the inability for ordinary investors to access prominent asset-class, difficulty liquidising and the availability of music rights to a broader market and a corresponding undervaluation of the music itself.
A web3 music company anotherblock, based out of Sweden, grants fans access to music rights in some of the world’s biggest songs.
Founded by Michel D. Traore, Sebastian Ljungberg, and Filip Strömsten in 2022, the blockchain-based marketplace for music has raised a new funding.
With the aim to scale up globally and make its product available to a more extensive range of artists, producers, and record companies, anotherblock has snapped €4 million funding led by UK-based Stride.VC, which has backed early-stage businesses such as Deliveroo and Triver. It was joined by Axwell of Swedish House Mafia.
Previously, the Swedish startup raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding from VC J12 alongside participation from prominent angels.
“anotherblock are reinventing the user experience of music ownership. They have a very clear belief – that anyone should be able to own a share of their favourite songs and earn royalties alongside their favourite artists. They have the potential to build the platform that opens up liquidity, transparency and equity in the music economy and go on to power the market for music rights globally.” said Gabbi Cahane, partner at Stride.VC.
“I have followed anotherblock since the beginning, and it is clear that their work aligns with their vision. Enabling greater rights flexibility is the future of the music industry. It creates a whole new freedom for creators to share the financial incentives with fans, which are the most important thing we have.” said Axwell.
“Our primary focus in the first year was to educate and prove our product, but going forward, it’s about reaching an even wider audience, particularly outside of the crypto space, and enabling even more creators to get involved. The blockchain ecosystem currently boasts more active users and greater opportunities to engage them than ever before, opening up endless possibilities for the combination of music rights and technology. Having world-class backers on board for this journey is extremely valuable.” said Michel D. Traore, CEO and co-founder of anotherblock.
NFT marketplace for music rights
anotherblock supports music creators, and increases the value of their work by launching a marketplace for music rights. This marketplace, which will use blockchain to democratise music ownership and will empower creators and add value to their art.
NFTs will be its initial focus and it will introduce tokens connected to royalty rights. Each of these NFTs will generate royalties related to ownership. As it creates unique NFTs, the buyer is the sole individual who can enjoy the art either in-person or within the metaverse. Creators or artists who put their rights on the blockchain will receive a transaction payment/trade-royalty each time the NFT is traded.
