With acclaimed Techno DJ and producer UMEK, Viberate successfully launched the world's first live gig NFT in April. In the wake of their recent open call to all musicians interested in "the new music economy", the music research and analytics platform have issued an open call to all musicians. As a result of the NFT craze, Viberate plans to determine whether the music industry is actually ready to handle bookings and fan engagements using big data insights and tokenized contracts.
“It was an amazing opportunity and I’m so glad I went for it,” UMEK commented on his drop. “We sold both my live gig NFT and my livestream NFT in less than 24 hours – and to an L.A. venue of all places. What’s more, I immediately got another offer for a Miami gig thanks to the drop, so you can imagine my absolute joy – not only will live events finally return after all these months being stuck indoors, I’ve just secured bookings in two of my favorite cities on the planet! Now, I hope more industry people will jump on the bandwagon, as NFTs are more than a current craze – they’re the beginning of a smarter, safer and more flexible way of doing business.”
THE INTERVIEW
CR: Tell us a little bit about yourself and Viberate? How it all started?
I started DJing as a teenager, in my high school years. It all started from a pure passion for music, which eventually turned into a profession.
Viberate was born from a desire to have a better approach to data and live music. We wanted to compare how I was faring compared to other DJs on socials and other platforms, as well as live, but couldn’t find a way to do this. We relied on our own feelings but like in art, this was very subjective. We decided to set up a website that measured online popularity for DJs. We started with 1,200 manually entered DJs, seeing how many likes and followers and so on they had. We opened it up eventually and had 30,000 profiles in 18 months. We saw the need was there and we decided to keep going, expanding from the dance music scene.
Eventually, the project has evolved into an open-source database of artists, labels, events, venues, festivals, and other music stakeholders. For each profile, we analyze data from several social media platforms, streaming sites, events, and other resources and we process them into easily understandable, visualized music data. Each entity gets an analytics profile, much like websites that have Google Analytics certificates.
Artists can use their public profiles instead of their official websites. If you type in www.umek.si, it will take you to my profile on Viberate. But if you decide to purchase a premium account, you can access daily updated stats for almost every artist in the world. You can create custom popularity charts, compare artists, discover rising stars and much more. We have a 30-day trial account so you can take it for a test run for free.
CR: As shows are being booked, why do you think that NFT is not a Fad, and can this be used in the music industry that we are in?
NFTs will affect the music industry in a variety of ways. We will probably be able to receive copyright payments via NFTs as soon as our song is playing somewhere, i.e., without any middlemen. I believe this will happen. However, I think it will take quite some, at least ten years, as label executives are very conservative and not really open to new technologies. I hope that my team and I will be among the first to show how it all works in practice. With Viberate, we set ourselves the goal of arranging things in the live music industry. Two ideas came to us: the first is a live music performance, and I added a live stream. This is very important to me, primarily because of the times we are in now. Memorabilia is also an essential element, so we added my song Lanicor in different versions. I think the most revolutionary is the NFT live stream gig because it is the most easily transferable to NFTs. However, this means that I have to take care of the technical implementation myself, so I have to “deliver” the music to the end customer or buyer of the NFT. He then has to connect it to a screen and speakers, which everyone has at home anyway, and you can already see and listen to me. This seems like a great thing to me because even in the post-Covid 19 period, performances via video link will remain. There may not be as many as there are now, but they will stay among us. On the other hand, a live gig NFT can be bought by a promoter, who then has to organize the event: he has to lease a sound system, come to pick you up at the airport… Here are quite a few costs and organization elements.
I would also like to mention that NFTs enable you to offer a personal relationship with the person who buys NFT from you. It’s a kind of digital meet and greets because people can ask you something during the broadcast, get to know you better. This digital world offers many possibilities. There are practically no limits, so I appeal to every artist to use imagination and make each performance at least a little special. In this context, I also wish we had some rating system where people would rate performances to know which ones were good and which ones weren’t. This would mean that those with good live stream performances would find it easier to sell NFTs.
CR: We know some huge artists are already doing NFT sales, what does that mean for the smaller artist will this help them in any way possible?
Some artists have made a fortune by selling NFTs but they’re all megastars with a huge following. When it comes to smaller artists, it’s reselling performances that seem like a fascinating thing to me. So, the one who bought my NFT for the live gig can either use it or resell it on the market. Viberate already has the best database of musicians globally. Anyone with at least a little understanding of how business works can check the musicians with our platform and quickly find out which one is growing or is well on their way to becoming a star. If someone buys an NFT from an artist who is bound to become even more popular over time, it makes sense that this NFT may be sold for more money in the future. This is especially interesting when we talk about musicians who are still at the beginning of their careers. NFTs can also serve as a kind of crowdfunding, as some artists have talent but don’t have the money to record an album. Through the sale of NFTs, however, they can pay for studio work and release an album. This increases their popularity, and they can attack the market. As their price rises, such NFTs can be sold by buyers for more money.
CR: Will NFT bookings incentivize artists to go towards NFT rather than the streaming route to make more money and have a better exposure in the industry?
I think that both routes are necessary. They are even interconnected.
CR: With your knowledge and insight, what does the future really hold for NFTs?
I think that the future is bright for the NFTs. The hype has already faded but I think that the NFTs will eventually secure a certain market share in this industry. They may become the dominant element over the years, but this transition will take quite some time. Successful musicians and agents together earn millions of euros and, of course, do not want to change their tactics and established practices. This revolution will only happen when there is a change of generations. When a brave artist appears, who, for example, no longer has his website, similar to myself – I only use my Viberate profile – and will offer performances exclusively through NFTs, then this kind of sales have a chance. Once this happens globally, the majority of agents and other intermediaries will no longer be needed. There are many people involved and each of them takes a cut. One will only need to pay a commission on transactions to a provider like Viberate. Still, these percentages are not so high because we are not talking about many people but automated processes. I will be thrilled if this happens in the near future.
UMEK NFT DROP
Viberate proposes three main NFT categories: live performance NFTs, livestream NFTs, and customized “experience” NFTs (artists engaging with their fans on- or offline, e.g. going shopping with them). Any interested artist or their representative can submit their NFT application here.
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