In recent years, NFTs have been the most popular buzzword in the crypto space. Since its rise in popularity, the NFT market has clinched an all-time high market cap of $3 billion.
Investing in NFT is one of the most lucrative ways of making money in the crypto space. The whole craze started with trading pictures of apes for millions of dollars.
The concept behind NFTs stems from the brilliant incorporation of art into blockchain technology. In other words, NFTs are mainly tradeable digital arts. Its nonfungible nature gives it its unique and irreplaceable nature.
NFTs are uniquely created blockchain-based assets with special traits and encrypted metadata. Unlike cryptocurrencies which are fungible, replaceable assets, NFTs are unique digital items that cannot be replaced or exchanged at equivalency.
NFT can represent or symbolize anything ranging from image or video artworks, real estate, gaming items, or music.
Audio and Music NFTs
As mentioned earlier, NFT items range from pictorial representations like images, gifs, illustrations, and videos to gaming items.
NFTs can also represent immutable ownership of audio or music items, including beats. Therefore, you don’t have to be a popular artist before selling your beat as an NFT. Musicians can sell their singles and albums as NFT items. In addition, producers can sell beats while DJs can sell mixes as NFTs.
Music NFTs are a fast-growing genre in the NFT ecosystem. Basically, music NFT is a decentralized way of trading audio and music on blockchain. See it as buying music on iTunes or Spotify.
However, unlike iTunes, buying music as an NFT gives you total ownership over the audio item in addition to listening access. Therefore, once you buy an audio NFT, the ownership rights will be automatically conferred to you.
Usually, the value of buying or selling an audio NFT lies in the popularity of its owner. Therefore, many collectors buy audio NFT items due to their potential high value in the future.
Audio and music NFTs can be a lucrative revenue stream for low-earning artists. For instance, a Barbadian rapper, Haleek Maul, accrued more than $250,000 by selling music as NFTs. Meanwhile, his annual Spotify earning is just $178.
Music NFTs can also serve as tickets to an artist’s shows and concerts. Meanwhile, they can also give holders exclusive access to an artist’s social events, including meetups.
Selling Beats as NFT
There are many ways to sell beats as NFTs. Many popular NFT marketplaces, including Opensea, support trading audio items as NFTs.
However, before using any marketplace, it is important to set up your crypto wallet and fund it with ETH from Binance or any other reliable CEX.
To do this, first:
- Download Metamask from the Chrome web store
- Set up Metamask
Download Metamask from the Chrome web store
Navigate to the Metamask website at metamask.io on your Google Chrome web browser and tap DOWNLOAD on the homepage.
This should redirect you to Metamask Chrome Extension on the Chrome web store. In the web store, tap ADD TO CHROME to install the wallet extension on your browser.
Set up Metamask
Once the download is done, open the wallet from your browser navigation bar. On the home screen, tap CREATE A NEW WALLET to set up a new Metamask wallet.
However, if you have an existing wallet, you can simply log in with your 12-word recovery phrase by tapping IMPORT WALLET.
For new users, enter a strong password to provide an extra layer of security to your wallet. Then back up your 12-word mnemonic phrases.
After setting up your wallet, you can proceed to use a suitable marketplace to sell your beats as NFT.
Selling beats as NFTs is as simple as listing regular image or video NFTs. Top marketplaces where you can list audio or beats as NFT include:
- Opensea
- NFTify
- Rarible
They work in almost the same way; therefore, you can use any of the platforms.
Steps to Sell Beats as NFT on Opensea
To sell beats as NFT on Opensea, follow the steps below:
- Set up your Opensea account
- Mint your beat
- Put up your beat for sale
1. Set up your Opensea account
To sell your beats on Opensea, go to the Opensea marketplace at Opensea.io. On the top right corner of the homepage, click on the wallet icon to connect your Metamask wallet and create an Opensea account.
In the wallet option that pops up, choose Metamask wallet as the preferred wallet and approve the connection in your wallet.
2. Mint your beat as NFT
Before you can list any NFT for sale on Opensea, you need to mint the item via the CREATE option on Opensea.
To do this, tap CREATE on the Opensea homepage.
On the new page, you can attach your beat, choose mint blockchain and add every necessary detail, including name, description, and NFT traits.
Minting an NFT on Opensea involves two main steps:
- Uploading audio item and cover
- Providing necessary details
Uploading audio item and cover
Click on the first field to upload your beat file. It can be in MP3, WAV, or OGG audio file format.
Drag and drop the file to the upload box or manually choose the file in your local File Explorer.
Once the upload is complete, you must also upload an image that will serve as the cover for the beat. In the space provided for preview images, upload an artwork cover.
Providing necessary details
After uploading the required files, enter all necessary details in their respective fields. Details that you need to provide include:
- Name
- External links can include any relevant link to the owner’s social media handles, websites, or portfolio.
- A description that depicts or gives comprehensive detail about the NFT
- Collection details, including properties, stats, and levels of the NFT item.
Select blockchain as Ethereum to mint your NFT on the Ethereum blockchain. Finally, click on CREATE when you’re done.
3. Put up your beat for sale
After minting your beat as NFT on Opensea, click on SELL on the NFT page to list the item for sale.
On the listing page, enter the amount you want to sell the beat NFT in ETH.
Also, choose the duration of the listing. After completing the listing details, click on COMPLETE LISTING.
In the window that pops up, click on SIGN and approve the transaction in your Metamask wallet to complete the process.
Steps to Sell Beats as NFT on NFTify
Another platform that allows you to sell beats as NFT is via NFTify. NFTify works almost the same way as Opensea.
It is an open platform that focuses on empowering everyone to create and launch their NFT items. It provides an enabling platform where anybody, especially newbies, can sell NFTs without any technical knowledge for free.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to sell beats as NFT on NFTify
- Register for an NFTify account
- Create your NFT store
- Mint your beats
- Set price and list your beats NFTs for sale
1. Register for an NFTify account
To get started with creating your Beat NFT store on NFTify, go to nftify.network on your web browser.
On the homepage, click on START FREE in the top right corner of the homepage to register a new NFTify account.
On the registration page, enter your email address and choose a preferred password. Tap CREATE ACCOUNT and verify your email address.
Finally, complete registration by connecting the Metamask wallet you just set up in your browser. Sign the connection in the Metamask prompt that pops up.
2. Create your NFT store
After creating a new account and linking your Metamask wallet, it’s time to create a new store for your NFT collections.
Complete a one-page questionnaire about you and your project and tap START CREATING MY STORE.
On the next page, click on CREATE NEW STORE. Enter your preferred store name and choose a subdomain name for your store.
In the last field, choose Ethereum as the preferred blockchain before creating your store.
Once your store has been created, you can choose to customize and personalize your NFT store.
In your NFTify dashboard, click on CUSTOMIZE THEME to personalize and change different parts of your store, including the header, footer, banner, and highlights.
3. Mint your beat as NFT
After setting up the NFT store, go back to your NFTify dashboard and tap CREATE NFT to list your NFT for sale.
In the section for NFT Content, upload your beat in MP3, WAV, or OGG audio file format.
Like in Opensea, upload a cool artwork that will serve as a cover for your beat in the PREVIEW IMAGE section.
After uploading the necessary files, complete the following fields on the listing page:
- Select preferred NFT Interface as ERC721
- Collection
- Name of NFT item
- Category of NFT item
- Set preferred Royalty fee. It is the percentage you will receive on secondary NFT sale
- Description
- Set NFT properties
Once you’ve inputted the details, tap CREATE ITEM to mint your beat NFT.
4. Set price and list your beats NFTs for sale
Once the NFT has been minted, click on SELL in the upper part of the NFT Detail page.
You can choose to sell your item in ‘Instant Sale’ or ‘Timed Auction.’ With Instant Sale, you can set a price for your item so that buyers can purchase it instantly.
However, the Timed Auction works like a regular real-world auction where potential buyers bid on the item. At the end of the auction, the item goes to the highest bidder.
On the sale page, input the preferred price you’d like to sell your beat NFT and tap PUT ON SALE to complete the listing.
However, with Timed Auction, all you need to do is add the duration of the auction and list your item for sale.
Steps to Sell Beats as NFT on Rarible
Rarible is a multichain marketplace that houses more than 1,500 Music NFT collections. Meanwhile, you can mint your NFT on some of its gasless blockchains kike Flow and Tezos.
Here’s a guide on how to sell your beat as NFT on Rarible:
- Set up a Rarible Account
- Create a collectible and list your beat NFT for sale
1. Set up a Rarible Account
Getting started on Rarible is easy and simple. It works pretty much kike other marketplaces.
To get started, go to the Rarible marketplace at Rarible.com.
Click on CONNECT WALLET in the top right corner of the homepage, then choose Metamask as the preferred wallet from the list provided.
To complete your registration, enter your display name and email address and tap FINISH SIGN-UP.
2. Create a collectible and list your beat NFT for sale
After setting up your Rarible account, click on CREATE on the Rarible homepage to mint your beat.
Choose between SINGLE or MULTIPLE collectibles if you’re minting a one-of-a-kind or multiple beats.
On the minting page, choose the best item you want to mint from your File Explorer. Rarible supports MP3 audio file format only.
Then, upload its image cover for previews. Once you’re done uploading necessary items, you can now specify their details.
In the section provided, input the following details:
- Name
- Description
- Royalty fee
- Properties
Once you’re done, activate the option for PUT ON SALE to sell your beat item for a fixed price, in a timed auction, or open for bid.
Finally, specify the selling price in ETH and tap CREATE ITEM to mint and list your NFT for sale.
Final Words: Why are NFTs Important?
NFTs as a representation of art is an important application of blockchain technology. It enables the digital representation of physical assets.
Apart from this, NFTs provide an enabling platform for freely owning and controlling financial assets.
Therefore, unlike real-life Real Estate investments where you have to sign documents and pay taxes, NFT allows permissionless ownership of any digital asset.
The use cases and secondary application of NFTs is another thing boosting its adoption wider than usual. For one, NFT can serve as collateral when borrowing crypto assets.
They are also a huge component of the highly anticipated Metaverse virtual world. With digital assets, Metaverse users can enjoy the immersive experience of the future free virtual world.
Therefore, it opens an accessible and interactive virtual world where users can own and manage their NFTs.
Meanwhile, more companies across various fields around the world continue to buy into the idea of NFT and Metaverse to further bring value to their products.
For instance, major brands, including Nike, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Samsung, Louis Vuitton, and several others, continue to hop into the trend by selling and marketing digital versions of their products for their consumers in the Metaverse.
This is an effective advertising and marketing strategy since they provide invaluable insight into acceptance and consumer behavior before they manufacture them in the physical world
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