Did you know that you could invest in your favorite songs, like stocks? Vezt is the first blockchain mobile app where music fans can acquire rights on their favorite songs and recordings.
If the current digital space is progressing at a rate that you just aren't mentally prepare to keep up with, I can assure that you're not in the minority. Accepting the inevitable can be difficult for some, but the intrigue of newer technology will forever be present, because no one really wants to get left behind.
Social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram have given music fans an avenue to connect directly with their favorite artist, sometimes to a fault. Equally important, there's also a direct line for artists to market themselves, their music, and merchandise to the fans without a middleman if they so choose. The juxtapose to the artist and fan relationship begins with the influx of music being released at an historic rate. Over 20,000-24,000 tracks are uploaded on Apple Music, Spotify and other music streaming services per day —that's over 1 million tracks per month. Some of this music is good, unfortunately a lot of it isn't.
Listeners are rarely immersing themselves into one particular song or project for weeks or months like before, so if the record doesn't grab their attention on the first listen, it's rare that they'll revisit it. These listeners also have a freedom within digital platforms to express their thoughts on what music they like or dislike. As for the fans that are self proclaimed “music enthusiasts”, and liken themselves to an A&R who has a great ear for music—there’s now an app that not only gives you the opportunity to do so, but to also generate some form of revenue.
Vezt is a blockchain application that allows fans to acquire royalty rights to their favorite records. According their website, “Vezt provides a digital marketplace for artists and songwriters to offer a percentage of their royalties to fans”. Essentially, what they are providing is a system where fans can invest into their favorite artists music, and depending on how well the music does on streaming sites, YouTube, etc., fans could get a percentage of the royalties in return. This sounds great in theory and there is a lot of upside to be gained here, but I would remind anyone interested to take a look back at the Bitcoin cryptocurrency wave that took place in 2017.
Investors who saw a substantial revenue return from Bitcoin had some form of foresight before the surge in prices, and some were simply lucky. There were also safety measures that came about when trying to decipher exactly how the funds would be transferred throughout different mediums—not to mention the scammers who portrayed themselves as legitimate cryptocurrency applications. Many of the new investors who tried to get in on Bitcoin in late 2017, only saw this as a get-rich-quick scheme.
Most of those first time investors didn't see a substantial return on their investment because, they simply didn't arm themselves with the necessary information as it pertained to the Cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin peaked at $19,000 in December of 2017, and is projected to be worth $125,000 by 2022. It's highly unlikely for everyday citizens to invest into something with those price points—which is another painstaking reminder that the billionaire investors and hedge fund CEOs are playing in their own league.
A more prevalent risk with an app such as Vezt revolves heavily around the daunting music business. A business that generally involves greedy labels, who are currently trying to get from under the heightened usage of streaming platforms. Artist are preferring to remain independent and keep the rights to their publishing deals, rather than taking an advance of a couple million dollars from labels—who eventually acquire the rights to the artists publishing, as well as a large percentage of their tour revenues. So to introduce an app that pays the artist first, and lets them keep the rights to their music, as sensible as that sounds, is a bad deal for music labels. This of course is prior to even introducing the notion of fans getting a percentage of these song rights—which I assume further infuriates the labels.
However, with the music business inevitably moving towards everything being digital and artist-centric, the potential in a startup such as Vezt becomes much more plausible. Artists are in more control of their music than ever, which ultimately gives them leverage when negotiating with labels. Vezt was started in 2016 by CEO & co-founder Steve Stewart, who is no stranger within the music business, having over 25 years of experience. The CSO (Chief Startegy Officer) of Vezt, Andreas Carlson explains, “the app is a way for artists to sell a certain percentage of their publishing with fans, which essentially prefunds any future tour or project they might be working on".
Vezt allows artists to tap into a new digital form of music ownership, meanwhile letting fans get a piece of the cut. Allow me to briefly explain how this works: Vezt lets artist chose which portions of their songs to offer for sale to their fans, music professionals and brands through a process called ISO (Initial Song Offering™). The artist and fans then determine how much they would like to raise from a part of their song, and also set a reservation term and ISO launch time from the app. The buyer will use Vezt tokens to buy the rights, and the musician gets paid from those crypto funds. From there, the digital rights to the song moves to the buyers digital wallet on the Vezt app.
The song rights are then stored in Vezt’s blockchain, from which royalties will be distributed to the buyer and allow them to store their profits on the app. Buyers should expect a small fee of at least 5 percent to transfer their profits from Vezt tokens, to another form of digital currency. CEO Steve Stewart is persistent in stating that Vezt is a “financial transaction platform”. He further elaborates, “we will at some point need be collecting banking information, credit card information, any type of information that is necessary for them to participate financially as a holder of the song rights”. Surely there is a high risk, low reward factor when jumping into any startup, but it seems Vezt at least understands this popular concern, and have gotten some important cosigns from some major artists in the business since launching their app.
In 2017, during the early stages of Vezt, the startup offered music fans outside of the United States an opportunity to own a small portion of the rights to the famous “Jodeci Freestyle” by Grammy award winning rapper Drake. Vezt has aligned themselves with savvy business minded individuals, who view the music game as a hustle, and make it a priority to squeeze out everything they feel is deserved. Nipsey Hussle for example, is one of the most respected artists in Hip Hop, not solely due to his incredible penmanship and vivid music discography. The Crenshaw native has been on the front line of a fight that many artist claim to also be fighting—which is the fight for artists to own all of the rights to their music and publishing, receiving every penny they deserve, while betting on their fans to support them throughout that journey.
In 2013, the Los Angeles rapper sold his mixtape Crenshaw, for $100 per copy. A bold, yet strategic move to not only bet on himself and his supporters—but a move that showed music labels that he was willing to do the groundwork himself by cutting out the middle man, setting his own price points, and eventually reaping the benefits from this calculated gamble. Hussel only made available 1,000 copies of Crenshaw, and proceeded to sell every single CD, making $100,000 all in one day. (Jay Z bought 100 copies of the CD). By having a bold business mind like Nipsey Hussle on board, who surely understands the importance of artist prioritizing ownership rights to their music, Vezt could ease a lot of artists and fans minds as it pertains to their app.
Recently on November 2, 2018, Vezt issued its first payment to Hip-Hop producer, and one half of the rap group, The Cool Kids, Chuck Inglish. The Michigan producer/rapper received $8,272 from Vezt, after allowing fans to invest in a portion of his songwriter royalty rights for two Mac Miller records that he produced. (“Wear My Hat” and ‘Gees”). Its important to note that Chuck and his group mate Sir Michael Rocks are all too familiar with record label deals going sour. They both have touched on this topic in many of their collective and individual projects, as well as interviews they have done over the years. Certainly everything has come full circle for Chuck with this groundbreaking milestone with Vezt as a partner.
When it comes to blockchain technology investments, it's in your best interest to do your own research to get an individual feel for exactly where you foresee your investment. There are many articles that give a step-by-step process on how to effectively get something out of a startup, but essentially there's always a risk—especially if you only see a get-rich-quick scheme. Vezt is still in the beta stages on the app, and isn't available in some countries just yet—but the app is available in the Apple Store and Google Play, giving American fans, brands and purchasers a chance to get on board early. If we take a step back and look at the direction the music business is heading digitally, Vezt have astutely positioned themselves to be the first blockchain to revolutionize how business with artists, labels, and even fans will take shape in the near future.
Jon Olangi is a senior editor and writer at TTT Media, where he covers culture.