Rihanna producer sells ‘Bitch Better Have My Money’ royalties as NFTs

A small fraction of the royalties from Rihanna’s smash hit song “Bitch Better Have My Money” has just been redistributed to 205 people via 300 Ethereum NFTs in a collection that sold out on Thursday, according to the Etherscan contract data.

Jamil “Deputy” Pierre – who produced Rihanna’s 2015 track with co-producer Kanye West – appears to have enlisted the help of European-based crypto startup AnotherBlock to sell 0.99% of the streaming royalty rights to the song which 300 NFTs.

Each blockchain token signifies ownership over 0.0033% royalty rights to the song, promises “lifetime” ownership of that portion of the copyright, and gives the holders the percentage of streaming rights from the master recording.

AnotherBlock’s coin for the Rihanna song sold out quickly on Thursday, generating $63,000 in revenue. A valuation of $210 per 0.0033% of the song theoretically gives a total value of $6.36 million to the song’s streaming royalties.

It is unclear what percentage of the royalty the deputy still retained privately after the sale, as the signed NFT Ownership Agreement published to the website does not provide details of the deputy’s total holdings. The deputy has not yet responded Decryptits request for comment, but a source familiar with royalty splits in the traditional music industry said Decrypt that a total royalty cut for a producer is typically less than 5% for a given song.

Pursuant to the agreement, the proxy contracted AnotherBlock to manage the NFT coin on his behalf. The contract also allows for the secondary sale of the NFTs and requires the proxy to pay NFT holders their percentage of any streaming royalties earned no less than twice a year.

AnotherBlock’s website estimates the “likely” NFT holder return for the Rihanna song to be approximately 6.5% per year, which equates to payments of approximately $13.65 a year. This means that it would take an original buyer approximately 15 years to recoup their initial investment, suggesting that this decline is more likely to be interpreted as news Web3 experience for Rihanna fans rather than a real financial investment.

But selling a percentage of the music rights as NFTs is not a new concept. For example, Justin “3LAU” Blau’s Web3 music platform Royal raised $16 million in 2021 and launched his expected marketplace for music rights in November 2022. Royal reports that they have since paid out over $132,000 in royalties to their NFT collectors.

Rihanna’s label Roc Nation has yet to respond Decryptits request for comment.