Serenade and Warner to release chart-eligible NFT release of new Muse album
Company news Digital
By Chris Cooke | Published Monday, August 1, 2022
Music NFT start-up Serenade has announced a partnership with Warner Music – and the official UK and Australian music chart compilers – which will see a special NFT-based digital release of the new Muse album – ‘Will Of The People’ – made available later this month, and sales of these will count towards the new record’s overall chart position.
Referencing the chart-eligible NFT-enabled release as a “digital pressing”, Serenade says the standalone digital product aims to “satisfy a superfan’s appetite for scarcity, exclusive content and community recognition”. And in case you were wondering, yes, the digital pressing will “live on the blockchain and offer Web3 features like verifiable ownership and the ability to trade on secondary markets”.
Following the alliance with Warner on ‘Will Of The People’ digital pressing, the NFT firm says it will be “committed to supporting and empowering any artist” who similarly wishes to release a stand-alone chart-eligible NFT-based release, adding: “Unlike vinyl production which requires significant expense and a current lead time of six to nine months, there are no costs associated with making a digital press and turnaround time can be less than two weeks.”
Commenting on the new NFT format, Serenade founder Max Shand says: “As a single, standardized and chart-eligible format, digital prints will be a game changer on the global stage and we would not have been able to to achieve this without the support of the visionary teams at Warner Records, the [UK] The Official Charts Company and the Australian Recording Industry Association, all of whom want to give artists every opportunity to bring creativity and innovation to their campaigns.”
On the first release using that format, he continues: “I’ve always been a huge fan of Muse, so I’m incredibly excited that they’ll be the first artist to release a digital pressing of Serenade”.
Sebastian Simone, VP of Audience & Strategy at Warner Records UK, adds: “We are EXCITED to be working with Serenade and the Official Charts Company on the first chart-accredited NFT album format. Muse has always been at the forefront of technological innovation and was one of the first music artists to pioneer Web3 back in 2020. Their fans have an appetite for collectibles and this format brings them closer to Muse than ever before, driving them to a new room and offers a completely unique experience”.
And Official Charts Company boss Martin Talbot chimes in: “Over its seven decades, the Official Charts have always sought to keep up with the times, reflecting the consumption of new formats and all new ways of distributing music as they have developed themselves”.
“Just as vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs and even MiniDisc, DCC and DAT have been welcomed into the charts,” he continues, “we will also welcome non-fungible tokens – and we will be happy when the first album delivered as an NFT contributes to the chart, with Serenade and Muse leading the way this summer”.
