Soulja Boy Flop & Snoop Dogg Single Sale – Billboard

As the tech hype shifts from crypto to AI, the Web3 space is left to try to figure out sustainable use cases for NFTs and blockchain technology. Progress is being made through shared streaming royalties, Web3 fan clubs unlocking exclusive content, and a new wave of independent artists finding their first supporters and early fans by releasing their music on the chain.

But Web3 still attracts cash and sometimes outright fraud. This mix of good and bad was reflected in April when many independent artists stood shoulder to shoulder with Snoop Dogg in terms of sales – but the month was marred by a rushed Soulja Boy NFT that was removed from the major platforms.

Overall, April was the worst month for NFT volume (in ETH terms) on popular trading platform OpenSea since July 2021, and this weakness was reflected in the music NFT market. Volume across the 10 largest projects yielded 278.4 ETH, down from 381 ETH in March. In dollars, it is $509,714, compared to March’s $697,393. Based on analysis of sales data from 19 different NFT platforms, independent releases combined with secondary sales volume on OpenSea, here are the top 10 best-selling music NFTs and compilations in March 2023.

1/ Soulja Boy – 3D Game NFT (delisted by OpenSea)
Monthly trading volume: 114 ETH ($208,734)
Primary Sales (March): N/A
Secondary Sale: 114 ETH ($208,734)
Delivery date: 6 April

After Soulja Boy was charged in March with promoting cryptocurrencies without SEC disclosure, the rapper dropped a series of NFTs, with a collection removed by OpenSea for copyright infringement.

Soulja Boy released a collection of 500 3D NFTs that promised to unlock exclusive extras in his upcoming video game. The NFTs sold out within hours, generating 68 ETH ($124,508), but the collection was later taken down by leading NFT platform OpenSea because the artwork contained the Ferrari logo – a copyright violation. The NFTs still exist on the Ethereum blockchain, but cannot be traded or sold by holders. A second collection followed (without the Ferrari logo) and generated 10 ETH ($18,310) volume, and a third pixel art collection generated 36 ETH ($65,916).

The NFT community hit back at Soulja Boy not only for the fumbling NFT projects, but for pocketing as much as $730,000 over the past few years to promote crypto and NFT – many of which turned out to be scams.

2/ Snoop Dogg – Various collections
Monthly trading volume: 39,896 ETH ($73,049)
Primary Sale (March): 5,775 ETH
Secondary sale: 34,121 ETH
Drop date: various

A rare Snoop Dogg NFT – the “golden egg” from his XYZ track – sold for 20 ETH in April, the highest price paid for a single music NFT on Web3 music platform Sound.xyz. “Golden egg” is a unique 1/1 collectible associated with the song within the larger collection of 10,000. Golden eggs are often highly valued by music collectors on the platform. Snoop Dogg also added another song, Let Me Hit That, to Sound.xyz last month, bringing in another 5.74 ETH ($10,509), while his “Bacc on Death Row” NFT compilation generated 14 ETH ($25,634) in trade volume on OpenSea.

See the collection at Sound.xyz.

3/ Deafbeef
Monthly trading volume: $61,314
Primary Sales (March): $46,000
Secondary sales: $15,314
Delivery date: March 2021

Deafbeef is a music project valued as art by many in the Web3 area. It’s a collection of generative music, created by an algorithm, and coded to exist on a 10-year-old computer by musician Deafbeef. Stamped right onto the Ethereum blockchain at the moment of creation, it represents an experimental art form only possible through Web3, and is considered one of the most important early NFT experiments. These rare objects are often referred to as “grails” and thought of as works of art. A single edition changed hands for $46,000 last month, while Deafbeef also sold another piece at auction for $15,314.

See the collection at OpenSea.

4/ KINGDOM – “Key card”
Monthly trading volume: 23 ETH ($42,113)
Primary Sales (March): N/A
Secondary sale: 23 ETH
Delivery date: May 2022

Bored Ape Supergroup has become a regular part of the monthly roundup with another month of strong trading volume on OpenSea through April. KINGSHIP recently launched a way for holders to generate rewards called “Crowns” by participating in the community, which they can use to purchase exclusive items and NFTs via a new auction system.

See the collection at OpenSea.

5/ PLS&TY – “New color”
Monthly trading volume: $37,229
Primary Sales (March): $37,229
Secondary Sales: N/A
Delivery date: 27 April

PLS&TY is a prolific EDM producer with hundreds of millions of streams across his music on YouTube and Spotify. He is also an early adopter in the NFT space. The producer’s latest collection on GALA Music – a Web3 music platform that Snoop Dogg called home for Death Row Records with multiple NFT drops from artists on the label – generated $37,229 with a collection of 300 audiovisual NFTs.

See the collection at OpenSea.

6/ X Li – “think I’m in love with you”
Monthly trading volume: 20,121 ETH ($36,841)
Primary sale (March): 20,121 ETH
Secondary Sales: N/A
Delivery date: 26 April

LA indie singer X Li exploded onto the Web3 music scene in April with a heartbreaking ballad – a departure from the typical EDM and hip-hop sounds dominating the space. The track quickly rocketed to the top three 3 most collected songs on Sound.xyz with over 4000 mints. X Li previously worked with Sony Music Entertainment China, but is now embracing Web3 and building a music community called Liberal Mafias.

See the collection at Sound.xyz.

7/ Violetta Zironni – “Another Life”
Monthly trading volume: 11 ETH ($20,141)
Primary Sales (March): N/A
Secondary sale: 11 ETH
Delivery date: 20 February

Italian singer-songwriter Violetta Zironi launched an NFT compilation, Another Life – an EP comprising five tracks and 5,500 unique profile picture illustrations. Holders get access to virtual shows, live concerts and the opportunity to use the songs for their own projects. The project was launched in February, but continued to generate strong secondary sales through April.

See the collection at OpenSea.

8/ LNRZ – “Satellites”
Monthly trading volume: 6.3 ETH ($11,535)
Primary sale (March): 6.3 ETH
Secondary Sales: N/A
Delivery date: 21 April

LNRZ is a music collective founded by Reo Cragun, a pioneering artist in the Web3 music space and vocalist on Flume’s EP “Quits”. The collective is known for releasing NFT music every week through curated drops with selected artists, but in April they released their first original work. Satellites is a six-track album featuring five new musicians who came together at a song camp in Las Vegas. The LNRZ community voted on the price, supply and rarity structure of the NFT drop, which sold out 1,250 copies in 24 hours.

See the collection at Sound.xyz.

9/ Culture Code, Araya & RUNN – “After all”
Monthly trading volume: ~$9,697
Primary Sales (March): ~$9,697
Secondary Sales: N/A
Delivery date: 10 April

After All is a dreamy electronic track that has received 800,000 streams since its release in February. DJ and producer duo Culture Code sold a percentage of the track’s streaming royalties via music rights platform Royal. The pair sold approximately 100 gold tokens yielding 0.1228% ownership each, and three diamond chips at $899 each yielding 1.6204%.

See the collection at Royal.

10/ Illenium – “Illenium Fire, Ice & Ash” digital deluxe album
Monthly trading volume: $8,908
Primary Sales (March): $8,908
Secondary Sales: N/A
Delivery date: 27 April

DJ and producer Illenium entered the top 10 in March with a Web3 access pass that gave access to a fan club run by technology company Medallion. He returned in April with the release of a digital deluxe album, available in three limited editions, only to the fan club. Fans who own the first two editions can unlock the ultra-exclusive third edition, or two fans can team up to unlock the third.

Only available to fan club members.

Methodology: The chart was compiled using data from primary music NFT sales across 19 different NFT platforms, independent releases and combined with secondary volume data from OpenSea. Data was captured between April 1 – April 30, 2023. Crypto to US dollar conversion rates were calculated on April 30.

Disclaimer: The author owns NFTs from LNRZ and Snoop Dogg, but the above list is based on sales data only.