Web3 music platform Royal is letting fans bet on their favorite musicians

As Justin Blau, he’s a co-founder of Web3 music platform Royal. As 3LAU, he’s an electronic music artist whose songs and remixes have racked up hundreds of millions of total streams. 

So how does an established artist adopt Web3 music ideals? For Blau, his answer was to start Royal, a Web3 music marketplace where fans can invest in NFTs representing a share in a song’s royalties and eventually profit if the song becomes a hit. 

“Historically, you know, fans, listeners, believers, all alike have only been able to consume music,” said Blau. “They have never been able to share in the ownership of music.”

Royal also allows artists to bundle in VIP experiences or extra perks with their NFTs, creating a tight-knit community around their fans and supporters. Curious investors can pay using crypto or a credit card, which lowers the barrier to entry for anyone crypto newbies. 

“I think it's a really exciting time even given the changes in the market because we're seeing the most innovation happen now,” said Blau. “We're seeing more people engage with the space than ever before.”

To date, Royal has helped artists raise over $2.5 million and has paid out over $155k in royalties to collectors. The platform has attracted mainstream artists like The Chainsmokers, Nas, Diplo, Vérité, and others. In opposition to Spottie’s approach, Blau doesn’t just want to give synthetic ownership of a digital asset, but rather enable fans to own the real upside of a song’s future success. 

“Royal then became an extension of what I felt people wanted, which was to feel real ownership in something, not just synthetic ownership,” said Blau. “Music is inherently different than art, than space, than in-game assets, because by nature it is invisible. And so the way that we own music is just a little bit different.”

You can watch our full interview with Justin Blau above, and watch our full episode on Web3 music here.