Jacob Lee may be more commonly known for busking the streets of Surfers Paradise as a teenager and competing on The X-Factor and The Voice in his youth, but he is now paving the way for artists to share their music in innovative ways.
Jacob Lee is what one would subjectively call a successful independent artist: Having released two studio albums, a bucketload of EPs, creating Philosophical Records and the Lowly Labs brands. He certainly isn’t a stranger to branching out.
His latest endeavour? Becoming one of the first creators of music NFTs in the world, which has scored him over $80,000 in five months. He hopes to share his experiences with other independent artists with the aim of helping them reach more audiences with higher success rates.
But what on Earth is an NFT, or non-fungible token?
"To be concise, NFTs are digital collectibles," Jacob said. "I'll try and refrain from going down the rabbit hole, but simply, NFTs are transforming the manner in which we consume and collect music. The infrastructure allows artists to tokenize their songs, and create digitally-verifiable assets listeners can own. It completely shifts the way an artist interacts with their fans."
So you can continually get streams with your catalog but you can also make the song or the album a collectible, digitally.
Jacob has done this with his own music, creating the Conscience Cards, an entire digital archive of his music, and Lowly’s Library of Lyricism. Each individual project has provided him with a means to create a digital token of his music and then sell this token to a member of the community, providing them with an investment item they can later sell as well as access to exclusive content.
"One of the elements which excites me most, is the ability to turn a fan-base into a community. You'll often find NFT holders changing their profile picture and using the graphic as a temporary identity, accompanied by an alias. When you hold an NFT, you're instantly regarded as a full-fledged member of that group, which is often locked and exclusive. You can imagine how musicians and artists are eventually going to use these mechanics to provide exclusive content, free merchandise, and other utility to their listeners," Jacob said.
“I guess it can trigger this element of scarcity”.
This new method of distributing music is creating a divide between the traditional streaming method and digital ownership in the form of a multi-modal token. Jacob Lee still dabbles in both, and finds this is the best way to reach a wide range of audiences.
"At this point in time there seems to be a divide in web2 (regular social media), and web3 (NFTs and blockchain) audiences. The marketing strategies are completely different, they're almost the opposite".
Music NFTs haven’t taken off in Australia yet, but Jacob aims to change that. His biggest struggle is getting the older generations keen on the idea of digital ownership rather than physical.
"I think people 25 and over struggle with this concept because they weren't brought up in it. Most still consider collectibles exclusively physica," he says.
"The new generation, however, know nothing else. They're fully accustomed to world building games like Minecraft, Fortnite and Roblox, purchasing skins which increase their online reputation. Digital ownership isn't just something which will exist in the future, it's already here. It's the collective mentality which needs to catch up".
NFTs provides young independent artists with a platform to share their music and gain a niche following without the pressures of being signed to a big label. Jacob’s key advice to up-and-coming artists is to:
Educate Yourself on Web3 and join a community
"As in every facet of life, there are those with good and bad intentions. Do your research and be careful. There are scammers all over the place, just as there are in the web2 ecosystem, and because the NFT infrastructure is still being built out, there are endless opportunities for people to pull the wool over your eyes. Most of the intellectual conversations exist in Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse right now. Join those rooms, ask questions and you'll find yourself educated in no time."
Release as much content as you can
"Burnout is real. Find a team who supports you, either professionally or emotionally (Ideally, both). The amount of content that creatives strive to release is often unsustainable, so make sure you prioritise longevity in everything you do, not just NFTs."
Network, Network, Network!
"When they say it's not what you know, it's who you know, they're telling the truth. This statement is even more accurate in the NFT sphere. Make friends and network with everyone you can, they'll bring you to places you wouldn't be able to get to otherwise. Also, as a side note, reply to your community as much as possible, it makes a difference."
Although social media and streaming services are going strong, watch this space Gold Coasters, there’s a new player in town and Jacob Lee can’t wait to be a part of it.