Snoop Dogg and a16z back Web3 startup Sound in US$20 million round

The music Web3-project Sound has raised US$20 million in a Series A round led by the crypto arm of venture fund a16z.

Among other investors are rapper Snoop Dogg, actor Ashton Kutcher, producer Ryan Tedder, musician Tay Keith, as well as Palm Tree Crew, A Capital, Collab + Currency and Scalar Capital.

The Sound aims to create a new business model for musicians, distinct from traditional streaming services. The platform enables artists to turn their songs into non-fungible tokens (NFT) for direct-to-fan sales.

“We urge creators, not platforms or labels, to set a price on their music and sell it directly to fans. Artists are paid instantly, and they can see the list of the most devoted supporters on each track. This is a huge advance in the music industry since the era of streaming,” according to the project’s press release.

Co-founder David Greenstein noted that with the advent of music services, the average listener gained access to a wide catalogue, but artists’ earnings declined. For example, on Spotify artists earn roughly $0.003 per stream.

Users will be able to choose how much they pay for a track. In turn, authors will be able to set a minimum price for a song. Representatives said that musicians receive 100% of earnings and retain all copyrights.

According to the company’s estimates, in 2022 the artists testing the platform earned a total of $5.5 million in royalties. The service is now open to all performers.

In February 2023, Spotify began testing a playlist service accessible via NFT wallets.

In the same month, Web3 startup Arpeggi Labs announced plans to raise $11 million to develop a free platform for creating and releasing tracks in NFT format.

In April, the Gala Music project unveiled an unreleased version of David Bowie’s Let’s Dance as part of a limited NFT collection.