How musicians can use Unlock
For musicians, Unlock Protocol (and other Web 3.0 tooling) enables many new ways to be supported by their community.
How musicians can use Unlock
For musicians, Unlock Protocol (and other Web 3.0 tooling) enables many new ways to be supported by their community. By selling “keys” (NFTs) to "locks" and integrating them with different services, musicians can do a number of unique things -- from allowing paywalled blog posts, to private Discord servers, to members-only access to docs and services across the web.
It’s part of a web 3.0 future where creators are empowered to fully own the connection with their audience, independent of particular platforms. For musicians, Unlock allows artists to be directly supported by their community and create a unique membership experience.
Jack Spallone recently wrote a blog post about 31 Ideas For Music + Crypto which contains many ideas that could be achieved with Unlock Protocol. Here are some of them.
NFTs as patronage
Similar to a platform like Patreon, you could represent tiers of membership or access with different NFTs created through Unlock. As an example, think of this like 3 levels of access you may provide on a platform like Patreon, except each tier is a different NFT for purchase -- allowing for patronage perks to be independent of any one platform.
Tokens as access
Locks through Unlock can allow fans and listeners to get access to songs, merch discounts, or even Google Docs. Is there a specific piece of content, knowledge, or media that your community would like to access? You can create NFTs as access passes without creating a full membership program.
Check this example by Zplit!
Retroactive airdrops
Musicians could airdrop Unlock NFT passes to their audience which can enable access to things like a library of material (samples, archives, stems), merch discounts, or early access.
Scarce music releases
Limit access to new or unreleased material for members that hold an Unlock NFT. Because Unlock allows you to specify a maximum number of a particular NFT that can be purchased, you can make a release as scarce or as available as you'd like.
NFTs + social tokens
If you are an artist that uses a social token, Unlock locks could be used in coordination with them. For instance, you could reward the most loyal holders of your social token with a special Unlock NFT. Or, you could gift your social token to people that purchase memberships through Unlock.
Create a virtual venue
Through a Decentraland integration, you can create a virtual venue that allows members to join -- and even buy access at the door!
Learn more here and see an example using Unlock here.
Other Integration Ideas
- Gate blog content on your website (webflow, wordpress)
- Gate access to soundcloud or audius links and tracks
- Added perks (zoom meetings, guest list spots, etc)
Photo credit by Gabriel