#Muse new album update#
He says the Muse release did not force an update of the OCC’s chart-eligibility rules, it will be the first that meets the entry criteria. “There has been loads of noise about NFTs being the future of music, the future of entertainment, the future of ownership,” says Martin Talbot, chief executive of the OCC. The UK’s Official Charts Company (OCC) made NFT albums eligible for the charts several months ago but this is the first release where the vendor, in this case Serenade, is approved as a chart-return digital retailer. If users have an existing crypto wallet, such as for BitCoin or Ethereum, they can use that.
After the purchase is made on Serenade’s website, a digital wallet is created and the NFT transferred to that wallet. Unlike with many NFTs, buyers will not require a crypto wallet. “What a fan wants is something simple and understandable but that gives them a sense of proximity to an artist and a sense of recognition from other fans,” he says. and Australian music markets.Serenade’s founder, Max Shand, describes the Muse release as “the black T-shirt of NFTs”, a utilitarian digital format that is straightforward to buy.
For this pilot launch, sales data will register on music charts in the U.K. For longtime Muse fans, this move is set to create an interesting parallel with the fellow English music group Radiohead, who famously broke convention when they released the long-awaited 2007 effort In Rainbows via a “pay what you want” digital download.Įach Digital Pressing of Will of the People - and all subsequent albums released under this format - will count toward one physical album sale on the charts. Spearheading the launch of this format is the English rock band Muse, who are set to launch their ninth studio album Will of the People on August 26 under this new format. According to Serenade’s press release, “one average 12 vinyl has the equivalent carbon footprint of 197,100 Digital Pressings.” Digital Pressings are positioned as providing musicians opportunities to package their work similarly to how they would via a traditional vinyl release with none of the downsides.Īside from touting a two-week lead time, compared to the six to nine months required for a vinyl release, Digital Pressings could also be far more environmentally friendly. Shand spoke further on his vision for the Digital Pressing format in a Twitter thread, highlighting it as a means to further democratize the concept of the album release cycle for musicians across the globe. I thought I’d share what a Digital Pressing is, and our vision for its future ?- Max Shand ?,? August 1, 2022 Speaking on the potential impact of this new music format, Serenade founder Max Shand stated in a press release that “Digital Pressings will be a game changer on the global stage,” expressing that this new format allows artists to “offer their international audiences something truly unique and engaging,” Shand said.ġ/ Today we announced Serenade’s newest offering, the Digital Pressing. And it comes on the heels of including digital downloads and digital streams as part of Billboard’s methodology for creating music charts that accurately represent the popular music of the times. And this will be the first of its kind - a chart-eligible music NFT explicitly aimed toward the most ardent of fans, according to a press release shared with nft now.ĭigital Pressing is a new chart-eligible music format that hopes to offer music fans worldwide all of the perks of a physical release, along with the convenience of traditional digital downloads. Together, they’ve announced a new music format: the Digital Pressing. And, since the music NFT marketplace Serenade partnered with Warner Records U.K., that trend will likely continue, at scale. The music industry has undergone seismic shifts in the past 20 years, but it lives on today as a largely digital industry. It turns out, Napster and Limewire were just the beginning.