Let's be honest here. NFTs have exploded.
All of a sudden there is more interest, more collecting, and of course more questions.
"What is an NFT? What exactly am I buying? What can I do with my NFT?"
On the visual arts side, our answer is our free Apple TV app, the New Tabs browser extension, as well as upcoming display partners to showcase your artwork in the physical world. Remember, programmable artwork is more powerful when more eyes on are on it.
And on the music side, we’re introducing a brand new feature to answer those questions: Limited Edition Recordings
For the first time, music fans can purchase a Blank Record and USE it to record the current state of an Async Music track to make their own NFT recording. Similar to taking home a unique, one-of-a-kind memorabilia from a live show, they are stamping a historical moment in time on the blockchain.
This feature allows more collectors to get involved with a musician’s works as it will be priced at more accessible levels, have a credit card purchase option, and encourages re-engagement with the music.
But most importantly, in typical Async fashion, it adds never-before-seen functionality to NFTs.
How Limited Editions Work
At launch, we are releasing 3 tiers of Limited Editions: Platinum, Gold, and Silver. There are rarity, cosmetic, and pricing differences between the tiers, to appeal to all kinds of collectors. The Limited Editions all start off as Blank Records, NFTs minted as ERC-1155s.
When their owner hears a combination that they like on the Master Track, they can press the “Record” button on the in-browser player.
On the backend, the user is essentially “burning” the ERC-1155 token and minting a new, personalized ERC-721 token. The new Recording NFT will come with all the metadata, the current mix of the Master Track audio and artwork, the current owners, and even the block height it was minted on. They are creating their own 1/1 Async NFT, and the best part is, Async pays for the minting.
Our launch artists as well as the Async team sincerely believe that art and its expression should not be limited by transactional fees. While we wait for proof-of-stake on Ethereum and explore more lightweight blockchains, we want to do what we can to encourage artists and collectors to enjoy programmable music.
Once the Recording mint is requested, it will show up after a couple of days in the user’s wallet and their collections page. All recordings of a song will also show up directly below the live track in our Music Player. This allows people to peruse historical states of any song, curated by the community.
How to Purchase a Blank Record
1) Click on Music from either our Home Banner or top nav bar
2) Click “View Details” as you hover over a music album
3) Click on “Purchase Edition” after the description & metadata
4) Pick which edition you’d like to purchase, and which payment method you’d like to use. Please note that Blank Records purchased via credit card will not be available to sell or trade for ~45 days, but you can still use them to record on Async right away.
We could not be more excited to see how the fans will engage with their favorite Async music. Launch day is right around the corner, so tune in to Twitter and Discord to get the latest updates.
