Warner Music partners with OpenSea to give artists access to new Drops feature

Warner Music Group will be partnering with OpenSea to allow artists to engage with their fanbase through NFTs.

According to a Sept. 29 announcement, “select WMG artists” would be able to “build and extend their fan communities in web3.”

The selected artists will be given access to a new “drops product,” receive increased visibility, as well as personalized landing pages on the OpenSea website. OpenSea is also offering “dedicated support” for WMG artists, something that is not available to all content creators on the platform.

Artists selected by WMG will be given a “dedicated drop page to host limited-edition projects,” giving fans greater opportunities to engage with their favorite musicians.

Oana Ruxandra, Chief Digital Officer of WMG said,

“Fundamental to music’s DNA, is community – it’s artists and fans coming together to celebrate the music that they love. Our collaboration with OpenSea helps to facilitate these communities by unlocking Web3 tools and resources to build opportunities for artists to establish deeper engagement, access, and ownership.”

The first collection expected to be released by WMG on the OpenSea platform is in development through the UK arm of Warner Records in collaboration with Probably Nothing.

Warner Music is not a newcomer to web3 and stated that the OpenSea “collaboration marks the latest in a series of efforts to build out the music company’s expertise in the space. ”

Adam Levy from The Mint Podcast exclusively told CryptoSlate,

“From a macro perspective, this collaboration is a win simply because more capital and music will enter web3… A web3 “fan” is different from a web2 “fan” – It’s not about selling out a drop and making a buck, rather it’s about building a sustainable long-term relationship with collectors and ingraining them into the artist’s success.”

Joonatan Lintala, the CEO of web3 social media platform Phaver, was less enamored by the news telling CryptoSlate,

“It’s a very natural collaboration between two centralized parties that both act as gatekeepers in their industries, but the real impact of web3 and NFTs for artists will in the future be in cutting out middlemen like record labels and offering genuinely direct access to their fanbase.”

Lintala further commented that while this collaboration may not be the true vision of a decentralized future, “collabs such as this do bring welcome ways to bring NFT collectibles to a more mainstream audience.”

Traditional music companies making a more public move into the web3 arena could be viewed as a milestone for NFT adoption and offers a way for artists to receive direct royalties from their creations.

Updated Sept. 29, 6 pm BST to add commentary from Adam Levy and Joonatan Lintala.