No, it’s not a mind-bending collaborative single. Instead, together they’ve each earned millions in recent months by selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs), paid for in online crypto-currency.
This has sparked media and music industry buzz, but for many outside the bubble these terms still feel alien – causing eyes to glaze over in confusion.
In fact, non-fungible simply means unique. The token acts as a digital certificate of ownership for whatever the creator, in this case a musician, decides to put up for sale. This can be anything from a single traditional album, to a bundle including extras such as gig tickets and exclusive bonus tracks.
Fans buy NFTs through crypto-currency – online money that includes a record of who owns what, stored on a shared ledger known as the blockchain. The advantage for the artist is that they set the terms and can embed “smart contracts” that ensure a slice of any resale value.
