The Recording Academy has struck a deal to release NFT collectibles for the next three Grammy Awards with NFT platform OneOf, the organization tells Billboard.
Details on the collection, which will include digital collectibles and experiences celebrating Grammy winners and nominees, will be unveiled in January. The Recording Academy says a portion of the proceeds from the NFT sales will go to its scholarship fund.
OneOf is billed as an environmentally friendly NFT platform designed specifically with the music industry in mind. The platform doesn’t charge its artist and creator partners any minting fees to create NFTs — which can be expensive when you’re minting hundreds or thousands of NFTs — and the company says it uses 2 million times less energy than blockchain networks like Ethereum, the network most NFTs utilize. (OneOf operates on the Tezos blockchain protocol.) OneOf also accepts credit and debit cards, which should lower the barrier of entry for the average fan.
“In considering a NFT partner, we were committed to working with a like-minded organization that had an artist-first approach and we have undoubtedly found that in OneOf,” Panos A. Panay, co-president of the Recording Academy said in a statement. “As an Academy, we are always looking for ways to help artists discover new forms of creative expression, while also creating new ways of income generation and ways for fans to interact with the artists that they love. OneOf shares that vision, and we are proud to work with a sustainable NFT company.”
The exclusive partnership will cover the 64th, 65th and 66th Annual Grammy Awards, a win for the NFT upstart which is backed by Quincy Jones. OneOf has already locked up partnerships with the iHeartRadio Music Festival as its official collectibles partner and notable artists including Doja Cat and The Game have released NFTs on the platform. Alesso, Charlie Puth, H.E.R. and Jacob Collier have also signed on to release NFTs through OneOf. The startup raised $63 million in seed funding earlier this year.
“If used to their full potential, NFTs will empower the music industry in a way few other technologies ever have,” Lin Dai, Adam Fell and Joshua James, Co-Founders of OneOf said in a statement. “It is our great honor to work with this prestigious organization to help shepherd this bright future to the industry.”
