Again within the crypto haze of 2021 when NFTs had been the long run, Steve Aoki and Justin “3LAU” Blau emerged because the foremost devotees of all issues blockchain in mainstream digital music.
The pair at the moment are taking their decade-long friendship a step additional by forming PUNX, a supergroup with a Web3 slant. Although explicitly not an NFT challenge, PUNX anticipates doubtlessly intertwining their music with blockchain tech. It guarantees to stage each in-person and metaverse experiences, presumably generally concurrently. PUNX plans to launch music and start packing stadiums in 2023.
“PUNX sits on the intersection of music and Web3, drawing on Aoki and 3LAU’s collective expertise,” the group introduced in a press release launched by way of Shore Hearth Media. “Aoki and 3LAU’s shared love for bloghouse and electro music together with their ardour for CryptoPunks’s pixelated cyberpunk world led them to create their model new PUNX”.
One certainty is the inclusion of CryptoPunks, the gathering of 10,000 pixelated characters that grew to become probably the most sought-after digital belongings final yr. Each DJs are collectors with Blau holding CryptoPunk #6708 and Aoki holding six of the NFTs. PUNX presents itself as the primary musicians to make use of the CryptoPunks IP, a reference to the choice by Larva Labs to supply IP licenses to all CryptoPunks holders.
Past changing into one of many globe’s most in-demand DJs, Aoki has constructed up appreciable NFT credentials. In 2021, he dropped his Dream Catcher NFTs alongside digital artist Antoni Tudisco. He was later chosen by Sotheby’s as a part of its Up to date Curated sequence and most lately created A0K1VERSE, an NFT membership neighborhood.
Blau’s personal NFT journey has been extra music-focused. 3LAU has generated greater than $20 million in main gross sales by way of the tokenization of his personal music, most notably by way of 2021’s Ultraviolet launch of 33 NFTs, which marked the third anniversary of his debut album. In early 2022, he launched Royal, an NFT market for music royalty rights.
“Over the previous couple of years we’ve navigated the insane world of Web3 collectively,” the supergroup stated within the assertion. “We will’t wait to share with the world a brand new sound and the entire loopy concepts we’ve been cooking up within the studio.”
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