Sound.xyz: Over 1 Million Minted Songs
The Future of Onchain Applications
👋🏽 Hello everyone, gm gm, WELCOME BACK to another edition of the Overpriced JPEGs newsletter!
What you’ll read below is a newsletter published by Kyle Reidhead from Web3 Academy, who have joined up with us to write + curate in-depth, quality content directly in your inbox!
As always, if you enjoy this one, let us know by replying to this email! Let’s get into it.
What will the onchain world look like in 10 years? 👀
Will we still need to connect wallets, approve transactions, bridge assets and care about which blockchain we’re using?
DEFINITELY NOT!
If we do then web3 will be dead. 💀
I am certain that all of these clunky web3 features that we’re dealing with today will be abstracted away from users, offering a frictionless experience.
Why am I so certain? Because we already have onchain applications today that feel like your average web2 apps.
Sound.xyz is one of those apps.
Today, I wanted to put them under the microscope and observe the steps they’ve taken over the years to build an app that:
Hosts 1,300+ artists
Is used by 850,000 collectors
Has settled 1+ million mints
Has done $4.2 million in total minting volume
This is important for…
Users to get a clear vision of what the onchain world will look like
Builders to understand successful blueprints when building their own onchain apps
Investors to understand which apps and tokens are built to succeed
Let’s jam.
🎶 What is Sound?
Sound.xyz is a music platform that leverages blockchain technology to create a new way for artists and fans to connect through tokenized, limited edition releases of songs.
Here’s, more specifically why you should care:
Limited Edition Drops: Artists can release a limited number of tokens for a particular song. Fans who purchase these tokens become exclusive owners of that edition, similar to owning a limited edition vinyl.
Fan Engagement: Token owners might get special perks, like access to exclusive online events, Q&A sessions with the artist, or behind-the-scenes content.
Community Building: By owning a token, fans become part of a community centered around the artist. This can lead to discussions, fan art creation, and a deeper connection with the artist.
Resale Opportunities: Fans can resell their tokens on the blockchain, potentially at a higher value, especially if the artist becomes more popular.
Supporting Emerging Artists: This model can be particularly beneficial for emerging artists, who can directly monetize and engage a dedicated fan base without the need for traditional music industry infrastructure.
The Sound app has been in development for years, but opened up to everyone in July 2023.
Let’s look at what Sound has done to create an appealing application.
🚀 Build on an L2
Shortly before going live, Sound announced that they’re building on Optimism.
And last week, they announced they’re building on Base too.
Why? Because of the lower gas & faster transactions that an L2 offers.
In order to support millions of artists, and billions of users in the future, Sound, and every other onchain app need this scalability.
The only place you can find it right now is either L2s (Arbitrum, Base, Polygon) or Solana. Nothing else comes close!
🤳 Mobile-first
I don’t know about you, but whenever I listen to music, I use my phone. Although I have Spotify on my MacBook, I tend to never use it via laptop.
Mobile is a way better experience, which is why it’s key for onchain apps to build and optimize their mobile experience.
This has been a priority for Sound since the beginning. They launched an app before opening to the public.
Due to Apple's 30% fees on in-app purchases, Sound has restricted song minting to desktop only, with the minted songs accessible on the mobile app.
Discover more about how Sound and others like Uniswap, Axie Infinity, & StepN are circumventing Apple's restrictions in our newsletter.
Additionally, this week, Sound acquired Soho, a leading mobile app for digital collectors, built by a team from Meta, who’ll join forces with the Sound team to build out the mobile experience further.
💳 Pay with Card
Do you want everyone to use your onchain app? Allow people to pay with a debit or credit card!
On Sound, when you mint a song, you pay a small fee (to Sound & the artist) even if this is a free mint.
When doing this, you get to choose if you want to pay in $ETH or in FIAT using your card.
If you choose to pay in $ETH, you have 2 options:
Use your existing wallet (Coinbase, MetaMask, etc…)
Deposit $ETH to a wallet that Sound creates for you
If you choose to use your own wallet, but don’t have funds on the Optimism blockchain, you can use Sound’s native bridge to send $ETH (mainnet) to $ETH (Optimism).
This is a huge UX boost as you never have to leave the app to bridge your funds.
It’s more expensive to bridge via Sound versus other bridges like Matcha or Hop but most people won’t care since they care more about convenience.
Besides, if you want to, you can choose to never even use a wallet, and instead just use your email address & credit card.
🤑 Curator Rewards
If you’re building an onchain app, ask yourself: What features can you offer that aren’t possible in web2?
For Sound, this feature is rewarding curators.
How do most people find new songs? Via playlists!
Playlists are crucial for music discovery, underscoring the significance of curators putting them together.
On Sound, anyone can be a curator by sharing songs, creating playlists or by embedding songs and playlists into websites, blogs, or newsletters, and earn 5% from every primary mint generated from referral links.
This feature is not present in traditional web2 platforms where curators' contributions go unrewarded.
📣 Marketing Campaigns
Lastly, if you want your app to succeed, you need marketing. D’oh!
Here are a few examples that Sound used to spread awareness.
Partnership with Coinbase Wallet in which anyone who collects one of five songs earns $OP – this is a farming opportunity right now.
Getting big artists like Snoop Dogg to post exclusive tracks on Sound.
The V Buterin song by Optimism Collective, which went viral and gathered 732k mints.
🔮 Get a Glimpse of the Future of Onchain Apps
“Use the tech” – that’s what I said in our ‘Top 5 Tips for This Bull Market’ PRO report.
You can’t understand what the future of web3 holds unless you’re actively using it now!
With that in mind, I urge you to head to Sound.xyz, and:
1️⃣ Sign in & create your Sound profile
2️⃣ Make sure you’ve got some $ETH on Optimism to be able to collect a song — if you don’t, you can bridge directly on Sound
3️⃣ Collect a song on Sound
Once you collect a song, you can share it with others and you’ll get 5% revenue from all future collects coming from your referral link.
These 3 simple steps will take you up to 5 minutes to complete and you’ll get to experience the future of onchain apps.
Remember, the best way to make sense of this onchain world is to actually use it!
Take care my friends. 🫶
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not financial advice. Conduct your own research and consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions or taking any action based on the content.