- The new Kings of Leon album When You See Yourself is released today on NFT as well as traditional streaming platforms
- The album is the first ever to be minted as an NFT
- The Kings of Leon news will help establish NFTs as a legitimate alternative to music streaming services
Nashville rock outfit Kings of Leon are today releasing their new album When You See Yourself, but this is no ordinary album release – it’s the first ever to be released on NFT. The Grammy-winning outfit will launch on regular digital music services like Spotify and Apple Music, but also as a NFT through blockchain-based streaming platform YellowHeart. The event is probably the biggest acknowledgement to date of the NFT movement, which finally seems to have outgrown the Cryptokitties debacle of 2017.
NFT World Broadens Horizons
To date, the overwhelming majority of NFT-related activity has been in the visual art space, but there has been an underground movement made up of DJs and producers that has now spilled over into the mainstream with the Kings of Leon news. The move is great news for the NFT space as it adds an air of legitimacy to it and may inspire other artists to adopt the new medium in the months and years ahead.
Along with releasing the album, YellowHeart is also offering two other packages to NFT users – an auction for six “golden tickets” that will include perks such as four front row tickets to any Kings of Leon show for life and a second package that features six individual art pieces celebrating the release of When You See Yourself and the band’s legacy. These easter eggs will further entice new users to the platform and could usher in a whole new way of rewarding fans, something that sports clubs around the world have already started doing.
Mixed Response to Kings of Leon Release
Responses to the Kings of Leon NFT album release were unsurprisingly mixed. Given that this is a new technology there are plenty out there who are quick to dismiss it, although among them will be many who were early adopters of digital music which received its own backlash in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
On Friday, Kings of Leon will release their new album, titled When You See Yourself, in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT) — becoming the first band to ever do so. https://t.co/drSINP99Kf
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) March 3, 2021
Rolling Stone broke the news on Wednesday and posted about the event in great detail, with the responses to their tweets ranging from confusion to complaints about the environmental impact of blockchain technology. Hopefully as the space matures and more artists join Kings of Leon aboard the NFT train, skeptics will realize what these platforms can offer and will see that the NFT package represents more than just the music.
