Here Are the Biggest Music NFTs in November: Indie Artists Take Spotlight in Shock Month for Crypto

November 2022 in the crypto world will forever be marked by the collapse and bankruptcy of FTX — formerly the second-largest crypto exchange. The shockwave rippled through every inch of the Web3 ecosystem, even dragging Coachella into the collateral damage with up to $1.5 million of Coachella NFTs paralyzed on the FTX exchange.

Unsurprisingly, NFT volumes are down across the board. OpenSea’s volume dipped to just $253 million — the lowest in almost 18 months. Across the ten biggest music NFT projects tracked by Billboard in November, sales volume is down 72% in ETH terms (585.2 ETH) and down 78% in dollar terms ($743,181) compared to a strong October.

While November lacked any large Web3 music project launch, the independent scene in Web3 took the spotlight. Sound.xyz — one of the leading platforms for independent music NFTs — saw a record number of drops as well as record new wallets and active collectors (although pure dollar sales are still well off the highs). Meanwhile, several independent artists generated large sales volume through self-released projects. For that reason, seven of the top ten music projects last month came from fully independent Web3 native artists.

Based on analysis of sales data from 19 different NFT platforms, independent releases combined with secondary sales volume on OpenSea, here are the 10 biggest-selling music NFTs and collections in November 2022.

1/ Deafbeef
Monthly trading volume: 205 ETH ($260,350 at month-end conversion rate)
Primary sales (Nov.): N/A
Secondary sales: 205 ETH
Drop date: March 2021

Deafbeef is a vintage synth project with a twist. The entire collection is ‘generative’, which means the music was created by an algorithm, and coded into existence on a 10-year old computer by musician Deafbeef.

Released back in March 2021, the collection is considered one of the most important early projects among crypto collectors. Minted straight to the Ethereum blockchain at the moment of creation, it represents an experimental artform only possible through Web3. These rare items are often referred to as “grails” and thought of like art pieces. There were only two sales in November — one at 30 ETH ($38,100) and one at 175 ETH ($222,250) but that was enough to take the top spot.

View the collection on OpenSea.

2/ KINGSHIP – “Key Cards” / “Kurt the Roadie”
Monthly trading volume: 127 ETH ($161,290)
Primary sales (Nov.): N/A
Secondary sales: 127 ETH
Drop date: May 2022

The Bored Ape supergroup put together by Universal’s Web3 label 10:22PM stays in the top ten for the sixth month running. The project triggered a wave of new trading activity in November after dropping a free NFT — Kurt the Roadie — to all holders. Kurt is an animated flamingo character, hired by the band to join them on tour, according to the story. The roadie also grants holders access to the “tower” and will fly them to the “floating villa” in the elaborate KINGSHIP map.

The main KINGSHIP collection generated 61 ETH ($77.4k) in volume while the new Kurt the Roadie collection generated 66 ETH ($83.8k) as fans swapped and traded their favorite traits and rare features, some of which were designed by James Fauntleroy — the Grammy-winning producer working on the music for KINGSHIP alongside Hitboy.

View the collection on OpenSea.

3/ Violetta Zironi – “Moonshot” / “Gypsy Heart”
Monthly trading volume: 56 ETH ($71,120)
Primary sales (Nov.): 30 ETH
Secondary sales: 26 ETH
Drop date: April 2022

Singer-songwriter Violetta Zironi continues to be one of the most consistent artists in Web3, generating 25 ETH volume in November for her Moonshot project — a collection of 2,500 NFTs which features four songs accompanied by unique artwork by her father, a former Disney animator.

Zironi’s first collection sold out back in April, but she returned in November with a new project called Gypsy Heart and sold 500 early mint passes at 0.06 ETH each. Early holders will lock in a discount before the project goes live to the public in January 2023.

View the collection on OpenSea.

4/ TK – “Eternal Garden”
Monthly trading volume: 36.8 ETH ($46,736)
Primary sales (Nov.): 36.16 ETH
Secondary sales: 0.727 ETH
Drop date: November 29

Singer-songwriter TK is among a new wave of independent artists building their early career through Web3. In November, he launched an ambitious collection of 700 audiovisual NFTs called Eternal Garden. It features 7 tracks with an emotional R&B feel, each with a different rarity, revealed only when the sale ends. At the time of writing, TK has almost sold out, with 670 sales.

Like many independent artists, TK laid the groundwork over the past year through several smaller NFT drops, building a strong community of collectors before launching a bigger project. The Eternal Garden drop is the largest collection to use Sound.xyz’s new Sound Protocol which allowed TK to host the drop on his own custom website built with a Web3 tool called Bonfire.

5/ Mija – “Desert Trash” & “Acoustic Album lol”
Monthly trading volume: 30.5 ETH ($38,735)
Primary sales (Oct.): 12.5 ETH
Secondary sales: 18 ETH
Drop date: November 2

Independent artist Mija embarked on a Web3 blitz in November, dropping 18 songs as NFTs on Sound.xyz from her 2020 album “Desert Trash” and a new unreleased record “Acoustic Album lol”. Like TK, Mija has fully embraced the Web3 space, often making her music available exclusively on NFT platforms first.

Although Mija’s mints were priced relatively low — at approximately 0.01 ETH ($12) or often free — the sheer volume of music helped her generate 12.5 ETH in primary sales and a further 18 ETH in secondary volume. Mija also used some guerilla marketing tactics to capture attention such as airdropping music NFTs to Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin’s crypto wallet and minting a song about a pseudonymous music collector known only as Hamburglar.

View collection on OpenSea.

6/ Matt Cooper – Something Beautiful
Monthly trading volume: $31,600
Primary sales (Oct.): $31,600
Secondary sales: N/A
Drop date: October 6

Matt Cooper is a rising country star with more than a million TikTok followers and a number one track on the iTunes all-genres songs chart. In November he made his Web3 debut with a drop on Royal. Fresh from launching its new music rights marketplace, Royal allows collectors to earn streaming revenue alongside the artists.

Matt Cooper issued 400 tokens of “Something Beautiful,” each offering a 0.0812% share of future streaming revenue, while 8 ‘diamond’ holders will unlock 2.187% of streaming royalties per token and a virtual meet and greet. The exclusive diamond token is currently changing hands for an average $1,499.

View collection on OpenSea.

7/ Rae Isla – “Rocks”
Monthly trading volume: ~27 ETH ETH ($34,290)
Primary sales (Oct.): ~27 ETH
Secondary sales: N/A
Drop date: November 28

Rae Isla spent the last year dedicating herself to Web3, hosting countless Twitter Spaces and building a loyal community. She minted music videos as NFTs on a Web3 video platform called Glass and sold out a music drop on Sound.xyz in 50 seconds.

Rocks, however, is her most ambitious project. It’s a collection of 1,000 NFTs released through Nifty Music — a music NFT accelerator. The collection is made up of four tracks, each with different visual traits and rarities. Holders can unlock rewards depending on how many NFTs they hold, such as free concert access. At the time of writing, Isla has sold 600 from the collection so far.

8/ Probably A Label / Money on the Table
Monthly trading volume: 28 ETH ($35,560)
Primary sales (Nov.): N/A
Secondary sales: 28 ETH
Drop date: October 6

Warner Records UK partnered with Web3 brand Probably Nothing to launch a new NFT imprint, Probably a Label. The label’s access passes sold out in 7 minutes in early October and continued to generate secondary sales through November. The label dropped a free music NFT “Money on the Table” featuring Diddy and JasonMartin in November, driving an additional 3 ETH in volume.

View the collection on OpenSea.

9/ Sammy Arriaga – “Pixelated”
Monthly trading volume: 25 ETH ($31,750)
Primary sales (Nov.): N/A
Secondary sales: 25 ETH
Drop date: June, 2022

Bringing country to crypto, Sammy Arriaga is a singer-songwriter that launched an NFT project called “Pixelated” back in June. Based around 12 different versions of one song, Pixelated is a collection of 4,000 NFTs, each with a unique pixelated profile picture which Arriaga’s fans use across their social media accounts. The Pixelated project has enjoyed steady volume on secondary markets like OpenSea since the launch, but volume soared in November.

View the collection on OpenSea.

10/ Daniel Allan – Various
Monthly trading volume: 25 ETH ($31,750)
Primary sales (Oct.): 1.076 ETH
Secondary sales: 24.025 ETH
Drop date: Dec, 2021

Most of Daniel Allan’s sales in November can be attributed to one large collector, or “whale.” An unknown crypto address spent approximately 20 ETH “sweeping” up Allan’s earliest drops on Sound.xyz on the secondary market. Allan also had a small primary sale in November via a collaboration with Reo Cragun released through Cragun’s “LNRZ” collective.

Methodology: The chart was compiled using data from primary music NFT sales across 19 different NFT platforms, independent releases and combined with secondary volume data from OpenSea. Data was captured between November 1 – November 30, 2022. Conversion rates from crypto to US dollars were calculated on November 30.

Disclosure: The author owns music NFTs from TK, Mija and Daniel Allan, however, the above list is based purely on sales data.