Can a FanDuel Co-Founder’s ‘Fantasy Music’ Game Help Discover the Next Taylor Swift?

There’s fantasy soccer (each varieties), fantasy baseball, fantasy basketball—and certainly a fantasy sport for nearly each notable sport. However what a few fantasy sport for musicians?

Presently in a non-public alpha, Vault’s Fantasy Music sport duties gamers with constructing a roster of 5 artists from the Solana-based NFT music platform, with factors awarded for will increase in Spotify month-to-month listeners. To lock of their roster, gamers should personal the artists’ limited-edition NFT drops by way of the Vault platform.

Because it stands, Vault is releasing a mean of 5 new drops every week together with its Cassette Tradition 3.0 undertaking, with most of them eligible for the Fantasy Music sport. Older editions are additionally promoting out because of the dimension of the drops, which generally run between 50 and 100 NFTs every.

Screenshots of Vault’s Fantasy Music sport. Picture: Vault

Final week, 50 gamers took half within the personal alpha, with $500 given away in prize cash. That tally will enhance as the sport scales, in response to Vault CEO and co-founder Nigel Eccles, who described the present setup as “very janky” to Decrypt. However he mentioned that Vault hopes to launch a extra polished beta model within the subsequent 4 weeks with signups accessible right here.

Eccles, who co-founded fantasy sports activities web site FanDuel in 2009 and was CEO of the agency earlier than departing in 2017, had been toying with the thought of a music-related fantasy league sport for some time however couldn’t work out the way to gauge reputation.

However then he began monitoring the Spotify stats of artists who’d received concerned with Vault, and located playlist inclusions and the impression TikTok had on their publicity actually attention-grabbing. For the sport, Vault is specializing in artists with lower than 50,000 month-to-month listeners on Spotify.

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“The very first thing individuals say is, ‘I don’t know any of those artists’—and that’s the purpose,” mentioned Eccles. “It lends itself to our Vaults mission, which is to rejoice rising artists, however it’s additionally extra enjoyable. We don’t have Taylor Swift within the sport, as a result of she’s been found. Can you discover the following Taylor Swift, although?”

The sport makes use of Spotify’s information, as a result of the streaming music platform has quick change into the trade commonplace for measuring reputation, with numbers up to date each day. Slightly than whole streams, Vault is enthusiastic about month-to-month listeners.

“One particular person listening to your monitor 100 instances is nice, however 100 individuals listening to your monitor is even higher,” defined Eccles, with artist discovery very a lot the secret.

“Initially, I believed it could simply be a advertising train and a little bit of enjoyable,” admitted Eccles, with the prize fund taken from Vault’s advertising finances. “Nevertheless it’s already greater than that,” he provides.

Together with monitoring the Spotify stats of the artists, Eccles mentioned that gamers are already asking for tour dates, launch schedules, and the backstory for every of the bands concerned. Vault desires to showcase each the uncooked information and the artistry behind it going ahead. Some gamers are additionally taking to social media to advertise their artists of alternative as soon as they’ve locked of their rosters for the week, in a bid to extend their listeners—but additionally as a result of they’re invested within the music.

“In the long term, I feel that publicity will in all probability be extra precious to the artists than the cash they make from promoting NFTs by way of Vault,” mentioned Eccles. “Discovery is so troublesome in the intervening time, and it’s onerous for brand new bands to attach with an engaged fanbase as a result of there’s a lot music round. I can actually see individuals happening a journey with this product, and the bands are participating.”

In 2009 we did an inner alpha of a easy fantasy sport. It ran on Excel and was tremendous janky. That sport turned @fanduel. Right this moment we’re doing a non-public alpha of a brand new fantasy sport however as a substitute of drafting athletes, you might be selecting rising artists. Signal as much as the wait record beneath.

— Nigel Eccles (@nigeleccles) October 19, 2023

Hachi Mugen makes jazzy, lo-fi music, and has seen a gentle enhance in listeners because the begin of October, with two Vault music drops supporting a string of singles. Mugen advised Decrypt that they discovered Vault by way of Drip, a Solana-based NFT discovery service, and reached out to Vault about working collectively.

“One of many greatest matters on the thoughts of recent artists is, ‘How can I get individuals conversant in my music and have an opportunity to be seen?’” they mentioned. “It’s crucial think about making a path on this trade to have a profession.”

They consider NFT tasks like Vault can construct a greater relationship between the artist and listener. “Artists spend a lot time on the music, the art work, and the overall sense of storytelling, however we’re dropping that sense of reference to songs simply getting compiled on playlists,” they defined, with the Fantasy Music sport already growing their profile.

Excited to lastly present you this!

impressed by @lofigirl / #lofi #lofimusic pic.twitter.com/g67Sm1asC9

— Hachi Mugen (@MugenHachi) September 1, 2023

“We’re all nonetheless looking for modern methods to advertise our music,” they added. “The standout artists will get seen by way of this chance and it will likely be a path for some to succeed in success.”

Techniques are already coming into play with Fantasy Music as effectively. Smaller artists are much less prone to explode in listeners, however they’re additionally much less prone to lose all of them as effectively. Some gamers are shopping for up Vaults from artists they consider will go on to massive issues, and there’s already a number of pleasant teasing within the Vault workplace. Sooner or later, Eccles hopes to introduce the power for gamers to speak with each other, whereas genre-specific video games are additionally within the works.

“It’s nonetheless very a lot a piece in progress,” mentioned Eccles. “However we’re going to see the way it develops. The way in which FanDuel grew was by us speaking to our prime gamers, seeing how they used the platform, and asking what they wanted. It’ll be the identical strategy for this.”

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When FanDuel was first taking off, loads of individuals requested if fantasy sports activities video games had been unhealthy for the sports activities trade, with worries about followers supporting their fantasy choice greater than their residence workforce. However the reverse appeared to occur—fan engagement noticed a lift as a substitute.

“Folks simply ended up watching extra video games and constructed a deeper appreciation for the game,” mentioned Eccles. He believes Vault’s Fantasy Music sport may have the same impression. “It straight helps the artist originally of their profession, it provides followers an unique product, and it permits for a extra direct relationship between the 2,” he added.

Eccles mentioned that Vault is being cautious to not merely flip the artwork of music right into a numbers sport, staying conscious of the general impression of such an interactive expertise.

“We’ve requested the query, ‘Does this commoditize music?’ and we’ll proceed to consider that as we form the product, in order that it doesn’t,” he defined. “We need to rejoice the artist and we need to assist them be extra profitable.”