NFT

The Weeknd Has New Music Coming Soon — But It Will Be Released As An NFT

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With his 2020 album After Hours, The Weeknd has proven that he knows how to dominate the charts. Now, he’s looking to dominate the world of cryptocurrency art. The singer announced Friday that he’s planning on releasing new music soon. But instead of sharing a song on streaming services, he’s instead making it available as an NFT.

The singer took to Twitter to share the news. “new song living in NFT space. coming soon…,” he wrote.

The Weeknd didn’t offer much information about exactly what the NFT entails, but he’s far from the first musician to break into the industry. Earlier this week, Ja Rule was able to make good on his Fyre Festival scandal by selling a painting of the event’s logo as an NFT for $120K. Grimes also made an eye-catching amount of money on the NFT market. The musician released an entire collection of digital art through an NFT auction, and ended up making $6 million in under 24 hours.

While The Weeknd may be breaking into new territory with his first-ever NFT, he’s also leaving behind some more traditional aspects of the music industry: namely, the Grammys. After he was snubbed for a Grammy Award this year, The Weeknd recently announced that he would be boycotting the ceremony going forward. The singer said that he will no longer submit his music for Grammy consideration by the Recording Academy “because of the secret committees.”

Ja Rule Sold A Painting Of The Fyre Festival Logo As An NFT For Over $120K

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Crypto-art is currently beyond big business as the non-fungible token trading craze continues. The latest high-profile celebrity to get in on the bubble before it bursts is Ja Rule, who bragged of recently selling a painting of the Fyre Festival logo for over $120,000 on the Flipkick market. It was painted by Tripp Derrick Barnes for the company’s New York office but Ja kept it after the disastrous festival weekend.

Although Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison for fraud, investor Ja Rule was cleared of similar charges after a judge determined he didn’t know about the behind-the-scenes logistical failures that turned the luxury festival into a documentary-worthy fiasco. In an interview with Forbes about selling the painting, Ja explained that he really wanted to get rid of the painting because he felt it brought him “bad luck.” Initially commissioning the painting for just $2,000, he originally thought about selling it on eBay but a friend convinced him to get in on the NFT trend.

And while $120,000 seems like a tremendous profit on the $2,000 painting, it’s a big step down from his original asking price of $600,000. I guess people weren’t willing to go in that deeply on something Ja Rule’s selling.