A Primer on the Growing Tezos Music Movement
Tezos is home to hundreds of experimental rappers, beat makers, electronic dance producers. During the past 18 months thousands of songs have been released. Let's have a look at this thriving ecosystem which was started by the likes of HENradio and Radion, with DNS now being the premiere platform to play music.
Why artists are picking Tezos
There are several reasons artists are choosing Tezos over other blockchains. The ecosystem is more conducive to independent creators - every major platform supports audio files along with the cover art. This means that OBJKT, Teia, Versum, and DNS will all detect each other's audio NFTs and play them.
Artists in Tezos have a well established lineage of experimentation and tinkering, for example with Laurence Fuller and Victoria West's work in digital art. The same is true of music NFTs on Tezos. Bai-ee has been creating musical artworks that let the listener interact and play with the music from within the NFT. Acrwrs took the scans of a beetle's tunneling through a tree and turned them into musical waveforms. It's a reminder of the 80's spirit of mixtapes and bespoke audio hardware inventions, reborn in the world of blockchain.
An eclectic range of musicians
There are several hundreds of great examples of excellent musicians in the ecosystem. The following artists are a good starting point into your Tezos music journey.
Hip Hop
- Kane Mayfield - A lyrical powerhouse. He's been described as "your favorite rapper's favorite rapper".
- Cannon Jones - His music feels raw, and his impeccable delivery make him one of the most formidable battle rappers on any blockchain.
- Slyme - This single lonely young music engineer is one of the most detail oriented musicians you can find, resulting in well produced tunes.
- Jburn - He's a master collaborator and looking at his catalog is a great example of how visuals can be just as important as the audio when it comes to musical NFTs.
Electronic / Instrumental
- Violet7rip - An EDM artist whose trippy futuristic neon art is matched by infectious dance beats.
- Ejkew - Combines custom created sports cards alongside beats and samples.
- Alessione_Vola - Refers to himself as a meme artist, yet his music features soothing melodies and quiet beats.
- Mister Reborn - 80s synth meets A E S T H E T I C visuals resulting in a modern retro vibe.
Alternative Music
- TrentAFrancis - Combines AI art, digital paintings, and guitar to create advanced cross-media compisitions.
- Marcelo - He's a very prolific musician from Brazil exploring different forms of electronic and alternative styles.
- Ed Marola - Ed is one of a kind when it comes to his music and artwork. Each release is a peek into his pixelated world along with stellar 8-bit music.
- Moodan - He's one of the best guitarists on the blockchain and his classical style mixes things up in extremely compelling and unique ways.
Exploring that Tezos sound
If you'd like to learn more about this growing movement make sure to check out the daily releases on DNS, Radion, and OBJKT's audio category, or read the following guides: