Until recently, non-fungible token (NFT) projects were mainly associated with still art and video games. Now, two music industry veterans are bringing bleeding-edge crypto technology and industry-leading graphics to celebrate music — and perhaps make their partners rich and famous in the process.
Jeff Freiberger, a music industry veteran who is also the lead blockchain developer for the project, MusicCryptoGeeks, says that music plus technology has always been a marriage made in heaven, but blockchain has opened a whole new world of possibilities. “We are using NFTs to create a first-of-its-kind revenue stream for our musical artists through smart contracts,” he says. “Having the ability and know-how to mint these NFTs and their smart contracts in-house allows us to move efficiently when we are putting together a partnership with an artist.”
MusicCryptoGeeks and its MDCN token are the brainchild of Freiberger and veteran celebrity marketer Rick Green. Their partnership began 14 years ago, more than a decade before crypto began regularly making global headlines. Back then, Freiberger had created a liquor brand called Rhythm Liqueur. He met Green at a music event in Kentucky where they were both promoting — Freiberger, his drinks; Green, an up-and-coming rap artist. Green managed to place Freiberger’s product in a DJ Khaled video, even getting an on-screen toast from the legendary hitmaker, and according to Freiberger, “the rest was history.”
MusicCryptoGeeks takes their partnership from Hollywood to the Metaverse for the first time. Having launched just a few months ago, the pair will soon be sponsoring an event with Dave East and shooting two music videos with an up-and-coming female music group. “It’s things like this that we have been doing for years to support artists that we have a great reputation for,” says Freiberger, whose list of past collaborators features rap giants like Drake and Lil’ Wayne.
Rap artists in particular have been drawn to the Metaverse, with Snoop Dogg famously switching his profile pic to a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT. But Freiberger says that the MusicCryptoGeeks community will be composed not only of artists, but also industry experts like himself and Green. He expects the community to be both an incubator and a networking machine, especially for younger artists eager to make the kinds of connections that can break them into the top tiers of the music, art, and dance industries.
“All of our NFT’s are currently ledgered on the Ethereum Blockchain, and the tokens we are releasing for use in our MediaCoin City Metaverse will purchase all kinds of different products and services,” Freiberger says. “We are not only creating our Metaverse experiences in Unreal Engine 5, but we are integrating NFTs in a way that most have yet to implement. We are going to be able to create experiences in VR that you will forget are man-made, hopefully setting us apart from all the other Metaverse graphics that are currently in the market now.”
Freiberger and Green are also forming a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, which will allow community members to make proposals and vote on governance issues via smart contracts. In essence, the duo want to spread the power, letting token owners decide on projects, investments, and directions to reshape the future of music. There are also plans to take the company public on the stock market, ultimately giving all community members real ownership shares in what they build together.
Freiberger notes that investors can become a MusicCryptoGeek member on OpenSea for as little as .02 ETH, which gains them access to an exclusive community of celebrity events, projects and monthly giveaways. Executive Producer NFTs allow the owner to co-create hit videos, events, and media material alongside Green, Freiberger, and other industry veterans. Each Executive Producer NFT comes with a tangible keepsake as well as access to music video shoots and special events.
Joining the MusicCryptoGeeks community will ultimately provide another exclusive utility: access to purchase NFTs in MediaCoinCity that are attached to real-world products, like an automobile. Freiberger says that they are also developing plans to sell and rent real estate, such as apartments and houses in Miami and New York. In that case, ten people might buy an NFT for $100,000 each and their investment would be staked by a Condo in which each would own a 1/10th interest. Every time the condo was rented, a dividend would be paid to the NFT owners for the life of the NFT via a smart contract attached to the tokens. Decisions to sell the properties or take out loans against them for cash would be handled by the DAO.
Aside from helping develop different artists and new talents, Freiberger and Green see the MusicCryptoGeeks community as a way to do good in other ways. “We have been so blessed in our careers to now have the opportunity to do MusicCryptoGeeks,” Freiberger says. “If we can tie in a project to benefit a charity, that’s what we’ll do even if it’s only a percentage of sales.” The community is already working with ProtectYoHeart.life, a wellness movement founded by their good friend UnCutt, and there are plans to partner with lovecameraaction.org, a summer camp program that teaches kids how to make music videos that’s supported by Miami Artist Pitbull.
If MusicCryptoGeek’s plans sound like the archetypal moon shot, Freiberger says that’s by design. “With the right technology and the right artists,” he says, “anything is possible.”
