Muse’s album comes as NFT; Do these sales count towards the chart?

There has been no shortage of musicians getting involved in the growing NFT (non-fungible token) arena. But Muse’s Will of the People album, out this Friday, still looks like something of a premiere in terms of the addition of a fairly straightforward, well-priced NFT edition of the release, tag and date with the standard CD, vinyl – and digital download editions of the release. In the UK, Muse’s NFT version of the album was even judged “chart compliant”.

So how will “Will of the People” sales in NFT format flow into the band’s charts?

Well, in the US, they won’t. America’s chart arbiters, Luminate and Billboard, aren’t as willing as their European counterparts to include NFTs in the sales and streaming cocktail that adds up to unit numbers, so the number that could be sold in the US doesn’t get a part the opening of Muse his number, domestic.

Luminate said in a statement diversity: “Billboard and Luminate do not currently include NFT sales in our chart calculations as we monitor the growth and variations of this new platform and how it may eventually fit into our current charts or contribute to new charts where NFT sales take place would be more accurate.”

That is in contrast to the UK’s Official Charts Company, which oversees the album charts in both the UK and Australia, which previously stated that “Will of the People” would be the first NFT bundled album to enter the overall tally of a release is recorded. Eligibility stems from the fact that the vendor selling the Muse NFTs, Serenade, has been approved by Official Charts as the official digital retailer for album releases.

In the end, this is mostly theoretical anyway, and including or not including the format wouldn’t have much practical impact on Muse’s chart position here or abroad. With only 1,000 Muse NFTs being made available worldwide, even this modest amount will be split between the US, UK and other territories.

Although only 1,000 NFTs will be made available for the Muse album, they are being sold at an unusually populist price point compared to the widespread perception that NFTs are the kind of rare collectibles that only sell at auction for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. The cost of a Will of the People NFT is a reasonable £20 or about $24 for anyone who is able to get their hands on one – less than the cost of a deluxe vinyl edition. If these were released in much larger quantities, the impact on the charts would not be so negligible.

Of course, at around $24, this edition doesn’t come with many of the bells and whistles associated with more expensive NFTs. Serenade founder Max Shand has described the NFT albums his company intends to release as editions that will “offer full-length audio and unique artwork, coupled with unlockable rewards and a first-time owner list that allows fans to publicly attest to the artists and releases.” bind the ones they love. … It’s premium vinyl for the web.” The Muse release isn’t particularly rich in bonuses for NFTs. It is described as containing the NFT token and a high-resolution download with the band members’ digital signatures. Buyers’ names are permanently listed in a linked list of buyers.

diversity spoke in a recent interview with Muse frontman Matt Bellamy about the idea of ​​releasing albums in NFT form, and he seemed most excited when it came to artists who don’t have the high touring potential that Muse does .

“It’s interesting,” Bellamy said. “I mean it’s not a big deal for us personally in regards to the upcoming release this week, but I support what I think this technology could be. This allows you to create the concept of originality for something that cannot be duplicated in a digital format. If people embrace it and believe in it, then it could be something that could be good – I think more for smaller artists who don’t really have any other way of making a living, and digital artists in particular. It’s a bit new at this point, but I think the technology has the potential to be really good for smaller acts.”

As for the BOMs and chart counts, it remains unexplored at this point whether NFT sales would always be counted as a single entity – in the UK, where the medium is allowed to be accounted for now, and in America, where it might be in the future. What Billboard and Luminate might be weighing for the future, if they allow NFTs to become part of the formula, is whether adjustments should come into play if these sell in some sort of bulk, but price points spike into the hundreds or thousands of dollars beyond the modest amount for which the Muse NFT is being offered.