Are Music NFTs Dead?

Cooper Turley, creator of the onchain record label Coop Records, argued that the original paradigm of music NFTs had failed, though he framed this as an early vision failing rather than the format failing for good. He said collecting music should be free and accessible, like streaming on Spotify or YouTube, warned against roadmap-itis and expensive mints, and suggested open edition drops had replaced the old model. The article's author, who is a fan of Zora's free-mint model, says Zora's 0.000777 ETH fee lets artists earn more than they would from streaming. Coop Records has also paid collectors token rewards through the Boost platform, which has brought minting costs to about $1 per mint after more than $100,000 in rewards.