NFT
This week, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – the current band of the famous Oasis rocker – engaged in a battle with the Foo Fighters in an attempt to top the Official UK Album Charts. And now Gallagher is turning to music NFTs to potentially close the gap between them.
Noel Gallagher released ‘Council Skies’, his fourth studio album with the High Flying Birds, last Friday, June 2 – the same day the Foo Fighters released ‘But Here We Are’, their first album since the tragic passing of drummer Taylor Hawkins.
In a midweek update shared by the Official Charts Company yesterday, just 200 units — which equates to 200 actual album sales or roughly 200,000 album streams — separated the acts at the top of the charts. Today it was confirmed that Foo Fighters had taken the lead with less than 500 units.
Here it is! The exclusive artwork from @NoelGallagher’s High Flying Bird new album, Council Skies. Unique for the digital pressing, next to the Making of… parts 1 and 2, available tomorrow at 10 am. Sign up here: https://t.co/eIQkRzgmGm pic.twitter.com/qDa7SxULf2
— Serenade (@serenade__co) June 7, 2023
In recent days, Foo Fighters have promised it access to a presale for a currently unannounced UK headline tour in 2024 for anyone who buys “But Here We Are”, while Gallagher has announced an evening session of “In Conversation” at record store Banquet recordswith tickets bundled with copies of the album.
Now Gallagher has a new tactic to gain an edge on the charts: He’s turning to NFTs to try and close the gap, according to a report from Music week.
Gallagher has teamed up with Web3 startup Serenade for a limited-edition NFT pressing of “Council Skies,” which will be made available Thursday morning — the last day sales count toward the next chart.
Owners of the “Council Skies” NFT can unlock high-quality WAV files of the record, the first two parts of a four-part documentary following the making of the record, and a digitally signed lyric sheet. The pressing also includes limited edition signed and colored artwork.
Described by Serenade as “modern versions of limited edition vinyl,” each digital pressing is backed by blockchain technology, which the company says also has environmental benefits compared to a physical product. Serenade’s NFTs are minted on the Ethereum scaling network, Polygon.
“You would need to produce 1.2 million digital pressings to match the carbon footprint of an average 12″ record,” the company said. Users can purchase the NFT-based pressing using crypto or with credit or debit cards, in a attempt to make the pressings as accessible as possible.
Muse releases next album on the Polygon based NFT Platform Serenade
“It caps off an exciting week in the UK charts and a brilliant campaign from Noel and team,” reads a statement announcing the partnership. “This latest digital press release from Serenade continues to prove the value of the future-proof format, connecting fan and artist in a way never seen before.”
Last year, rock bad Muse released a digital version of their album “Will of the People” through Serenade, becoming the first-ever NFT release to qualify for a chart. Some 1,000 digital copies were available worldwide and the album topped the UK Album Charts. The Wombats, Kota Banks, and Confidence Man have also released digital pressings through Serenade in recent months.