What is an NFT? Serenade CEO on how NFTs can work for you

Max Shand, entrepreneur and CEO of Serenade, a new platform designed to help artists capitalise on the NFT boom, has spoken to Headliner about what the new platform can do for those looking to fully harness the potential of the new digital format.

The eco-friendly platform, which produces 1/44,000th of the carbon emitted by a standard NFT (or 1/10th of the energy usage of a tweet,) uses a 'Proof of Stake' authentication method that is more efficient than a direct-to-Ethereum 'Proof of Work' approach and eliminates expensive ‘gas’ fees - the prohibitive costs that can be a barrier to entry for anyone wanting to create affordable NFTs.

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Purchases are made with a credit or debit card via Serenade’s check out facility that functions like a standard e-commerce cart, where the creation of a digital wallet and the transfer of traditional payments into cryptocurrency is handled directly by the platform.

Fans join a community of like-minded music lovers where they can build a profile, showcase and chat about their collectibles, be confident they are not harming the environment, access affordable digital collectibles, and do all of this without knowing the first thing about NFT technology.

Working collaboratively with record companies, music publishers, artist management companies and trade associations to ensure its platform respects rights and benefits all parties involved, Serenade launches with an eclectic range of artists who are offering exclusive and limited digital collectibles to their fans. These include, among others, Jungle, ArrDee, Kaiser Chiefs, Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip, The Game, Strawberries & Creem Festival, Young MA, Ride, Scouting For Girls, Ladyhawke, State Champs, Super Furry Animals, Ash, S1mba, Muki and more.

It sounds very impressive, but how does it all work? Headliner spoke to Shand to find out…

What is the Serenade platform and how does it work?

Serenade is an eco-friendly music NFT platform made for real fans. On Serenade, fans can collect, trade and showcase digital collectibles made by their favourite artists, without any technical barriers to entry. All you have to do to buy unique musical recordings, artwork, imagery and documentary footage is arrive on Serenade.co with a love of great music and its creators.

What are the main barriers to entry for artists when it comes to NFTs?

For artists, getting involved in the NFT space is challenging for three reasons – technical know-how, your goals as an artist, and trust. Technically, all the jargon in the space is incredibly intimidating, and the steps you have to follow to ‘mint’ an NFT can be difficult to the point of giving up. Artistically, NFT platforms incentivise artists to create a small number of NFTs with fixed costs known as ‘gas fees’, leading to less NFTs being produced, and those NFTs going to wealthy collectors rather than an artist’s real fans. Finally, as a very new space, artists lack the trusted partners to guide them with authenticity and integrity.

Do these barriers exists for most artists, or is it particularly up and coming, emerging talent?

These barriers exist for all artists. It’s an entirely new landscape riddled with complexities and only as new platforms emerge that empathise with the dynamics of the music industry will all artists find their unique answers.

How big a concern is education around NFTs? To some people it is still not entirely clear what NFTs are or how exactly they work.

Simplifying and demystifying NFTs is core to what we do. Serenade is designed to reduce the technical barriers to entry for a fan so they can focus on what really matters – music and its artists. Alongside our product, our marketing is focused on education because we recognise that the space is new and fans deserve an explanation. This said, artists are the ultimate education force, letting their fans know with every NFT drop why it is they’re getting involved in the space, what NFTs offer them creatively and financially, and why their fans should be interested.

What has the response been like so far from artists?

We constantly hear the line that “this is exactly what we’ve been waiting for”. Artists are eager to express themselves creatively with the NFT format, they simply would not compromise on eco-friendliness or trust. Given we produce NFTs 44,000 times more efficiently than a standard NFT and speak the language of the industry which is all about the artist and fan relationship, we’ve been quick to make lots of great friends.

And how have record companies and publishers responded to the launch of the platform?

They’re excited to get involved. We’ve had conversations going for months now that have certainly accelerated since launch. There are lots of ideas in the music industry, and less execution, so labels and publishers are excited to see that we’re the exception, not the rule.

What are the biggest opportunities that NFTs have opened up for artists in the market?

NFTs offer artists the ability to finally sell something scalable direct to their fans so they can learn their identities and form a direct relationship. Knowing your customer is a core principle of any business, and artists have historically had labels to sell their music and their touring companies sell their tickets. NFTs might just be the way to unite artists with their superfans.

And what are the biggest challenges with the format?

What’s an NFT? Education is the greatest challenge, and working with trusted companies is the way to steer through the obscurity and achieve fantastic creative and commercial outcomes.