Q&A: Spottie WiFi - CryptoPunk Rapper
The pseudonymous rapper looks to push the bounds of music NFTs with his latest drop
Musicians and audio-based NFTs have struggled to find their place in the growing NFT market. From Kings of Leon’s early tokenized album to EulerBeats bonding curve experiment to the recent mysterious Tory Lanez streaming NFT release, musicians are still searching for how best to monetized their work.
Spottie WiFi is now entering the fray with his own musical tokenized offering that includes both audio and visual elements, exclusive remixes, commercial and derivative rights, and voting rights. I interviewed Spottie WiFi about his latest NFT drop, the CryptoPunks, licensing, and more.
How did the CryptoPunk rapper concept materialize? What came first -- the Punk or the rap?
The Punk came first. I purchased CryptoPunk #5528 in February and as I became more familiar with the CryptoPunk community, I was inspired by other owners that I saw building their personal brands completely anonymously using their Punks as avatars (ex. GMoney, Artchick, Beanie, etc.). I was also inspired by artists like Gorillaz, Madvillain and others, and decided I could become the first Punk owner to give their Punk a full backstory and become a Punk recording artist. I then released my first single, "I'm Spottie," in April.
Who are your music influences and who are your crypto/NFT influences?
Musically, I love 90s and early 2000s hip hop. Some of my favorite artists are Nas, Jay Z, Kanye, Cam'ron, etc. One of my first NFT influences was an artist named Prob Cause. He is a rapper and an extremely talented visual artist. Around the time I purchased CryptoPunk #5528, I learned that he and another rapper named Gramatik had sold an open edition NFT of their song Satoshi Nakamoto which was tremendously successful from a sales perspective. They are one of the first examples that I know of rap artists finding success with NFTs.
What will people receive when they mint your mystery NFTs? Do these include full songs from your album?
Yes, each NFT in my collection is a full song with accompanying visual artwork. The songs available for minting are the seven songs from my album, plus 24 extremely rare remixes of my debut single "I'm Spottie" - some of these remixes are 1 of 1s. NFT holders will also receive a limited edition vinyl pressing of the album later this year, as well as stems and IP rights (including commercial usage rights) to the specific NFT songs they hold. Token holders will also be able to vote on certain questions that I will pose to them in the coming weeks and months, to help me make important career decisions - questions like who should I collaborate with, what should my music sound like, where should I perform, etc.
Are you releasing traditional songs or an album? Where can people purchase or listen to the music?
I am releasing a seven-song album, and all of the songs will be available for listening/streaming beginning Wednesday, August 18, at spottiewifi.com and audius.co/spottiewifi. The only way to purchase the album from me is via my NFT drop on Wednesday, August 18.
You own the SpottieWifi CryptoPunk. However, the Larva Labs position regarding the license for these Punks has been the subject of much discussion among the NFT community. What is your position regarding this issue?
My position is that I own CryptoPunk #5528 and the copyright to it was assigned to me by the previous owner at the moment of purchase.
You are granting licenses for commercial and derivative rights to your NFTs. What are the terms of these licenses? What can NFT purchasers do and what can’t they do with the SpottieWifi content that they own?
Since I’m not a lawyer, I would refer everyone to the non-exclusive copyright license that will be available for complete review at spottiewifi.com when we launch on Wednesday, August 18 - but essentially my NFT holders will be able to monetize the specific NFT songs they hold (either the originals or derivatives thereof) as long as Spottie WiFi is credited as the original artist. They can place it in their own commercial films/advertisements/etc., or they can license it to commercial films/advertisements/etc. I will retain full copyright ownership and my masters.
NFT holders will also hold a non-exclusive copyright license to the visual artwork that accompanies the specific songs they hold. They will be able to monetize the artwork exactly as it appears in the NFT, but they will not be able to crop or modify the artwork for commercial use and they will not hold a license to CryptoPunk #5528.
Remixing is part of hip hop culture and social media in general. But most musicians still have control over remixes, sampling, or other derivative uses of their work? Are you concerned about the substance or quality or the derivatives?
No, not really. It will be very interesting to hear what remixes arise from this project, and I think that will be exciting. By granting a copyright license and giving token holders the stems to the NFT songs they own, there is certainly a risk that someone could repurpose my original creation for a new project that I won't love, but in my opinion that risk is part of the new normal for creators.
SpottieWifi NFT owners will also have Voting Rights that can impact future projects. How will these voting rights work? Can NFT owners force you to make a country album next?
To start, we will use a social messaging app called Discord to create a private messaging channel that only my token holders can access. Within this channel I will pose multiple choice questions to give token holders a voice in shaping my career. I don't currently plan to ask them whether I should make an entire country album, but it could be really fun to ask them if I should make one song in the country genre! I would probably give them three or four very different genres to choose from and proceed with their choice. In fact, I already created an Emo remix to my song "I'm Spottie," so there is some precedent for me stepping out of the hip hop lane for purposes of experimentation.
If you could collaborate with any other NFT avatar, who or meta-personality (e.g. Max Headroom, Gorillaz, Miquela), who would it be and why?
My album does feature a couple of really fun collaborations with anonymous NFT personalities, so definitely be on the lookout for that on Wednesday, August 18! As far as pseudo-anonymous mainstream artists go, yes I think Gorrillaz would be at the top of the list for me because they were a huge inspiration for this project to begin with.
Do you have any plans for music videos, metaverse concerts, or other events?
Yes, in fact I recently produced three animated music videos for my song "I'm Spottie," and two remixes of the song. Those videos were very well received and I sold them via auction as three 1 of 1 NFTs. Animating more music videos and other video content is top priority for me, so there will be more where that came from. Metaverse concerts are also a high priority for me, and I recently unveiled my metaverse performance venue The Spottietorium in CryptoVoxels which is a digital world that anyone can access and explore - so yes concerts and other events will be coming up soon!
Where will the NFTs be available and what details can you share about the drop?
The NFTs will be available at spottiewifi.com on Wednesday, August 18 (exact time TBD). There will only be 2000 total NFTs available, and the price will be 0.03 ethereum.