A Tribe Called Quest has given a lucky reader a chance to be a part of their history forever with an unplayable token.
On Thursday (July 1), the band sold NFT on royalties for classic 1990 albums such as People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, 1991’s The Low End Theory, 1993’s Midnight Marauders, 1996’s Beats, Rhymes and Life and 1998’s The Love Movement through Royalty Exchange.
A man named Stephen F bid 40,191 ETH, the equivalent of $84,765. The sale price started at $35,000 and includes 1.5 percent of the royalties on recordings from their first five albums over the life of the rights, which means the winner will earn money every time the songs are broadcast, played on the radio, sold physically, sampled or appear in TV shows, movies or commercials.
In the past 12 months, the percentage of royalties was $6,752.
“Opportunities to make money from pioneering musicians don’t come around very often … so don’t miss it!” – the ad read. “Up for auction are the record royalties for the first five studio albums by the iconic and groundbreaking hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest. The music of A Tribe Called Quest is often called the pioneers of alternative hip-hop, and has stood the test of time, showing growth across all major revenue streams and songs, 30 years after their first album was released.”
It goes on to say, “The winning bidder will receive royalties earned from sales, streaming and sync fees for any of the included albums as well as individual singles released by the band between 1990 and 1998.” The format of this auction is a “non-playable token” (NFT): a digital property certificate created and stored on the Ethereum blockchain. All bidding will be conducted in Ether, Ethereum’s national currency. Royalties received by the winning bidder will also be paid in Ether.”
The only album not included in NFT is 2016’s We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service, which was released eight months after the death of A Tribe Called Quest founder Fife Doug. In June, Lil Dicky’s 2015 hit “$ave Dat Money” featuring Fetty Wap and Rich Homie Quan became the first in NFT history to sell through Royalty Exchange for 9,209 ETH – the equivalent of $23,209.
