On March 17th, 2023, Money Man – the multi-platinum selling artist and entrepreneur – released his latest album Red Eye to massive anticipation. The same day, Money Man’s super fans were able to purchase 25% of the album’s opening track [“Drums” featuring Babyface Ray] through Nebula, making them co-owners of the song. The 25,000 tokens Money Man made available all sold out in less than one hour. Those fortunate enough to have invested in the song now have a new reason to celebrate: their first royalty check has just arrived.
40% return on investment after only 6 weeks
Every digital streaming platform [DSP], including the likes of Spotify; Apple Music and YouTube, are legally obligated to pay a licensing fee for ‘the mechanical right to reproduce’ every song on their platform – meaning the right to make each song available to stream. This amount varies month-to-month depending on the performance of each streaming service, as well as the performance of each individual song on the platform. These license fees are essentially what we call royalties. In regards to “Drums” feat. Babyface Ray, Nebula collects the 25% of the money paid out that Money Man opted to make available for purchase, and redistributes it to its token-holders.
The collection of music royalties in over 170 countries for the period between March 17 and April 30, 2023 for ISRC Code USUYG1473342 [this is the unique identifying code for ‘Drums’], has been completed. Every token holder will receive $0.10. This is the equivalent of 40% of the initial investment of $0.25 per token. In other words, if you spent $100.00 on tokens, you will earn $40.00 for the first 6 weeks after the song’s release.
The second royalty check for the period between May and July 2023 is expected to arrive in October 2023. Nebula token holders will keep receiving royalty checks on a regular basis for as long as the song generates money. In theory, this will be until the song enters the public domain, which legally will happen 70 years after the artist’s death.
What happened between March and April?
As the first song on Red Eye, “Drums” feat. Babyface Ray was made available to stream worldwide from the date the album came out. The album’s marketing campaign however focused mainly on the domestic market. As a consequence of this, 94% of the song’s revenue so far has come from the United States. Will the song benefit from this strong home base in order to go forward and conquer more markets in the future? The second royalty check may give us more of a clue.
Of all the money collected between March 17th to April 30th, 2023, the largest portion came from Apple Music, which represented 25.4% of the song’s streaming revenue. Spotify represented only 6.9%.
What’s still to be paid out?
There are two noteworthy events that happened after April 30, 2023. First, the official music video premiered June 6th and is therefore not included in the first royalty check. The video currently has over 2.5 million plays on YouTube, which co-owners can expect to see reflected in their next royalty payout. The first month’s revenue from the song’s official visualizer however, is included in the latest payout.
Second, President Barack Obama picked the song “Drums” for his Summer Playlist 2023 in July. Will this have an impact on the number of streams the song receives going forward? Time will tell. Certainly investors can use the song’s inclusion on the former president’s playlist as evidence of the song’s strong performance and of the album marketing campaign’s success in reaching ears all around the country.
I have received my royalty check. Now what?
Token-holders can access their royalty check by logging into their Nebula account and locating the payout in their Nebula Wallet. From here, the money can be cashed out (via PayPal) or re-invested into another drop on the Nebula platform. Explore the Nebula Marketplace for the latest drops. The money will stay in your Nebula wallet until you choose to cash it out or reinvest it.
“Drums” the first EMPIRE-Nebula drop
Earlier this year, leading independent record label, publisher and distributor EMPIRE announced a partnership with Nebula – a first of its kind platform that allows fans to invest in music made available by artists through their site. Fans can earn royalty payouts distributed as tokens which represent a certain percentage of the song, keeping fans invested in the artist as well as the music they create. Read about the partnership here.