How Independent Music Artists Can Leverage NFTs to Expand Their Careers

18 min readMay 19, 2022

About Tropixx:

Tropixx is an innovative international melodic dance pop artist, and DJ who is leveraging NFT and web three technology, whose tagline is taking you on vacation one song at a time. He has DJd 70+ headlining Metaverse parties collaborating with 60 different Projects in Web3 + so far and all of them have been live, creating unique experiences & had POAPs.

Tropixx has disrupted the Web3 ecosystem as a first mover experimenting the journey as a Metaverse DJ. He then fostered physical activation experiences at the top conferences. And now he will bring together the Web3 ecosystem, collectors of Music NFTs, PFPs, + Art NFTs for Tropix Genesis NFTs!

[00:00:00] Lauren Turton: Tropixx is an innovative international melodic dance pop artist, and DJ who is leveraging NFT and web three technology whose tagline is taking you on vacation one song at a time. Welcome to the freedom with NFTs podcast ,Tropixx.

[00:00:17] Tropixx: Lauren I appreciate it. Thank you for the opportunity for having me today. I’m super excited to tell my story. Talk about my experience in web three and NFTs and, talk about just being an independent artists, taking on this space, being a first mover and experimenting.

[00:00:33] Lauren Turton: We have so much juicy information and content to get into, so let’s kick it off. Tell us about what you did before you knew about NFT?

[00:00:45] Tropixx: Yeah. So I would say ever since I was a kid, I was always in experimentalists, like testing new platforms or testing new ways. I always was an entrepreneur creator. I started something when I was like 11 or 10 years old, just had a knack for just loving the internet going on, YouTube, those things.

And then I kind of shifted into going to these events and seeing these DJs perform and experiences. I fell in love a lot with how they impacted the crowd and how DJs were able to create. In real life experiences that make people forget about what was going on in real life and really create this unique moment in time.

So I started to like dabble in deejaying, messing around, played a bunch of shows in New York city. This is around, I would say like 2015 which is pretty early in my career. And then just, really saw the opportunity to start building out a brand because I realized how important it was. It wasn’t about just deejaying.

It was about connecting with people. So that’s when I started to experiment on platforms like vine. And SoundCloud and messing with the charts and seeing how to like really blow up in the independent artist space. I always saw there was like a disconnect between labels and artists sometimes and percentages and the streaming platforms that made it so hard to have artists discovered through algorithms, but also through monetizing. And I felt like that was always something I wanted to figure out in this space. So kind of just was grinding, releasing had a lot of success, like had 30 million plus streams.

Really took over some different platforms, had a couple of number one hits on SoundCloud, but ultimately I wasn’t able to monetize at all. These platforms strip you, you fight algorithms to be seen on like platforms like Instagram, Facebook. So, it was tough, right, to sustain as like an independent artist. And then in 2020 when COVID hit, I noticed this realm of virtual shows.

So I started getting like the webcams and like started streaming, testing that out in the summer. Actually hosting my own virtual music festival that was three days philanthropic for raising money for COVID. And that was a huge success. And then I tested out Tiktok and got 385,000 followers on that platform.

And by going live on that platform, by interacting on all these virtual streams, I realized how to connect with people virtually and just talking right on Tiktok, it’s very awkward, cause no one’s talking back, but you see a chat. So like learning that and gained a lot of experience on the virtual scene in 2020.

And then I discovered NFTs in December, 2020. So right after I went viral on Tiktok and I was like, wow, like this is awesome. So I learned the next, like two months it was in these clubhouses spaces was using nifty gateway a lot. And then I bought my first NFT, two weeks after the last song I’ve ever released since being in a NFTs, which was February 27th, which was the fever drip for artifact and FEWOCiOUS.

And I’ve held that to this day and it’s definitely changed my life forever with the opportunities, but that was like my early start to getting NFTs.

[00:03:48] Lauren Turton: Thank you for sharing your story. And I love how you went into a little bit of strategy and how you grew on Tiktok. Cause oftentimes we see these high numbers from people on the different platforms. And I appreciate that you shared the behind the scenes and that you truly learn how to connect with people on that platform and create an actual community.

That’s so important. So you’re on this NFT journey. You’re learning about NFTs. You now have invested in an NFT. What made you decide to take action on implementing and leveraging this technology for your own career?

[00:04:26] Tropixx: Yeah.

So as I was learning, listening and just being in this space very early on, I noticed a lot of different things, a lot of different projects and paths, and discords, I mean, the amount of times, and discords that I’ve been in since the early 2021 days is just crazy. And you know, you learn a lot, but my thesis, right, for this whole web three ecosystem and this creator economy that’s built is, you know, the power and leverage that the blockchain can ensue with proof of attendance, proof of ownership, and just having a ledger and showing, what transactions are, where and verifying it, but then using the blockchain to create experience.

And ways where you can build relationships with your biggest fans in unique ways. And then monetize, I think what I saw a lot of independent artists telling their stories and then being able for them to have a voice and then monetize that and then have people support them so early in their career and ride with them.

Because I almost feel like if someone’s going to support you early, they want to see you succeed. And then from an artist perspective, coming from my experience, how can I make an impact where I can create value back to my fans? That’s not just about the experiences, but also just being able to talk to them, be immersive and create these unique ways for them to get involved in, you know, kind of my story and journey.

[00:05:51] Lauren Turton: So I’m curious to know what are you building right now?

[00:05:57] Tropixx: It’s definitely a unique path I would say. So ultimately what I ended up doing was shortly after during the summer, I was like, it’s time to finally bring Tropixx into the full creator economy, a lot of listening, I was hesitating a little bit, but I was building good relationships.

I was learning the investment side, building out portfolio, learning everything about web three NFTs. So just really gaining my knowledge so I could approach it the right way. So what I ended up doing was slowly and surely, I was like, well, I played these shows virtually. I know how to play shows in discord.

There’s hundreds of thousands of people in each of these discords, 50,000, 60,000, why not create an event there where I can live DJ and bring them together. There are a ton of communities that have all these people. It doesn’t matter race, demographic, where you are in the world time zone.

Right. You can all come together and like celebrate your community through music, which is so universal. So I ended up doing my first show, had 500 people attend. I saw the impact it made and then long story short, I ended up in the last, probably five months. I’ve DJ’ed over 75 metaverse parties in discord, Decentraland, sandbox, some experimental ones.

I’ve collaborated 60 projects plus in the space as well, some very high caliber ones smiles, Coolman’s Universe, my pet hooligans, Barack’s, Landers tasty bone, star catchers, definitely a big list. There’s so many more that I couldn’t even mention there, but just again, creating relationships for their communities, distributing a popup and then building my brand as the OJI metaverse DJ, but also being able to merge physical and digital events together for events like NFT NYC, which I did. South by Southwest, and then upcoming, I’m doing a party during artifact week in New York city. During permissionless in may and also NFT NYC in June.

[00:07:59] Lauren Turton: So much going through my mind right now, as I’m thinking about the journey that you’ve been on from playing live shows to the pandemic happening to now crushing it in the metaverse. What are you most excited about for the shows that you play in the Metaverse?

[00:08:21] Tropixx: Yeah, it’s been interesting to test all the different Metaverse and see the unique pros and cons of all of them. I’m really excited for when people can truly own their avatar and own their peril and be able to like almost bring their 3d self into it. And these immersive experience, like more Oculus, more powerful ways for people like mass adoption to be able to go onto decentral land and handle it. Right. It’s very tough for a normal computer or phone to handle a metaverse and it takes lot of computer power to do that. So I don’t think we’re at that step where it’s easy for everyone to join a metaverse and really feel immerse.

I think it will come with time and I think there are communities and there are projects that are building it, but I think just being able to bring them together is the most important part is like I’ve seen from all these parties, the impact it can make when you can bring people together through music and just see everyone have a good time, you know, we have a lot of Tropixx gifts and we have a lot of stickers that we have during these parties. We do giveaways, like I said, we do po ops. So it just really honing in on like hosting that event and really making an impact being fully immersed, it’s fully live. We’ve done, all the parties live and it’s really setting up unique opportunities for me, because what I think about is how can I add value back to my Tropixx fan?

And when you think about music artists, right, there’s a lot of, bunch of amazing music collectors out there. But it’s tough for independent music artists to take on the approach of finding fans in PFPs and web three, if you don’t have the capital to invest in some blue chips and stuff, but no, for me, what I, what I thought was be cool is collaborating with the PFP communities first, before I even released my NFT projects or any NFTs in general.

So at this point I haven’t even released any of my NFTs at all. And I’m just trying to show the impact I can make as an independent artist that hasn’t really done NFTs, but it is possible where you could build your fan base first in this space and then release it.

[00:10:20] Lauren Turton: For anyone that might be scared or overwhelmed or have negative thoughts or feelings about the metaverse and doing live shows or events in that space, what positive benefits have you seen from the countless amount of shows that you perform?

[00:10:42] Tropixx: Yeah. I mean, these web three people are really supportive, right? They really want to support. They want to follow you on socials. They want to listen to your music. They want to hype you up. They want to post gifts. They want to tell you on Twitter. They want to follow you everywhere. So I think you know, what I’ve seen is like web through people really want to support and see the vision of these artists that, are able to tell their story.

I think storytelling is super important. That’s not done enough for these creator led projects. And I think if you could tell your story and then have it relate to a lot of people, they might be more impacted to, make an impact and join your community. And then also you can find those ways where you can communicate with them to bring them along because they resonate so much.

So I think independent artists, right. It’s tough. Right. They have to find a way to get in because at the end of the day there is about who you know, here still there is a level to that in web three, there is some web two that is in web three. But what I love about web three is, it is possible for an independent artist to make an impact and tell their story and have their lives changed forever and be able to monetize.

[00:11:49] Lauren Turton: One of my favorite things that you said is that you have not dropped an NFT project yet. And the reason why I love that you said that is because I know so many people get into the space and they think I need to create an NFT project. I need to drop a project. So can you share with us why you’ve decided to hone in on growing your community before you drop an NFT project?

[00:12:14] Tropixx: Yeah. I almost felt so overwhelmed during these parties cause we were hosting like three to four parties a week that, I didn’t feel the need to even do that. I think it was so amazing to have these open parties, this was free for the community members like every single party has been open.

What’s amazing is the in real life parties I’ve had, whoever has been in Tropixx fan or my discord, they reach out, they get into those parties too. But I think what’s special is again, I wanted to just create my own path to show that it’s possible that you don’t need a platform right away. Right.

You could just build organically. And I think I want to show that, you know, independent artists could build like this. It is possible and you don’t need like top influencers or anyone to make that impact or judge you know, the way you go about it. And yeah, I mean, I’ve definitely hesitated the route to take because I wanted to do something so unique.

That made sense for me and what I’ve done in this space. And how can I tell my story, so people truly understand like my past and like what my future entails. So like, it’s been very strategic and methodical about like the art and the vision, the value and the story behind it

[00:13:24] Lauren Turton: Absolutely incredible. I love the approach that you’re taking. It’s unique. It’s thought out there’s plan or strategy behind it. And then there’s also the aspect of truly growing a community. And figuring out what your community finds valuable so that when you do do the NFT drop, whenever that time comes, it’s going to be something that’s created from such an authentic and genuine place.

So for any independent artists who are listening to this episode of freedom with NFTs, what advice do you give them

[00:13:59] Tropixx: Yeah, like I said it can be pretty overwhelming this space, you know on your mental health, physical, you wanna make sure that, you always understand that you’re going to have bad days, where you’re not going to be productive and days you’re going to be productive. That’s just an overall like tip in terms of just getting into this space.

Definitely take days off get some fresh air. Stuck in our little studios and coves, but definitely you have to immerse yourself. I think what’s so special is not hiding behind any managers or labels or people and being able to tell your story.

So I think being immersed, ask questions to people you see in the space, hop in spaces, listen, listen, listen, ask questions, reach out in a professional manner, don’t be too pushy, but also, keep your boundaries because there are people that are docs and non docs, but as a music artist, I think it’s important to be fully docs, right.

And again, like us telling our stories we’re creator led. And yeah, I mean hop in these discords, hop in these spaces, really learn, talk to other artists. Right? I think that’s special. Talk to people that, just want to bounce ideas. I think what’s so special is the collaboration.

Everyone sees that vision that they want to support these independent artists. It’s just more so finding time, hopping on calls and really just show that you mean that you’re going to be here, not a bad actor. Cause I think again, that there are people, who will come in this space and try to just drop NFTs and then really dip out.

But I think what’s special is when you can provide a long lasting value with your communities and build with them. I think they’re more engaged and more supportive and for something like this where I never sold out a show in less than two hours. I just announced a show in the NFT space in New York city this month.

And it sold out wave one in two hours. So I think just showing the power that if you really grow with your fans, they’ll be motivated to want to come see you too. Even if they’re in web three and you met them digitally, there’s a in real life aspect to it as well.

[00:15:56] Lauren Turton: Your session inspiring independent artists, who’s leveraging this technology, can you share with us two or three other independent artists in the space that you find inspiring?

[00:16:09] Tropixx: Yeah, I definitely do. I think there’s so many talented artists in this space. It’s kind of hard because when I think of an artist, it could be a procreate artists, a drawer, a painter, vocalist, a music artists, a producer, anyone who adds value in some way, shape or form. So it’s definitely hard in terms of music, I really like what Daniel Allen has done with his community and over stem, he was one of my first the artists that I’ve seen that really made an impact. And I supported his nFT project on sound, which was super awesome to be part of another amazing artist that I really like changing the way to think about community and just the whole perspective of bringing together like-minded individuals in the music scene as karma. Karma.wav back with his girlfriend. Super nice. They are actually a duo as well, but I met them in NFT NYC last year at an audience event. And yeah, just been able to hit it off. But I think those who really try to experiment and try to find unique ways to bring their fans on the ride success. Creating these unique ways for them to get involved with the music side or the production, marketing experience side, the in real life side, I think just, those are the special connections that you’ll always remember. And digital relationships are just as strong. From the art side, I’ve always been a fan of ferocious since day one, like his story is so special and that’s why I was able to get in so early to ferocious and an artifact is, cause I heard his story way, way early and I was really happy to collect his work. And then, Yeah, I’m just trying to think about it, there’s just so many different types of artists, but yeah, I just really am happy on the PFP side, I’m happy and stoked to be part of the artifact community.

So big fan of Clonex and their ecosystem. But I think what Yoga Labs is doing, I think doodles, I think is Zuki. A lot of these amazing projects are, really trying to innovate, but it takes time and I think right now people are seeing finally is like you know, you can’t just be an ordinary project to mint down.

Now you really have to have your unique use case and I think what I’m doing and what this first drop was is like, I’m taking it very strategic because I think it’s that special where it needs to have its own story to it and own like unique way of like telling it. So I’m excited for it.

It’s been a I’m very stressed, overwhelmed, then it’s very tiring to get it all done, but it’s going to be so worth it.

[00:18:32] Lauren Turton: What phase are you at in that project?

[00:18:35] Tropixx: Yeah. So my Tropix Genesis NFTs, my first ever ones, they come out this month. So if you assume that that’s probably the latter end of may, but we’re going to actually host a virtual metaverse party before Genesis and the power of, again, like building relationships with all these communities is sustaining those and coming up with new ways to build those relationships out.

So we already have over 10 communities involved with this party that I’m hosting in the metaverse, which is crazy to think, but the interoperability right, to be in these other Metaverse in the future too. But yeah. no, my NFTs that are coming out, they mean a lot because they are story NFTs, 60 total.

So I could give it a little bit more information. So there’s basically the years that I discovered music up until now is 2013 to 2022. So that’s 10 years of Tropix. So each year is this unique story, the successes, the failures, what I released, new music, what did I do in real life, right, or college or high school or traveling.

Right. All of it tells a story and I thought it was special enough to get 10 different, unique artists in this space. A lot of them undiscovered talented creators to depict one of ones of each year of Tropix in their own unique way that tells my story. And we’ve been working on day in, day out for the last like two months.

And essentially we have 10 of those Genesis that are one-on-ones. Those will be auctioned off throughout a couple of days during the period, but then there’s going to be a culmination piece, the 11th piece, that’s going to be at a 50 count and that’s going to be at 0.1. Just so we can have more people being part of the Genesis collection, because again, it is different to build first and then drop your first ever NFTs because a lot of people could be looking at them.

But again, I just want to show, you know, the power and impact that had, but I think it’s important for me. I don’t really care where the price ends up, but I want the holders to know that, I already thought about unique values. These are my first ever NFTs. Like it’s going to go a long way like what I’ve built so far and what we have coming planned is just so special. And I’m really excited to tell my story through those NFTs. There’s also a music component to all of them as well. So just again, just trying to show how unique it could be and it’s, my story told, like the power is you can tell the story through the music.

You can tell the story through the visual representation, and then if you saw it on text And that’s what I think we’re getting to finally, and it’s taking a long time because there’s three main components. And again, the website is also telling a story, right? So that’s basically my Genesis. It’s definitely a lot of work cause I’m trying to take it the right approach, business, route and contracts and everything to make sure, you know, we can pay over 10 artists, which I think is amazing

[00:21:24] Lauren Turton: Thank you so much for sharing the details of your project. That sounds absolutely incredible. You’ve shared so many golden nuggets today and actionable steps that the freedom with NFTs audience can take after listening to this episode, can you share with us, how do we stay in touch with you Tropixx??

[00:21:44] Tropixx: Yeah, of course. So you can follow me on any social platform. You can usually search Tropix. T R O P I X music on any platform. And you’ll usually see me pop up. You could search Twitter’s @Tropixofficial. Instagram is @Tropixmusicofficial. If you want to check on my TIktok @Tropixmusic, my discord is discord.gg/tropix.

You can also visit my website tropixmusic.com, but all information will pretty much be on my discord and my website and also my Twitter. But yeah, definitely join in the discord. We have a couple events before Genesis, like I said, we have the party. So if you want to experience what a Tropix metaverse parties like, you’re going to be able to get a taste of that before the Genesis.

[00:22:29] Lauren Turton: Thank you so much for being on the freedom with NFTs podcast. Before we wrap this episode up, any final words you’d like to share with our audience?

[00:22:38] Tropixx: So I want to say thank you and say you’re doing an amazing job with this podcast. I’m super excited to be part of it. I was excited to get your email, making sure it was real. Just because I know we met through discovering on Tiktok, right, you were on my for you page and I hit you up.

I thought it was a dope, how you were sharing real good, authentic information in this space. That means well, and I’m excited to see your journey in this space as well, and just excited to tell my story and just want to thank everybody for listening and feel free to reach out anytime.

And, just trying to be that first mover experimentalists that really merges like physical and digital worlds through these unique ways. I think it’s so special because there’s definitely a rotation happening where the new generation, the younger generation is on Minecraft, roadblocks and Fortnite, and they control these technology devices better than, the older generations.

And I think that transition will happen once, technology catches up that we’ll be in a world where it’s like a hybrid where you can be in the metaverse, but you can also be in the real world. So I’m excited for all the new tech and I’m ready to innovate along with it.

[00:23:43] Lauren Turton: Thank you so much Tropix for being on freedom with NFTs. This episode was brought to you by near foundation. Go to near.org to see how Near is supporting the creator economy. I’m your host Lauren Turton. It’s been an honor to show up for you in this format. New episodes drop every Tuesday, Thursday make sure to like subscribe and share your community. So that the masses can learn about NFTs and web three technology. And now as always, don’t forget, get informed and get involved. That’s all for now. We’ll see you on the next one.

Thank you to near.org for making this episode of Freedom with NFTs happen!

To learn more about how the NEAR Foundation is building the future of the creator economy, visit near.org.

Connect with Tropixx:

Website: https://www.tropixmusic.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tropixofficial

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tropixmusicofficial/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tropixmusic

Discord: discord.gg/tropics

Connect with your host, Lauren Turton:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaurenTurton_

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelaurenturton

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenturton/