LANE 8 AND DILLON FRANCIS SPARK ARGUMENT OVER NFTS – [READ]

March 8, 2021

NFT’s are causing a stir in the music world, leading to arguments among the industry’s finest

It all began when music producer, Lane 8, tweeted about his frustration with other artists utilizing NFT’s, or non-fungible tokens, to promote their music. He saw this trending strategy for commodifying art as “pandering to the ultra-rich while excluding the normal fans who built [him] up in the first place.”

Shortly after Lane 8 expressed his frustration, professional memer and music producer, Dillon Francis, screenshot the tweet and went to mint the image as an NFT titled, “cool story bro.” He then went to share his newly-minted art with everyone and stated that he was going to donate all of the proceeds from his sale to MusiCares, a nonprofit that helps musicians in times of need.

Big announcement: instead of doing an NFT, pandering to the ultra rich while excluding the normal fans who built me up in the first place, all to make a quick buck, I’ve decided I’m just going to…keep releasing my music for everyone the normal way 🤷🏻‍♂️

— Lane 8 (@Lane8music) March 4, 2021

After Lane 8 saw Dillon’s ironic response, he attacked back with another tweet stating, “the irony of you selling something with my name and image, without my permission, on a platform that claims to empower artists to own their art, is hilariously emblematic of how poorly thought out this whole “movement” is. glad you’re donating the $ though, way to go.”

Other members of the EDM community have taken notice of the quarrel, with Disclosure and RAC going as far as placing a bid on the NFT. More have joined in on the discussion, most trying to communicate the benefits of using NFTs in the music industry.

Daniel, the two worlds aren’t mutually exclusive. You can release music whatever the ‘normal’ way is, and still explore tokenising certain pieces of your art while making those pieces of art widely available to ALL. It’s the tolken, not the art that is owned by the buyer.

— RÜFÜS DU SOL (@RufusDuSol) March 4, 2021

Rufus Du Sol and Autograf both responded to Lane 8’s tweet, attempting to shine some light on the benefits of utilizing an NFT in music. “You can release music whatever the ‘normal’ way is, and still explore tokenizing certain pieces of your art while making those pieces of art widely available to ALL,” wrote the acclaimed trio. Autograf mentioned that NFT’s are a way to demonstrate ownership of art that a fan truly loves, stating that it is, “authenticating ownership in something you believe in while everyone else can still enjoy the content.”

If you would like to see the NFT that Dillon made, click here. Also, be sure to check out Dillon and Lane 8 on of their socials listed below.