Royal (Royal.io) is a US-based platform that sells music rights as limited digital assets. It was founded by

Opendoor Opendoor Technologies Inc. is an online company that buys and sells residential real estate. Headquartered in San Francisco, it makes instant cash offers on homes through an online process, makes repairs on the properties it purchases and relists ...

co-founder JD Ross and DJ and electronic music producer Justin "

3LAU Justin David Blau (born January 9, 1991), better known by his stage name 3LAU (pronounced "Blau"), is an American DJ and electronic dance music producer. Raised in New York and Las Vegas, 3LAU left Washington University in St. Louis, where he s ...

" Blau It is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

History

Royal was founded in May 2021 by

Justin Blau Justin David Blau (born January 9, 1991), better known by his stage name 3LAU (pronounced "Blau"), is an American DJ and electronic dance music producer. Raised in New York and Las Vegas, 3LAU left Washington University in St. Louis, where he stu ...

, who is popularly known as

. The company is backed by musicians such as

The Chainsmokers The Chainsmokers are an American electronic DJ and production duo consisting of Alexander "Alex" Pall and Andrew "Drew" Taggart. They started out by releasing remixes of songs by indie artists. The EDM-pop duo achieved a breakthrough with thei ...

Logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premis ...

, and

Kygo Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll (born 11 September 1991), known professionally as Kygo (), is a Norwegian DJ and music producer. He garnered international attention with his December 2013 remix of the track " I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran and his December 20 ...

. Royal founder

gave away the first tokenized music offering in a contest for 50% of royalties for his song "Worst Case" in 2021. After the giveaway, the song was noted as the world's first fan-owned song. Royal partnered with rapper

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ...

to sell streaming royalty rights for the songs "

Ultra Black "Ultra Black" is a song by American rapper Nas featuring Hit-Boy, the producer. It was released on August 14, 2020 as the lead single from Nas's thirteenth studio album ''King's Disease'' (2020). Background and composition In the song, Nas raps h ...

" and "Rare" through its platform in January 2022. Through this initial sale, Nas became the first artist to sell song rights through Royal.

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD wit ...

became the next major artist to sell streaming royalty rights through Royal in March 2022, selling royalty rights to the song "

Don't Forget My Love "Don't Forget My Love" is a song by American DJ and record producer Diplo and American singer Miguel. It was released on February 11, 2022, via Higher Ground Records Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an Ame ...

." Duo Tritonal followed shortly after, selling ownership of their single "Getaway" in April 2022. In July 2022, the started the first round of royalty payout to the fans. Other artists who have sold song rights through Royal include

Vérité Kelsey Regina Byrne (born May 6, 1990), known professionally as Vérité (stylized as VÉRITÉ), is an American singer and songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York City. Her first single "Strange Enough" was self-released in July 2014, reaching n ...

and Ollie.

Services

Royal sells Limited

Digital Asset A digital asset is anything that exists only in digital form and comes with a distinct usage right. Data that do not possess that right are not considered assets. ''Digital assets'' include but are not exclusive to: digital documents, audible ...

s (LDAs), which grant buyers a package of music rights and benefits. Buyers own a portion of a song's streaming royalty rights and earn royalties alongside the music artist. Royal also allows buyers to redeem benefits and rewards chosen by the music artist who created the song they own. Song rights are divided into three different tiers with separate rewards and ownership percentages.

References

{{reflist

External links

Website
American music industry Music companies of the United States