DJs Steve Aoki and 3LAU (aka Justin Blau) announced on Tuesday their first single “Concentrate” from PUNX, the collaborative Web3 music project that uses CryptoPunks intellectual property (IP), which will drop to community members on Friday April 28. 

“Concentrate,” which includes the audio and accompanying art, will be available through Blau’s music rights marketplace, Royal, in efforts to democratize ownership in the song. 

Launched in May 2021, Royal has been focused on building a music rights marketplace with the goal of giving people a single place to invest in music, while simultaneously allowing them to easily purchase and sell digital assets. 

The startup raised $55 million USD in funding in November 2021, led by a16z, Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm, and a host of other musicians including Nas and The Chainsmokers.

As part of the drop, the PUNX team will be giving away 50 percent of the song’s streaming royalties to 99 randomly chosen people, considering they are holders to the CryptoPunks, A0K1VERSE, Passport, and Blau communities.

Each holder, according to the press release shared with Hypemoon, will be able to enter a drawing to receive “one of these 99 coveted tokens,” affording them the opportunity to own 0.5% of the song.

“It’s incredible to be at the center of this evolution, not only building community, but giving back to it directly,” says Aoki, “We’re able to feed the ecosystem and merge the fans with the artists in a way that was thought impossible until recently.” 

Blau, who is also the founder and CEO of Royal, describes this as a “new era for music” and PUNX’s release of “Concentrate” as a major moment for both he and the A01KVERSE founder. 

“By launching the PUNX project on Royal, we’re not only pushing creative boundaries, we’re also empowering our community to be a part of our journey and share in our success from day one,” says Blau. 

When Hypemoon spoke with Blau back in November, he shared that collectors had earned more than $100,000 USD in royalties as of mid-month, with artists like Diplo, Royce da 5’9”, and Verite all participating in the platform’s shared ownership economy. 

Right now, the music industry faces an even more challenging issue, with record labels like Universal Music Group calling on streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Soundcloud, and more to stop encouraging (and accepting) AI-generated music that infringes upon copyrighted works. 

In other news, read about the Future AI Defendant and whether or not they can be sued for copyright infringement.