This week’s Web3 Wrap includes Audius’ $AUDIO Rewards program, David Rudnick’s physical-digital project Tomb, Soulection’s genesis compilation mix drop on Sound, and a range of NFT picks from Bergonist, Torn Hawk, Igor Dyachenko, Korrē, Great Dane, and many more.

Dive in below.

Audius Launches $AUDIO Rewards and Bridges Ethereum Token to Solana

This week, blockchain-backed streaming service Audius bridged its Ethereum-based $AUDIO token to Solana and launched $AUDIO Rewards.

$AUDIO Rewards is a gamified feature set that rewards the platform’s top artists, fans, and curators with $AUDIO tokens for using the platform and performing in-app actions, such as inviting friends, downloading the app, daily listening streaks, uploading songs, and more. The press release noted that the gamification and challenges in the $AUDIO Rewards program will be continually modified with more ways to earn as the program goes on so that the token is constantly distributed to actual Audius users engaging with the platform.

The $AUDIO Rewards program was made possible following the token bridge from Ethereum to Solana as Solana is much faster and cheaper to use. An Audius representative told Decrypt that Solana’s “low-cost, faster, and more environmentally-conscious blockchain” is helping them “create an accessible gateway to onboard users into the Web3 ecosystem.”

You can read more about the $AUDIO token and rewards program here.

David Rudnick Announces Tomb

Renowned designer David Rudnick has announced Tomb, a new hardcover book and on-chain art series.

The basis of Tomb is 177 works individually drawn by Rudnick using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS3 using the trackpad on a 2012 Macbook Pro (with no 3D or additional rendering software used). The Tombs, which are depictions of optical data discs on a black void, will be published in a 240-page hardcover book titled Tomb Index and deployed on-chain as individual 1/1 artworks. There will also be a smaller series of screenprint editions. 

The 177 Tombs are split into eight “houses”—GENESIS, LUX, X2, SHADOW, DEVASTATORS, COMETS, TERRA, and RONIN—which will launch with “different contracts, behaviors, interactions, mechanics, platform launch partners, even on different blockchains and with unique physical components.” Foundation, Foila, and Avante Arte are partners for seven of the houses, and ACRONYM / Errolson Hugh, Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst, Harm van den Dorpel, Ix. Shells, Ezra Miller, M.I.A., Dom Hofmann, Eric Hu, evian christ, luke miles, Nic Hamilton, Straylight, and terrain are all noted as collaborators for the RONIN house.

Presales for Tomb went live today. You can read more and order Tomb here.

Soulection Announces Soulection+ Radio Drop on Sound 

Today, Soulection announced a partnership with Sound to release the genesis Soulection+ Radio Show.

The show, titled Soulection+ Radio: Untitled 001, was mixed and curated by Joe Kay and will feature an hour of unreleased music from artists integral to the Soulection sound. Anyone can listen to the mix for free but there will only be 333 NFT editions of the mix for sale for 0.1 ETH (around $280 at the time of writing). Soulection noted that this is a historic moment for the label and crew because they are utilizing Sound’s royalty split system to automatically and instantaneously pay all the artists featured in the mix on the initial and secondary sales. 

The mix will feature tracks from artists such as Monte Booker, IAMNOBODI, J.Robb, Sango, Jayla Darden, Esta, Jarreau Vandal, Monte Booker, Rose Gold, Mars Today, Jared Jackson, Kenyon Dixon, and LAKIM, among others.

NFT owners will also get access to a “holders” channel on Soulection’s Discord, which they note will be a space for “deeper level conversation, music discovery, and will provide an organic opportunity for us to grow and explore together.”

The drop will go live on Thursday, February 24, and can be accessed here.

XLR8R’s NFT Picks, Featuring Bergonist, LAKIM, Torn Hawk, and More

This week, we trawled Catalog and Nina and present a selection of our favorite music NFTs, detailed below.

Catalog has a wealth of new tunes, including colorful pop-infused deep house from LAKIM; Great Dane’s strutting, head-nodding bass cut; a nimble and airy remix of camoufly by Three Oscilators; and a set of killer beat-driven outings submitted for hedsTAPE 01 by DEFFIE, harris cole, and oshi. 

On Nina, we have trippy shoegaze from renowned experimentalist Helm; dank and weightless ambience by ARD; head swirling, glitched-out rhythmic excursion by Igor Dyachenko; score-like dystopic electronics from XHL UNIT; deep and textural house from Korrē; a forthcoming slice of dubby heat from Bergonist; a hyperactive synth workout from Torn Hawk; and a silky smooth beat cut by Illingsworth.

Finally, on Pianity, there are two new notable tracks, including a chunky house track from Guti and a soothing pop-styled electronic cut from Iain Howie.

What to Join and Who to Follow:

Teia Community: a group working on a new community-owned version of popular Tezos NFT platform hicetnuncc.

John Karel: NFT artist and designer.

M.I.A.: pop-icon, activist, and NFT artist.

Folia: NFT publisher and art house.