The Chainsmokers boosted their new LP, So Far So Good, with a Web3 opportunity that empowers fans to own a piece of their fourth studio album.
So Far So Good upgraded to great even before its official arrival on Friday, as The Chainsmokers have announced they plan to gift a portion of their album royalties with an assist from crypto tech.
Music “LDA” marketplace Royal — “limited digital asset” is their term of art for NFTs — will play host to a mint of a maximum of 5,000 non-fungible tokens worth a total of 1% of So Far So Good‘s streaming royalties. Those who purchase the tokens will additionally gain access to a private Chainsmokers Discord channel and potential IRL experiences in the future.
As the pop-leaning EDM duo of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart said in an official statement:
“A number of artists have done this in the past, but not for free. It was important for us to do it this way because this isn’t about profiting off some new tech for us. It’s about connecting more deeply with you and harnessing a new disruptive technology in an effective way that truly shows what is possible as we head towards a Web3 world.”
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Per Bain, the blockchain bonanza begins May 17 on Royal.io. Anybody who mints one of these limited digital assets “will be free to sell them on the secondary market” without worrying about secondary fees; instead, those 7.5% fees will be “distributed equally between the 14 songwriters” credited on So Far So Good.
The 13-track album is The Chainsmokers’ first since 2019’s World War Joy. Lead single “High” dropped in late January, representing Pall and Taggart’s first solo music in two-plus years. The Grammy-winners then performed at the 2022 NFC Championship Game and in the run up to Super Bowl LVI in partnership with TikTok.
Subsequent singles released have been March’s “iPad,” exploring intimacy and privacy in the modern age, and April’s bass-based romantic offering “Riptide.”
Notably, So Far So Good doesn’t include any features.
The Chainsmokers broke through the mainstream top-40 barrier with the likes of “#Selfie” in 2014 and “Don’t Let Me Down” featuring Daya and “Closer” featuring Halsey in 2016. Each of their three LPs to this point have hinged on collaboration; Coldplay, Jhené Aiko, and Emily Warren featured on 2017’s Memories… Do Not Open, followed by the likes of Kelsea Ballerini and Warren on Sick Boy in 2018. The slew of A-listers present across December 2019’s WWJ included blink-182, Kygo, Bebe Rexha, Lennon Stella, Ty Dolla $ign, and 5 Seconds of Summer.
Going it alone for So Far So Good was a purposeful choice.
Ditto for this drop via Royal, as The Chainsmokers are now sharing the purest versions of themselves with their fans — and rewarding those collaborators who helped them amplify their own voices behind the scenes.
So Far So Good is available now from Disruptor Records and Columbia Records.
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