1confirmation backs new NFT startup built for music artists in $2.2 million round

1confirmation, the investment firm backed by Peter Thiel and Mark Cuban, announced Thursday an investment in non-fungible token (NFT) project Catalog. 

The raise, which officially closed in late June, injects $2.2 million of fresh capital into the project. Other investors in the round include Inflection and Delphi Digital. The investment is part of 1confirmation's second fund. The firm recently raised $125 million for its third fund to back early-stage crypto companies.  

Catalog aims to serve a specific corner of the NFT market: independent music artists. The startup says it has lined up over 100 independent artists, who have earned in aggregate more than $213,234 selling records through the platform. 

THE SCOOP

Keep up with the latest news, trends, charts and views on crypto and DeFi with a new biweekly newsletter from The Block's Frank Chaparro

By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Powered by Zora, Catalog offers a marketplace specific for music. 

"We think music needs it's own space both aesthetically & functionally – artists want to drop their music where people are coming to listen to music, on a platform built for it, not amongst thousands of pengus and apes and deviant art," said Michael McKain. 

In a sense, it is a blockchain-based version of Bandcamp, a platform through artists can upload music for free and have more control over sales. The Web3 format aims to give artists even more control over those sales and allows them to collect more in proceeds, the company says. 

"Artists collect 100% on primary sales and collect the creator share (Zora feature), set by them, on secondary sales," McKain added. 

About Author

Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].