Music in the Metaverse

The past few years have presented a lot of challenges to musicians and live performing artists, but have also provided a space for exploring new ways to create and share their music.  Eunice Wong, who now performs as YUNICE, is one such artist who is excited to be venturing into the emerging world of Web 3, music NFTs and Metaverse concerts.

 

“That’s definitely something I’m putting my time and effort into. The creativity is boiling over now in the NFT scene,” YUNICE says when we speak with her from New York. “We’re still kind of a closeknit community where it takes a lunatic person to be into crypto, but we’re building the industry as we speak and the goal is to get more people to stream and buy through these platforms.”

 

YUNICE was born in Brooklyn but grew up with her family in Macau until the age of nine.  She then lived for five years in Myanmar before moving to the US. 

 

“I am basically from a musical family. On my dad’s side of the family, we’re all singers, we always fight for the karaoke mic,” she laughs. “I’m like my dad, he’s a singer, songwriter, and guitarist and he loves music like the Carpenters, Beatles and Santana, so that’s what I grew up with.  I’ve known since I was five that I wanted to be a singer. I grew up in different places, but the constant was always just singing and listening to music.” 

 

 

 

 

The last time YUNICE was in Macau was in 2016 and 2017 when she was the recipient of the Macau Cultural Affairs Subsidy Programme for the Production of Original Song Albums.  From this funding she produced two albums, Humanize and The Girl Who… She also won a number of awards including the TDM Macau Television Favorite Song Award for her song Let it Go (2017).  The music video for her song Ain’t Nobody Else won the TDM Macau Television Best International Music Video and the Sound and Image Challenge International Festival – Best Music Video.

 

“That time I spent in Macau in 2016-17 was amazing. I felt very welcome and I guess I was a bit of a curiosity because I’m a Macau girl but I’m American, and I speak fluent Chinese, but also you can tell that I’m not completely local. My experience in Macau was all positive, for sure. Most of my family are all still there and I’ve been dying to come back if it weren’t for the pandemic,” she says. 

 

Recently YUNICE has moved from New York to Los Angeles to continue her music career, and the strange new world of Web 3 and the Metaverse is really where she’s focused.  Having become interested in Cryptocurrency in 2019, she is planning to release her first music NFT before the end of the year. 

 

“I’m releasing my first Genesis drop and planning an online release party at the end of October with an NFT gallery”, says YUNICE. “And I foresee some online performances and Metaverse concerts too.”

 

A Genesis project is the term for an artist’s very first NFT collection, and is often accompanied by limited edition offers and other benefits.

 

“Think of NFTs like a vinyl, like a collectible, and more than a vinyl you can add on anything you can think of like concert tickets, merchandise, or even a one-on-one Zoom meet with your fans,” YUNICE explains. 

 

“An NFT is basically just like exchanging digital assets in cryptocurrency, and what works in the NFT model is anything that could go up in value,” she says.  “There’s a whole music and NFT subculture that’s happening and what’s appealing is that it’s fuelled by artists and audiences who understand that music has become free in the past 20 years. The people who are enthusiastic about music NFTs understand that streaming platforms like Spotify don’t pay enough, especially for upcoming artists. Even though they could just click on YouTube and watch it for free, fans choose to buy something because they believe in the artist and want to support their favourite artists, so in the NFT culture it’s very important to build your own community.” 

 

 

YUNICE, who describes her style as alternative pop, also enjoys performing live and does some commercial music work too.

 

“I love Drum & Bass, and I gravitate towards dark sexy music. Now that I’m living in L.A. I definitely want to do more live performances.  I’m also in the sync license space which involves publishing music geared towards movies and TV shows and jingles.”

 

But she remains excited about the opportunities Web 3 and NFT technology has to offer. 

 

“The space is very open to new ideas and there are no rules. We are like the freshman class. It’s a model where the artist is the CEO of their own record label.  They can technically do it all on their own and decide what the product is and how much they want to sell it for.  Depending on how much you sell your NFT for, you can make thousands of dollars, which is equivalent to getting a million streams on Spotify.  That’s why I’m very passionate about spreading the word. As more people use NFTs, we won’t need other platforms in the future.”