Billboard, the world’s largest entertainment publishing company, has partnered with Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music entertainment company, to launch ChartStars, a collection of handpicked digital collectibles that will be available on the Flow blockchain beginning in May.
ChartStars will be a collection of “artist-focused digital artwork” developed to commemorate a variety of milestones and significant moments in Billboard Charts history, according to a statement made last Friday. The collectibles cover a wide range of media, proving that anything can be converted into an NFT. For example, ChartStars will showcase “legally licensed art” and creative works, such as short visual excerpts from music videos and album photographs.
Collector leaderboards, challenges, and actual usefulness embedded into the smart contracts, including unique access at Billboard Live Events, will be implemented into the Flow blockchain platform, according to Billboard.
According to the announcement, Universal Music Group will sift through its roster of artists and labels to commemorate Billboard chart achievements for songs that debuted on Billboard’s Top 25 as well as other influential chart-related successes, such as chart length, simultaneous number of songs on the chart, and historic chart records.
According to the announcement, Billboard is also collaborating with Dapper Labs’ NFT platform Unblocked to enable ChartStars to accept credit card payments for digital collectibles and run on the environmentally friendly Flow blockchain.
“For the first time, music fans will be able to share ownership of a moment in time with their favorite musicians,” Billboard President Julian Holguin said. “With visually beautiful design, these digital artifacts will honor and commemorate extraordinary chart milestones,” he says.
“By harnessing its iconic charts for these fascinating digital artifacts, Billboard is creating a ground-breaking new approach for artists and fans to honor unique milestones and cultural events,” said Michael Nash, executive vice-president of digital strategy at Universal Music Group. We’re pleased to work together on this new breakthrough and provide even more opportunities for our artists to reach their full creative and commercial potential while strengthening their relationships with their fans. These projects, which will be created under the creative direction of our artists, will be one-of-a-kind collectibles that every fan will want to have.