2022 was the wildest year I’ve ever had.

We kicked it off with Overstimulated - the first project to do over 25 editions on Sound.

January through March was packed - I did the Glass House writing camp in Malibu, and dropped songs like Lighthouse, Minuteman, & Bittersweet.

In April I did a generative music drop called Collages with Beat Foundry.

June was NFT NYC - I played the Brooklyn Mirage and Marquee - two of the biggest shows of my life.

In July we dropped Glass House - 1000 editions on danielallan.xyz at the beginning of the bear market.

In August I got my first Billboard piece. I also went to Joshua Tree to finish most of Criteria.

In September Grady came over and added the last song - More in Love.

In October we dropped the Glass House remixes - highlighting 4 incredible artists Veggi, Clear Eyes, Cudos and msft. 

I signed to CAA to start mapping out shows in 2023.

November I played shows at Art Basel in Miami and the Roxy in LA where I brought out Kevin George and Reo Cragun.

In December we dropped Criteria - my biggest undertaking. 

We minted 2500 editions on Sound with partnerships and activations across Bonfire, OnCyber, Spinamp, and Arpeggi.

I’m grateful but curious. What now?

Breaking Music NFTs

On the one hand we broke a lot of barriers - so many other artists started to flourish and sell out big drops in 2022. Sound hit 6000 collectors and paid over $4m to artists.

But it still doesn’t feel like there has been “the” moment that music NFTs are looking for. 

If we zoom out - it’s still early. In 2020 people made fun of NFTs. In 2021, the bull market put all those doubts to shame.

While 2022 has definitely been a reset, I’m hopeful that 2023 will be to Music NFTs what 2021 was for PFPs.

I've never been afraid to experiment. Generally - I think Music NFTs have become a bit one dimensional.

I get it. Music NFTs should be simple - Make a song, mint it, use other platforms and channels of communication to promote. Do a rollout. That’s a great way to start.

But what happens after that? How do you grow and evolve?

I’ve always been vocal about my goals on the traditional music side. I care about having a big record. I care about playing big shows. I care about making timeless music that can stand the test of time.

To me it feels more clear than ever that for Music NFTs to have a big moment, there needs to be an artist that crosses over. 

That's why, in 2023 my goal is to use web3 to develop my artist project in web2 and reach as many fans as possible.

Here’s how.

Web3 Fuels Web2

I don’t think it's an accident that there isn’t much of a correlation between sales of Music NFTs and streams.

In 2020 when I started dropping my first pieces on Catalog I had absolutely no money so selling the songs was a direct support system for me paying my rent and eating food. 

I was experimenting by my standards doing Web3 in the first place (and got lucky with timing) but I knew I couldn’t take any big risks until things felt a bit more stable.

But now feels like the time for me to take those risks. I want to take a holistic approach to bring fans into my ecosystem. I want to share the music I’m so proud of - and because of Web3 and my biggest supporters - I’m able to do this on my own terms.

This is why in 2023 I’ll be spending the bulk of my proceeds from Music NFTs developing the Daniel Allan brand in web2.

In specific this means allocating resources towards:

• Marketing

• Touring

• Curation

To give this more color, some examples of this include but are not limited to:

• Running TikTok and Instagram campaigns to promote songs when they drop on Spotify

• Visiting campuses across the country to onboarded college kids to web3

• Working with emerging artists to release their songs in both web2 and web3

The key point here is to say that I no longer need to sell Music NFTs to pay my rent.

I want to make sure there is a very direct relationship between all my Music NFT sales and the development of my songs across all platforms.

This doesn’t mean I’m neglecting my NFTs. In fact, in many ways my Music NFTs are the center or my brand.

The difference is that I want to build true fans and help them know that Music NFTs exist and are worth collecting.

I have a lot more thoughts on this matter, but for now I’ll just say that I want to be very aggressive about how I’m dropping and what I’m doing with the proceeds after the drop.

I hope that this model can inspire many more artists to use web3 for the same purpose - and be part of a wider movement about how emerging artists break moving forward.

Closing Thoughts

2022 was the biggest year of my career.

I have high hopes for 2023 and want to thank everyone who’s helped me get here thus far.

I won’t rest until web3 becomes a serious contender with web2 and plan to do everything in my power to make that happen.

Here’s to the best year yet - and to hoping that I fit the Criteria.

- Daniel