Unreleased David Bowie Music to Be Released as NFT

An unreleased recording of the late English singer-songwriter, David Bowie, is set to debut as a music NFT. According to a Decrypt report, Gala Music has teamed up with music producer Larry Dvoskin and publisher Warner-Chappell Music to facilitate the launch. Gala Music – a subsidiary of Gala Games – and partners will be releasing an unheard version of Bowie’s 1983 hit song, “Let’s Dance,” via a limited series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The collection features 3,003 NFTs, and is slated to launch on April 14th. Meanwhile, the significance of the launch date might be worth noting, especially as it comes exactly 40 years after “Let’s Dance” originally debuted.

Dvoskin had produced the unheard version of the song with Bowie back in 2002 and has been eager for the new track to see the light of day.  Per his description of the track, it is a “more dreamy, electronic” version of the popular hit song.

But as the 40th anniversary of the release of “Let’s Dance” was drawing near, Dvoskin saw an opportunity and approached Bowie’s estate. He thought it was a perfect time to convince them to release the song via NFTs, and the rest is history.

According to reports, the collection will feature unique NFTs, each with Bowie-inspired artwork that will give holders access to the unheard version of “Let’s Dance.” The NFTs will be sold on a pay-what-you-wish model. However, all initial proceeds from the sale will go to music-based charity MusiCares.

David Bowie on the Blockchain

It is also worth mentioning that the upcoming NFT launch is not the first foray of Bowie Estate onto the blockchain. Last September, Bowie’s estate partnered with top NFT marketplace OpenSea to launch an NFT collection called “Bowie on the Blockchain.” And the money raised from that collection also went to charity.

At the time, however, the blockchain experiment did raise some concerns among some fans of the late artiste. The unimpressed Bowie fans thought the experiment was not consistent with Bowie’s legacy.

Nonetheless, Bowie’s entire music catalog has been acquired by Warner Chappell Music which paid over $250 million for the collection. And it is known that the Warner Music Group offshoot is keen to help songwriters tap the full potential of Web 3.0. In line with this vision, it announced a partnership with web3.0 entertainment incubator Defient last November.