Vault, an NFT platform that allows creators to curate their own music and videos via an exclusive invitation, recently teamed up with independent artist Pip for the launch of his new album "Cotton Candy Skies." Nigel Eccles, the CEO of Vault, and singer-songwriter Pip joined Cheddar News to break down how the new platform works and why it's different from other blockchain concepts. "The way we've built it is we use the NFTs as keys that unlock the vault, and it's only the people who have those keys can actually see the contents of the vault," said Eccles. Pip added that he felt "inspired" to help with a new way of doing things in the music industry.


Between Bells

Singer Pip and Vault Change Up How NFTs Are Used to Curate Exclusive Content

Welcome back between Bells on baker machado and new york and new N. F. T. Platform is putting music and content in the hands of fans vault is the mind of former Fanduel co founder Nigel Eccles. And it allows creators to curate exclusive content for music and videos that content plays in the platform. V. A. V. I. P. Invitations. And now the company is teaming up with independent artist pip to launch his new album Cotton Candy Skies. So joining us now to discuss Nigel Eccles Ceo and founder a vault and singer and songwriter pip. Great to have you both here guys. Happy friday. Nigel, I want to start with you. We've seen a lot of other NNT platforms. Team up with artists and released music but walk us through how vault works here and what sort of the inspiration behind this platform. Yes the vault is actually very different from those platforms because the way we've built it is we use the N. F. T. S. Is a key that unlocks the vault and it's only the people who have those keys can actually see the contents of the vault. Most NFC platforms. Anyone can have it whether you own it or not. I can see the content with us. We we made it exclusive which is amazing. Okay so pip let's talk about the music creation process and all of this, explain a little bit more about the E. P. Here and what was sort of the creative process to making Cotton Candy Skies. Yeah it was super inspired by my trip out to visit my sister when she was out in west Hollywood. The sun sets sucker for sunsets. And uh it was one of the first songs I ever wrote. Um And yeah, for the past year and a half we've been writing and producing for some big artists and with the power of the Blockchain and N. F. T. S. And then our partnership with vault, we thought you know what, let's jump ship and and go into the Blockchain and and partner up and and release the music. So it's been a it's been a crazy ride and things are just getting kicked off, but it's super inspiring to be able to help other people out and show them that there's a new way in this industry. Absolutely. So Nigel, what I find to be most impressive here is the affordability of a lot of these N. F. T. S. For instance, the 550 keys from pips, album vault price 24 99. Like really really cheap if you go to any other place for for N. F. T. S. We're talking tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. So why was affordability sort of important here? Yeah, that's very deliberate. Both affordability and we also allow you to buy in app or with credit card or Paypal, but the way we look at this as we look at this as a premium format. So vinyl was a format cd is a format, we think of this as a digital format. And so if it's a digital format, You know, that should be like $25-$50. It shouldn't be like $1,000. It should be for, you know, so fans can listen to musicians on Spotify, but we want to create a format that's slightly premium but still accessible. Okay, so pip, let's talk about what your fans get out of the vault being part of the vault in the zen FTS, that they normally would never get here when they're listening to you. Yeah. So the first thing I would say is like the big thing is that we're giving the people for the first time in decades the ability to actually own a project. I mean if you bought an album back on Itunes in the day, you had it in your possession, but you can't send it around, You can't resell it on the secondary market. Um with vault, you're owning that album, You can resell it on a on a secondary network market or you could send it to a friend. So you're actually owning the music. That's one and two. We have exclusive content such as a music video for one of the singles on the ep and exclusive like uh explanation videos of how I wrote the songs and whatnot. So it's a cool cool model that we structure with vault. Um and they helped out a lot on the net and I think it's going to set a precedent for big artists and small to do this in the future. It's just a digital vinyl. It's a new version of it. Yeah. So Nigel do do fans of a lot of these artists, do they have to own crypto to be able to partake in this or is there another sort of currency that they can do? So they can still partake in a lot of this? No, they don't need to own crypto. In fact to get this, all they have to do is go to vote dot fan, they can purchase it there with Paypal credit card, download the app and then the album will be in the app. And so they never have to touch crypto to have the full experience pip as an independent artist, not sort of having to be bound by your record label or what algorithms are telling you you need to make is this sort of a unique process for an independent artist to sort of do things on your own and then go buy your own schedule. And what you think is more interesting to you as an artist. Yeah, it's huge. Um The game now with the web to industry and the normal music industry is all about quantity. You have to pump out a song a month. Put out three Tiktok's today to even have a shot of making it, it's like a lottery ticket um with N. F. T. S. Now. Now that the economic model is a little different. Um You're able to to raise money with a small amount of fans all about the quality of the fan rather than the quantity still quantity Tiktok high streaming numbers on on Spotify and whatnot. Now it's, hey, can I go get 100 real super fans to pay me $25 100 dollars. Um And that's what we're doing over at Cotton Candy Records and with partnering with us, it's it's been incredible and we're just gonna spread it around. Nigel obviously pipping Independent allows him to have access to this. But do you see a scenario where you have artists that are part of record labels joining this is this is this a big business for them as well with you guys? Yes, absolutely. Um So we were we love working with Independence because they have complete freedom from what they do, but we also have relationships with the labels and the labels, interestingly, they actually really loved this format. They've always loved, they've always loved albums and with streaming, they've lost albums, like it's become about singles. And so as one label said to us that this is a print of the album, but this album is digitally native, you can own it, you can lend it to friends, you can sell it so you do own it, but it is a full album. That is is only like digital format pip. Do you feel like N. F. T. S. Are here to stay? What do you say to those who think maybe this is just a passing fad. Yeah I couldn't be more confident about anything in my life. Um anybody that says that I would just say go go get educated on it because it is here to stay and especially in the music industry within the next 3-5 years it's gonna be a big disruptor. Alright well this is amazing. Nigel, by the way you're very very busy. You also co founded bet decks. That is a decentralized sports betting exchange. So many states. Ohio other is basically now getting into the sports gambling sphere. Where do you see this going in the next five plus years here? Yeah so you know it's funny this is the one market where the us is like 20 years behind a lot of the rest of the world. So where I'm from originally UK We've had legalized online sports betting for over 20 years and so what we're seeing in the US is really catch up. Um You know like I remember five years ago people saying isn't it amazing? I can bet with an app on my phone and I said well the people in the U. K. Have been able to do that for 20 years. Um So what we're seeing is that progressively rolling out across the country and you know what you see is you know if if New Jersey does it and Connecticut do it then absolutely new york is going to go, we need to catch up and that's what we're seeing across these different states As they kind of roll out legislation every year. We're seeing 5-7 states enable online sports betting, which is grip. I think it's something that there's a ton of demand for and I think it's a really fun fun product pip. I have about a minute left with you. Obviously music fans, this is a great time to be a music fan just because the industry is changing so much with N. F. T. S with now, the metaverse where you can see concerts now in the metaverse, how do you sort of see the music in the digital world sort of integrating over the next little while and where do you see this all going? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, we already proved that the digital format can translate into real life events. Um, we just had our launch party for the ep last friday in Hudson yards and people that had no clue about crypto and N. F. T. S were able to get in with free access, open bar V. I. P lounge and they were like, wait, this, this floating thing on my phone, this picture, this jp gets me this. So that's how it's gonna start to click for people and yeah, we're happy to be a part of it and vaults for the ride. So it's definitely a great time to be a music fan right now. Nigel Eccles Ceo and founder of vault and singer and songwriter pip joining us here on Cheddar news, gentlemen. Thanks so much for joining us.