American rapper Dennis David Coles, known by his stage name Ghostface Killah has announced he will release a collection of exclusive music as Bitcoin Ordinals and give holders Creative Commons Zero rights to the music.
The rapper announced in a post on X that a complimentary mint will provide 10,000 Ordinals. He added that holders will also possess Creative Commons Zero (CC0) rights to the music.
A CC0 designation signifies the relinquishment of copyright interest in a particular work, permitting others to “freely develop, improve, and reuse the works” at their discretion.
Ghostface asserts that a collaboration with the Ordinals Bot, Rare Scrilla, and NakaPepes enabled the creation of the Bitcoin Ordinal collection.
The rapper’s foray into the cryptocurrency sector originated in 2017 when he endeavored to establish Cream Capital, an independent cryptocurrency enterprise. The enterprise aimed to secure $30 million via an initial coin offering (ICO), a widely embraced method of celebrity participation during that period.
Ordinals resemble nonfungible tokens (NFTs), except they are minted using Bitcoin as the required minting token and encoded via the Bitcoin blockchain. As of the time of writing, the Ord.io website indicates that a mere 1,290 audio files have been cryptocurrency-signed.
For novice musicians, releasing exclusive music or the rights to previously released music as NFTs has grown in popularity. To grant musicians greater control over their content, Sound.xyz and Audius, among others, have implemented blockchain-powered solutions.
Michael Jackson’s estate and the American thrash metal band Megadeth are two artists who have provided admirers with exclusive music and merchandise.
Conversely, it is uncommon for musicians to distribute fan benefits and exclusive music drops via Bitcoin Ordinals. Ordinals became increasingly well-known in early 2023 after their initial issuance on the Bitcoin mainnet by Ordinals developer Casey Rodarmor.
Ordinals, which reportedly surpassed Ethereum in weekly sales on March 4, experienced a resurgence since that time, and their prominence in the cryptocurrency space began to diminish.
However, Originals have gained some traction among major brands. The NFT marketplace SuperRare unveiled “No Brainers,” an entirely new Ordinal collection, and declared its expansion into Bitcoin Ordinals on March 15.
A campaign to preserve classic video games via blockchain involved the inscription of an emulator for the Nintendo 64 (N64), a classic home video game console, in February in Bitcoin.
