Music fans, investors and collectors who purchase exclusive limited edition vinyl albums released by US company Vinylkey[1] can authenticate their purchase, register proof of ownership and link to unique digital assets by tapping an NFC tag embedded in the physical album with their smartphone.
The NFC tag enables purchasers to access a blockchain-enabled non-fungible token (NFT) that links to assets such as digital artworks, photographs, videos and other content created to accompany each individual release.
Vinylkey launched the technology with a specially designed single copy of the album ‘Live from Blackalachia’ by musician and storyteller Moses Sumney[2] that links to a video NFT showing the artist hand-pressing the vinyl record at a pressing plant.
“For artists, Vinylkey serves as a tool for continued royalties and fan connection with NFT owners; and for music fans it provides a unique form of collectible equipped with enduring proof of authenticity and ownership,” Vinylkey says.
How it works
The vinyl record is “connected to an NFT by pressing it with a unique visual pattern and embedding an NFC tag. Tapping the record using most Android and iOS phones will bring you to a web page showing its linked NFT and owner information,” the company explains.
“The NFT represents the physical album in two different ways. The first way is the album contains an NFC tag with a unique number like a car VIN. This unique number can be read by your phone by tapping the centre of the album.
“The second way is that each album is pressed in a visually unique way and photos of the album are stored on the IPFS immutable file storage.
“The NFC chip
