A Tribe Called Quest Sell Profit-Earning Song Royalties as NFT

A Tribe Called Quest has sold an NFT for royalties to their first five studio albums via Royalty Exchange. The sale closed for 40.191 ETH, the equivalent of $84,765.

The sale, which started at $35,000, encompasses 1.5% of sound recording royalties from the group’s first five albums: The group’s 1990 debut People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm along with The Low-End Theory, Midnight Marauders, Beats, Rhymes and Life, and The Love Movement.

The winner will earn money every time the songs in question are streamed, played on the radio, sold physically, sampled, or appear in TV, film, or commercial placements. Royal Exchange notes that the percentage of the past 12 months of royalties equates to $6,752.

Royal Exchange has recently auctioned off the royalties to other artists’ catalogs, including Lil Dicky’s “Save Dat Money” and REO Speedwagon’s “Hi Fidelity.”

Earlier this year, late A Tribe Called Quest member Phife Dawg’s second solo album, Forever, was announced as a posthumous release. The LP was assembled by his friends and family five years after his death. Previously, A Tribe Called Quest’s reunion LP, We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service, dropped in 2016.