How Opulous MFTs Differ from Other NFTs

6 min readFeb 9, 2022

For 2022 and beyond, our continued vision at Opulous is expanding access for investors and artists to music copyright-backed MFTs via our Opulous platform.

As we are launching a complete music copyright-backed MFT ecosystem via our new Opulous platform, it is imperative that we relay the type of NFTs our company offers when compared with the more traditional NFTs on the mainstream market today.

In this article, we examine the difference between Opulous MFTs, that is to say, SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) compliant security-backed tokens, and the more common NFT types. In a following article, we will also take a more detailed look at the specific kind of licensing we have filed with the SEC.

Traditional NFTs

The traditional NFTs (non-fungible tokens) that rose to popularity during the 2021 NFT boom are unique digital assets created on a blockchain. Most of them are designed as “utility tokens” representing digital art, music, game tokens, sports collectibles, trading cards, even real-world assets like real-estate transactions and college diplomas.

However, these types of NFTs are Non-Security NFTs; they do not allow revenue sharing. For Opulous to pursue revenue-sharing NFTs, the SEC requires highly specialized licensing from any company that wishes to operate legally.

Some of the most popular NFT collections that don’t offer revenue sharing include BAYC (Bored Apes), Boss Beauties, Decentraland, Meka Verse, VeeFriends, and Nouns. On January 20th, 2022, the most expensive Ape sold for $2.85 million, while the NFT market officially hit $25 billion in 2021.

With artists like 3lau, Steve Aoki, and Grimes collectively selling their NFTs for almost $25 million, music NFTs are an unstoppable force. There’s never been a better time to share the wealth in music.

This all portends well for Opulous because not only are we entering a contemporary and prevailing market, but we’re offering a fresh new take on NFTs under our Unique Value Proposition: music copyright-backed MFTs.

Opulous MFTs

Opulous is the ONLY company to offer NFTs backed by SEC-compliant music copyrights, offering our community an utterly innovative take on NFTs.

Unlike the traditional NFTs mentioned above, Opulous MFTs contain the copyright of a song. Thanks to blockchain technology, each of our tokens contains code readable by our system, providing all the token’s information to its owners.

Our tokens provide the following critical elements of value to each MFT:

The copyright asset contains the rights to collect royalties for the linked track.
Financial details of the royalty earnings involved.
Other necessary metadata includes artwork and audio tags, song clips, etc.

The smart contract feature of blockchain technology is helpful in specifying the exact sum each copyright holder is due while also guaranteeing they are compensated accordingly. We take metadata seriously within our MFTs at Opulous; it’s a big part of proving ownership and peace of mind to our investors and musicians alike.

Through blockchain, Opulous MFTs allow artists to circumvent record labels that stand in the way of their creativity. In this way, our MFTs are valuable because they let artists take control of the music they create. Furthermore, our smart contracts, built on the Algorand blockchain, serve as this much-needed proof of ownership, ensuring investors are paid their fair percentage of music rewards.

Moreover, our MFTs collectively let artists share their music rewards streams with their fans and participants, a feature never before seen in the history of music and a feat we are genuinely proud of at Opulous.

This also makes way for a new engagement experience between the artist and their fans/investors, incentivizing community promotion with exciting VIP experiences, fan contests, unique NFT artwork, and other exciting unlockables — many of which will accompany our MFT sales.

Finally, our MFTs stand out as another way that issuing a music copyright Security token on-chain can facilitate both efficiency and transparency to private securities. Similarly, our upcoming Opulous NFT Exchange (coming in Q4 2022) will let investors trade their tokens seamlessly, with all current released assets available for trading.

SEC Compliance: In Brief

Each of our MFTs is a specific type of digital investment contract governed by U.S. securities laws; as such, they are treated as securities by the SEC and taxable as securities by the SEC.

Generally, these types of securities must share the following characteristics:

They must each:

Comply with regulations as official security tokens
Embrace security status, not avoid it
Follow the official security token framework within the country they are established

Some of the benefits include:

Less investor risk — laws enforce transparency, equity, ownership, etc.
Can be backed by tangible assets, equity, ownership, etc
With Opulous, you can trade unique music copyright assets
Tokenization and fractional ownership pave the way for greater liquidity
Global 24/7 trading markets

We also intend on publishing a follow-up article to explore the type of licensing we are using at Opulous in more detail.

Putting it All Together

Now that you have a better understanding of the difference between our MFTs and regular NFTs, it’s time to look at how it all comes together.

Opulous procures the latest trending tracks from the biggest names in music; for example, recent sales include hot music from Lil Pump, Soulja Boy, and KYLE. This means the more successful the artist is, the more the MFT track (or album) is streamed, and the more revenue everyone earns, from the artist to the investor/fan.

Songs generate music publishing royalties from the biggest streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. But they also generate royalties every time they are performed during live concerts or in public venues and used in video games.

To illustrate this, Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube will begin paying Opulous MFT owners music royalties, along with the artist, of course. As a result, Opulous can calculate and evaluate the value of Music Copyrights and the associated royalties involved and facilitate the payments of royalty earnings towards the Opulous platform directly without relying on the copyright owners themselves.

Opulous then redistributes those royalties payments to the MFT owners every three months through $OPUL tokens. This automatically facilitates the disbursement of royalties funds proportionally among all MFT owners. And in April, our first MFT owners will start receiving the first round of music royalty payments from the Lil Lump “Mona Lisa” single featuring Soulja Boy.

Our MFTs will create an entirely new financial market, opening up the possibilities of royalty revenue to the general public at the right entry price.

As with traditional stock markets, Opulous MFT investors now have the chance to buy shares of assets. But instead of buying a stake in companies, investors and music fans can now participate in the revered music market.

The Opulous Vision

We believe that the time has come for the intersection of music and revenue sharing. Our inspiration is drawn from the endless possibilities of new revenue streams for artists driven by creating ongoing hits and investors entering a market that was never accessible to the public.

We want everyone to be able to invest in Opulous MFTs.

We also believe that the process should be easy and the price has to be right. So when you invest in an Opulous MFT rather than a traditional NFT, you are actively earning a share of the music copyright royalties from the top award-winning musicians in the world.

Opulous artists enjoy millions of streams daily, and the numbers keep climbing. Since its January 21st release, Lil Pump’s “Mona Lisa” exceeded 1M streams, KYLE’s latest album hit the TOP 10 in TOP ALBUMS SPOTIFY DEBUT USA CHARTS.

While the numbers do the talking, and music is our inspiration, at Opulous, the hard work never stops. We’ve enjoyed highlighting how our MFTs stand out from all the others.