Sekudbeat are a young Indonesian EDM & Hip Hop group who see no limits when experimenting, creating, and selling their NFT music. Learn how they are doing it and what they see for the future of NFTs in Music.
Who are Sekudbeat?
Hailing out of Jakarta, Indonesia, Sekudbeat is an EDM and Hip Hop collective of young, ambitious Indonesian NFT music artists. They are part of the ever-growing list of musicians who are using NFTs to monetize their music and pioneer ways of using NFTs to control ownership and royalties for their music.
Sekudbeat was established in April 2020 early in the pandemic. They believe Covid-19 disrupted people’s music preferences in Indonesia – causing them to expand their tastes – particularly EDM and Hip Hop – 2 genres not historically popular in Indonesia.
Seeking overseas recognition as well as growing the EDM/Hip Hop in Indonesia, Sekudbeat sees big opportunities in the NFT space for themselves and other musicians. Like many countries, Indonesian musicians see only 3rd party streaming sites, like Spotify, as a way to promote their music and gain listeners.
Sekudbeat see big opportunities to grow EDM and Hip Hop in Indonesia. They were founded by Imam Kikou (Hip Hop) and FDL (EDM) in April 2020 at the start of the pandemic. Since then, they have added to their crew – not PA-2, Verrel K and LIXION joined as beatmakers from their respective genres; hip hop, trap, and trance. Their first rapper, Humble Charlie, joined in late July 2020 collaborating on the tune ‘broken home’.
The word ‘Sekud’ comes from Bahasa slang and can mean either fear or finesse, two words the guys feel relate to their music. ‘Fear’ because they want people to fear missing out on their music and ‘finesse’ because of the skill it takes to blend different sounds and beats for users to listen to in any situation.
It’s clear from talking to Sekudbeat that they infuse different styles and push their own musical boundaries in experimental ways. They are beatmakers, usually in the form of type beat – instrumental music files for sale that can be used by other artists and musicians. They also create visuals to go with their work to add extra exclusivity. They have broad influences including Japanese producers and Javanese traditional music.
Experimenting with Music and NFTs
At heart, in their music and their lives, they are experimentalists. It was Imam Kikou and Verrel K who decided to monetize their music by creating NFTs as they already had the experience with cryptocurrency.
DaVinci Gallery is an eco-friendly NFT marketplace platform on the Harmony using ONE coins and they are growing. With 2 second transactions on their blockchain and minimal transaction fees. They began minting NFTs on DaVinci Gallery.
Sekudbeat were approached by the founder of DaVinci Gallery, Bruno Marshall, to join the project.
As many Ethereum based platforms are out of the price reach of middle-class Indonesians DaVinci Gallery was the perfect option, it costs less than 100IDR or about 0.0069 US Dollars to mint an NFT.
This was a game-changer for Sekudbeat. It enabled them to monetize their music in a decentralized way by avoiding big music aggregators and connecting directly with buyers.
Since then, they have been progressing. Mamedzproject, a local visual artist, joined the group to improve music visuals. The first audiovisual launch of the remastered version of ‘Papuy PSBB’ – a big room house genre (check it out above) – which sold a bunch in early May.
Another audiovisual, Heznf, artist joined the party with the trilogy series concept with Imam Kikou, “Resonance of God” Part 1: Bangor, a future house genre in Hic et Nunc.
One of their NFT tracks entitled “Spirit” by artist Limitless, illustrates the simplicity of the trap-hip-hop beat with a vibe that encourages the listeners in every situation, and also one of NFT music that was created to represent the Harmony Protocol ecosystem itself.
Sekudbeat and the Future
Sekudbeat strive for authenticity and draw inspiration from multiple genres and inspirations. As well as experimenting with music, they are experimenting with how they share and sell it. They are excited about the future, as they should be, because their youth, passion for music, and finesse for doing it are on their side.
In July 2021, they were the first Indonesian NFT music collective that entered Crypto Art Week Asia(CAWA)’s virtual gallery exhibition and this is just the beginning.
They are beyond the trends – that’s why in their content, either NFT or social media, they usually use the hashtag #BeyondNormies.
They see NFTs as the holy grail for up-and-coming music artists. Since joining the NFT space they have gained much appreciation from international listeners as well as local listeners within the community.
We’d like to thank Sekudbeat for talking with us and wish them all the best for the future. We will keep you updated on their continuing progress over the next year.
Readers can check out their released collection of tracks here: https://audius.co/sekudbeat
Check out their exclusive NFT type beats on different platforms:
https://davinci.gallery/profile/0xb7b2d508f4146b2386c9139794cf0c863689d9f0
https://www.hicetnunc.xyz/tz/tz1LVFFJCnNkkMjC6HRsJbz4aH4CakbXPPys/creations
Opensea: https://opensea.io/SEKUD_Labs
Join their community:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sekudbeat/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SekudB
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSbtAm9M7ysJEq8rq-S743g
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/hDDwurYQFk
