When Dreams Never Die began in 2019, we could jump-start a new artist's career based on quality music alone.

Today, the industry no longer works for the best music; it works for the best data.

A confluence of trends has left great artists—and the people who care about them—conflicted, discouraged, and giving up. Industry pioneers and artist advocates are sounding the alarm.

As music fans at our core, we’re looking to the next decade—one in which we might need great artists more than ever. We’re imagining the independent artist company of the future.

SLOE JACK

On Aug 20, 2021, we began working with Melbourne artist SLOE JACK, 19-years-old at the time, after hearing a one-minute rough demo.

He had no following, releases, or data behind him; his unrestrained passion and anger struck a special chord with us.

Debuting in web3

When he released “NUMBER” on February 8th through Sound.xyz, SLOE JACK became the first artist to officially debut in web3. Prior to that, he established a small, inspired fan base through our community. He stayed in touch with them through virtual release parties and our Discord’s Weekly Recap calls.

He proceeded to roll-out his entire 8-song debut project, BACKSTAB, track-by-track on Sound, generating 10.47 ETH across 265 minted editions. For even the most talented emerging artists, it can take years to generate equivalent revenue and fan engagement through traditional DSPs.

Closing out the year, SLOE was featured on Sound’s one-year anniversary mixtape, “State of Sound Vol. 1”.

SLOE WRLD

Split into three tiers—Sound, WRLD, and SLOE BOY—Jack’s personalized, hand-drawn NFT universe gave holders access to token-gated content on his website, a private fan chat, and free exclusive merch. An unreleased track has been streamed on his token-gated site approx 1,000 times.

Still rough and experimental, SLOE WRLD is the foundation of a project that intends to provide Jack’s biggest fans with as much lasting value as possible.

Traditional Accolades

Within the first year of his career, Jack accumulated:

• 1.5M+ Spotify streams

• 65+ editorial playlists and 2 covers (Punk Unleashed on Spotify, .WAV on Tidal)

• Radio play on SiriusXM Alt Nation, Triple J Unearthed, Vancouver’s 102.7 THE PEAK

• Support from Snapchat + more

SLOE JACK LLC

After over a year of working together, Dreams Never Die and SLOE JACK formed an LLC.

The purpose is to accurately reflect our working relationship: building SLOE JACK together from the ground up, rather than merely exploiting master recordings or acting as hired managers. He is the only artist on our roster we have this partnership with.

Full Roster & Catalog

This year, we were more selective with our releases. Here are some highlights:

superflirt

Discovered by our top scout Blubb Blubb, 22-year-old, LA-based superflirt became DND’s second artist to debut in web3 with his track “Sober”, selling out 25 editions on Sound before placing on Spotify’s New Music Friday US. Shortly after, he sold out on Glass while holding a virtual release party in dreamsneverdie.club.

Namou, Tj Loft, gcmayn, Doublethink + more

This year, we released two tracks from 17-year-old Georgia-based artist namou: “putdatfonedown” and “to the outer rim and back”, one of which he minted on Catalog. Both produced by mainstay DND collaborator Jack Laboz, the songs helped him surpass 1.5 million streams in just over a year of releasing music.

After selling his first NFT on Catalog. Australian talent Tj Loft dropped his fourth single, "This is not my idea of a party”, quickly becoming his most streamed song to-date.

After minting his first NFT on Catalog, gcmayn returned this year with “arizona”.

Another Blubb Blubb discovery, Doublethink, was introduced to our community this year with their fourth single, “Doom Scrolling”.

With a handful of un-announced new signees and some surprise returns planned, 2023 will see a flood of exciting new music from the roster.

2023 & beyond

This article reflects on our first year bringing an existing independent record label into the emerging, experimental tech space.

Currently, there’s a clear distinction between the traditional channels and the emerging ones; between Dreams Never Die as an artist company and as a music community.

Next year, this line will blur. We’ll build more meaningful artist and fan experiences, more exciting digital products, more decentralized practices.

As we do, the company and community will merge, and we’ll take a peek into what the future of sustainability in music really looks like.

Written by Cole Ryan, Ben Frigeri, Jade Garcia, and Kiddest Sinke