Welcome to The Beat, Decential’s weekly breakdown of the music-web3 byway.

Like most things in web3, the music space moves at breakneck speeds, issuing regular bouts of hope, cringe and FOMO. That combination of qualities blur the essence of the movement – the enduring solutions to legacy industry problems and the people building them. Let’s focus on the essence; the rest, as Alex Ross wrote, is noise.

It’s been an eventful week in the on-chain music space, which isn’t something we’ve been able to say in a while. Some of the most prominent orgs made big moves, prompting hot takes – or at least guarded optimism – that we may be “back.” What “back” means, though, remains unclear.

Sound M&A

First, the music non-fungible token (NFT) platform Sound acquired Soho — a mobile platform for NFT collectors — a sign of the company’s investment in a social, mobile-first experience.

“At Sound, we’re committed to building a better future for the music industry,” the announcement reads. “Our next chapter will be focused on creating deeper connections between artists, curators, and listeners, paired with a mobile experience that facilitates these relationships and introduces novel social features.” 

It’s one of the first such acquisitions in the space — where web3 company acquires web3 company — and surely, it won’t be the last. It’s also a strategy to watch . . .

Get The Beat delivered to your inbox a day earlier than on the website by signing up here

Finish reading this week’s newsletter here