This Filipino music label is the first to release an NFT single in Southeast Asia
By CREATEPhilippines
August 18, 2021
Blockchain technologies have far-reaching potential to improve trust, security, and transparency in market exchanges - whether it’s by ensuring provenance of a supply chain or implementing smart contracts without human interaction.
This year, the meteoric rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a form of blockchain technology, captured the imaginations of artists who, for time immemorial, struggled to monetize their digital and easily duplicable assets. NFTs help overcome this problem by acting as a “certificate of authenticity” to a said digital asset - its proof and history of ownership being publicly available information on the blockchain.
Alibatta Records, formed in 2021, is a music label and entertainment technology company that are trailblazing the application of NFTs in the Filipino music industry. They made the first-ever NFT single release in Southeast Asia with “Craving” by Ali Young - the label’s first signed artist. Using blockchain and immersive experiences, Alibatta focuses on “modernizing the way music reaches fans.”
Alibatta is a play on the word alibata, another name for the traditional Filipino script baybayin. “We hope through Alibatta, we are able to ‘re-spell’ traditional concepts, that our introduction of fresh ideas, talents, and innovation in the scene allows us to bring local Filipino talent to a global audience,” the label’s public statement read.
Alibatta Records is led by entrepreneur Geoff Mabasa alongside co-founders Adriene Cajayon and Charles Gener. Not only are they musicians themselves, but cumulatively have tech experience in companies such as Grab, TikTok, and Binance.
Craving was first released on the Binance NFT Marketplace on June 24. Their “Record Store Day” edition tokens for the single have all been auctioned. Standard, Diamond, and Succubi editions of Craving can also be purchased on the platform.
