The Block: Save your tears (and your money) for an NFT from The Weeknd

Amid what one might call the proverbial Blinding Lights of Beeple’s historic non-fungible token (NFT) sale and a wave of creatives capitalizing on the burgeoning crypto art space, a new musician is getting Acquainted with the scene.

Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter The Weeknd is launching his first non-fungible token (NFT) drop, the artist announced on Wednesday.

According to the announcement, the collection will feature new music and limited edition art The Weeknd developed with media production company Strange Loop Studios. The announcement comes five days after the artist hinted he would release an upcoming song with an accompanying NFT.

Per the announcement, the drop will take place on Saturday and will be hosted via the NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway. The sale is set to start at 2 PM EST.

Excited to announce that my first NFT drop is taking place on Saturday at 2:00 pm EST on @niftygateway . The collection will feature new music and limited edition art. I developed the artwork with Strange Loop Studios pic.twitter.com/627BO4JekK

— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) March 31, 2021

More broadly, the news is the latest indication that performing artists and musicians are eyeing NFTs as a way to promote their work or expand to new audiences. NFTs are essentially digital certificates tied to a unique piece of data or token on a blockchain and have emerged as a kind of collectible piece of merchandise alongside a music release.

Musical group Kings of Leon undertook a similar initiative earlier this month when they released three NFTs alongside an album, as previously reported .

Photograph from billboard.com.