Wu-Tang clan’s Ghostface Killah drops exclusive music as Bitcoin Ordinals

The American rapper Ghostface Killah, known for his role in the group Wu-Tang Clan, will launch new music as Bitcoin Ordinals and give holders Creative Commons Zero rights to the music.

The American rapper Dennis David Coles, known as Ghostface Killah and for his role in the popular hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, announced he will release a drop of exclusive music as Bitcoin Ordinals. 

In a post on the social media platform X, the rapper said there will be a 10,000 supply of his Ordinals via a free mint. He also said holders will have Creative Commons Zero (CC0) rights to the music. 

CC0 means that copyright interest is waived from a specific work, allowing others to “freely build upon, enhance and reuse the works” as they please. 

According to Ghostface, the Bitcoin Ordinal collection was made possible through a collaboration with the Ordinals Bot, Rare Scrilla and NakaPepes. 

The rapper’s involvement in the crypto industry can be traced back to 2017 when he tried to launch his own cryptocurrency company called Cream Capital. The venture sought to raise $30 million through an initial coin offering (ICO), which was very popular for celebrities to get involved with at the time.

Ordinals are similar to nonfungible tokens (NFTs) but are inscribed using the Bitcoin blockchain and with Bitcoin (BTC) as the minting token needed. According to the Ord.io website, there have only been 1,290 audio files inscribed to Bitcoin at the time of writing.

Related: Ordinals trader gets Bitcoin back after fat-fingered NFT purchase

Releasing exclusive music, or the rights to previously released music as NFTs, has been increasingly popular for new musicians. Platforms such as Sound.xyz and Audius have been using blockchain-powered solutions for musicians to have more control over their content. 

American thrash metal band Megadeth and Michael Jackson’s estate are among the artistes to have released exclusive music and offerings to fans.

However, using Bitcoin Ordinals as a means for musicians to release exclusive music drops and fan perks is less common.

Ordinals gained popularity at the beginning of 2023, when the first was minted on the Bitcoin mainnet by developer Casey Rodarmor.

Since then, their presence in the crypto space has started to wane, although on March 4 it was reported that Ordinals had made a comeback in weekly sales, even outperforming Ethereum (ETH).

Nonetheless, Originals have seen some traction with big-name brands. The NFT marketplace SuperRare announced its expansion into Bitcoin Ordinals on March 15 and unveiled “No Brainers,” a brand-new Ordinal collection.

In February, an emulator for the classic home video game console Nintendo 64 (N64) was inscribed in Bitcoin as a part of a campaign for the preservation of classic video games via blockchain.