DJs Steve Aoki, 3LAU Reveal First Single as ‘Punx’ NFT Duo

Electronic musicians Steve Aoki and Justin “3LAU” Blau have announced their first track as the CryptoPunks-inspired duo, Punx. “Concentrate,” which releases this Friday, draws inspiration from the CryptoPunks’ roots as one of the first prominent NFT collections.

“We really wanted the first song to sort of embody the spirit of what CryptoPunks represent—underground, kind of the first of their kind, and more particularly techie, tech-driven, [and] futuristic,” Blau told Decrypt.

“Concentrate” clearly plays on those themes. It’s a little over 3 minutes of fast-paced electronic music fit for a nightclub or a festival—with an industrial edge to it.

Artwork from “Concentrate,” the first single from DJ duo Punx. Image: Punx

But this isn’t your typical single release. Punx will give away half of all royalties from “Concentrate” to 99 total NFT collectors chosen from among Blau’s NFT holders, Aoki’s A0k1verse Passport NFT holders, and CryptoPunks NFT holders, with the goal of giving back to those collectors and democratizing ownership of the song. 

Such a move tracks for this duo, considering that Blau is also the co-founder and CEO of Web3 music rights platform Royal, which aims to give music fans the chance to support their favorite artists with NFTs that grant them rights to a percentage of a song’s royalties. “Concentrate” will be released on Royal, and its 99 NFTs can be traded there after issuance.

Both Blau and Aoki have made numerous moves across the Web3 world, and Blau told Decrypt about the shared affinity that brought them together as Punx.

“Even though Steve’s touring around the world, he still shares an incredible passion for this technology,” Blau said of Aoki and NFTs. “He was actually one of the first DJs to ever actually listen to me when I was ranting about it back in the day. He was the only one who really got it because he’s already a collector of all other types of things.”