David Bowie's unreleased version of "Let's Dance" will be released as an NFT

By: Henry Felix

April 11, 2023 6:54 AM

A never-before-released version of "Let's Dance" will be offered to owners as NFTs commemorating the track's 40th anniversary.

Gala Music has just announced that they will be releasing an unreleased cover of David Bowie's hit single "Let's Dance" from 1983.

Gala Music, in collaboration with publisher Warner-Chappell Music and music producer Larry Dvoskin, intends to release the tune in the form of a collection featuring 3,003 NFTs. The NFTs will be available on April 14, the 40th anniversary of "Let's Dance."

Each NFT will include a piece of art influenced by Bowie's style and sensibilities. The holder of a Bowie NFT gains access to an unreleased version of the song.

Gala Music, a subsidiary of the Web3 gaming platform Gala Games, is intended to give musicians more control over their works and to provide them with new revenue streams, such as streaming and NFT drops.

Gala Music decided to combine its efforts to bring the unheard song to the public's attention with charitable contributions. As a result, for the forthcoming NFTs, a "pay-what-you-wish" format was chosen, with all initial earnings going to the humanitarian group MusiCares, which focuses on health services for the music community.

The version of David Bowie's classic hit "Let's Dance" that will be published as an NFT is thought to be a single song that he has not yet revealed to his fans. Bowie wowed the audience not only with his brilliance, but also with his extraordinary productivity, which enabled him to release 38 albums, including 27 studio albums and 11 live albums, 128 singles, and four soundtracks. Yet, it appears that there is one more track to be discovered.

Previously, in 2022, the David Bowie estate released an NFT collection titled "Bowie on the Blockchain," which featured works by nine artists inspired by the late music legend and represented by Jonathan Wolfe, Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot, Lirona, Glam Beckett, Fewocious, Jake, Young and Sick, Osinachi, and Defaced.

"The more you think about what the crypto art space really is, the more you realize how ahead of his time Bowie was with some of the ways that he engaged with his fans - be it BowieArt, BowieWorld, Bowie Bonds, BowieNet," Andrew Keller, co-founder of Web3 company We Love Arts, told Rolling Stone magazine about the upcoming art collection.

Keller went on to say, "He also created digital art, so the idea of making people aware of all of these things they probably don't think about or know about when they think of Bowie piqued my interest, and it really became about solidifying his legacy on the blockchain and creating beautiful, meaningful art for me. Having a 'why?' was critical and guided every step of this process."

Despite the excitement of the Blockchain experiment's creators, the collection was received with harsh criticism from Bowie's followers who saw the NFT project as at odds with the musician's ideals.