Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie has announced a partnership with blockchain platform Opulous in a collaboration that will allow fans to invest in shares of his upcoming mixtape The Championship, which is due for release on 24 May.
The news coincides with the BET winner’s recent London listening session of the mixtape. It signals a growing popularity of direct-to-consumer platforms, as seen with companies like EVEN and HYBE’s Weverse.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for the longest because I’m blessed to have the best fan base in the world,” Sarkodie said on social media. “Thanks to @opulousapp for giving me the platform to give my fans the opportunity to own shares in my music. Myself and @opulousapp coming together to give away a good percentage of my new mixtape #TheChampionshipMixtape to lucky fans! You guys deserve this and more for the support you’ve shown me over the years.”
Little else is known about how the deal works, but Sarkodie explained that the details will be revealed in due course. Similarly, little is known about The Championship, which was heralded by the release of ‘Brag’ last week.
Other than that, it will be a dedicated hip hop project, and his first collection since 2022’s Jamz. It will be Sarkodie’s first hip hop offering since 2021’s No Pressure and his ninth solo collection overall.
Opulous was established by Ditto Music co-founder Lee Parsons and claims to “democratise music financing while strengthening the artist-fan connection, creating a more equitable and supportive music economy.”
It quickly raised $6.5m through funding rounds following its 2021 launch, and currently boasts a market cap of $65.7m according to CoinGecko.
In March, Opulous introduced Opulous AI, a new financial tool that predicts future royalties across all digital streaming platforms.
Marketed as “one of the first financial AI tools for the $27bn global music industry,” it enables users to determine advance structures for songs based on different pre- and post-recoup rates and is designed to enhance transparent decision-making for artists, labels, investment banks and OPUL cryptocurrency token holders.
