Crypto Influencer Cooper Turley Creates $10M ‘Coop Records’ Music Startup Fund

The FWB co-founder’s latest creation will act as an incubator, venture capital firm and record label all in one.

AccessTimeIconSep 8, 2022 at 11:41 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 5:43 p.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

Cryptocurrency influencer and non-fungible token (NFT) song collector Cooper Turley is spinning up a $10 million fund to invest in artists and startup founders bringing crypto and music together.

His so-called Coop Records – backed by crypto culture influence brokers from Audius to OpenSea – will seek to solve what Turley sees as a big problem in the modern music industry: Labels and streaming services hold all the power and artists lack autonomy over their creative work.

  • Over $1B in U.S. Treasury Notes Has Been Tokenized; FATF Calls for More Regions to Regulate Crypto
    02:04
    Over $1B in U.S. Treasury Notes Has Been Tokenized; FATF Calls for More Regions to Regulate Crypto
  • Moondance Labs CEO on 'Barriers of Entry' for Building Layer 1s
    01:28
    Moondance Labs CEO on 'Barriers of Entry' for Building Layer 1s
  • What Challenges Do Appchains Solve?
    00:59
    What Challenges Do Appchains Solve?
  • Appchain Protocol Tanssi Raises $6M
    18:57
    Appchain Protocol Tanssi Raises $6M
  • Turley’s trying to change that with non-fungible tokens.

    “The biggest word I think of when it comes to Web3 is ownership. So, if you create value for a network, you should be able to capture that value in the form of a token or some sort of NFT,” Turley told CoinDesk in a phone call.

    Coop Records will take that notion of ownership and apply it across the music development stack. In a blog post announcing the fund, Turley wrote of a future where artists can raise money and profit off their work without selling their songs to a record label – perhaps by instead selling ownership of their music-creating company in tokenized form.

    In a Twitter thread Thursday, Turley said that his fund will act as an incubator, venture capital firm and record label all in one, supporting artists in making profitable Web3 technologies of their work. Its “Artist Seed Rounds” will help artists find funders who believe in their work.

    His vision for the future of Web3 and music is one where artists can create viable fan communities around their careers.

    “There's never really been a way for me to see collective ownership over that artist's success,” said Turley, speaking of “a way for me to kind of have that sort of proof-of-fandom asset that represents some exposure to that artist's career.”

    The fund launch is the latest turn by a man deeply embedded in crypto’s cultural scene. In addition to being a prolific investor in crypto music startups, Turley was a co-founder and key promoter of the online social club Friends With Benefits DAO. He was removed from the organization in January after racist tweets from years earlier surfaced.

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

    Cam Thompson

    Cam Thompson was a news reporter at CoinDesk.


    Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.