Bored Ape Band Curates NFT-Gated Playlist For Spotify Pilot

In a move toward fostering Web3 communities, Spotify is field testing special NFT-gated playlists, starting with a few prominent projects

article-image

Shutterstock.com/Funstock, modified by Blockworks

share

Music streaming giant Spotify is piloting NFT playlists that can only unlocked by holders, a new service that would enable Web3 communities to curate music specifically for members.

Only a handful of NFT communities have been selected to trial the NFT playlists, including gaming startup Overlord and Bored Ape band KINGSHIP. Regular Spotify users will be unable to access their gated playlists. 

Overlord said Thursday it has been selected as one of Spotify’s partners in the new pilot. Holders of its Creepz NFT tokens can access the “Invasion” playlist by connecting their Web3 wallets on Spotify. 

Spotify effectively confirmed the pilot in a tweet of its own.

Creepz are lizard-like creatures that feature in Overlord’s gaming ecosystem. The NFTs have seen nearly $60 million in volume traded. More than 780 unique addresses hold the Creepz Genesis NFT, per CoinGecko.

Loading Tweet..
“This is just the beginning of our audio adventure,” Overlord said about its Spotify playlist.

Meanwhile, Universal Music Group’s virtual band KINGSHIP, consisting of Bored Ape avatars in the vein of cartoon-fronted groups like Gorillaz, announced a similar Spotify-linked service on Thursday. 

A specially curated playlist will be accessible only for holders of the KINGSHIP Key Card NFT, which allows users access to a themed virtual world and unlock music, products and other experiences. The NFTs have more than 1,500 unique owners, according to CoinGecko.

The playlist includes some tracks from Queen, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg and Led Zeppelin. 

Carl DiClementi, Vice President of product at QuickNode, shared an image of what KINGSHIP’s NFT-gated playlists look like.

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template (10).png

Research

Innovations on Aptos’ technical design through Raptr, Shardines, and Zaptos approach near-optimal latency and throughput by unlocking 100% utilization of network resources, with the capacity to settle 260k transactions per second with latencies less than 800ms. The original Move language was revamped with the launch of Move 2, supporting more expressivity in smart contract logic and a scalable ability to interact with high volume datasets. The ecosystem has benefitted from strong asset inflows, now hosting over $1.3B in stablecoins, $450M in bridged BTC, and $530M in RWAs. Activity in the Aptos ecosystem has grown notably over the past year, with monthly application revenue reaching ~$835k and monthly DEX volumes growing to over $5B, both at new all time highs.

article-image

Interchain Labs will focus on sovereign L1s and institutional demand, abandoning plans for smart contracts on the Cosmos Hub

article-image

Also, only three tokens have outperformed bitcoin so far this year: XMR, HYPE and SKY

article-image

The fund group has submitted proposals in recent months for other funds that would hold litecoin, solana, XRP, HBAR, Sui and others

article-image

Momentum’s back — BTC leads, risk assets follow

article-image

Ondo Finance’s acquisition of blockchain development company Strangelove follows its buy of Oasis Pro

article-image

Cryptocurrency and stock traders alike had a lot to unpack Wednesday