Muse are set to make history as the first band to release an NFT eligible for official album charts.

The celebrated prog-rockers are building up to the release of their ninth studio album Will Of The People on August 26th. The record will be released on a variety of formats, one of which is an NFT. That NFT offering wil be the first album to ever be considered eligible for official charts in Australia and England. 



The NFT offering of Will Of The People will be sold by cryptocurrency firm, Serenade, and will be limited to 1000 copies. Those who secure themselves a copy of the Will Of The People NFT-edition will receive a download of the record, with excusive sleeve art in high-resolution FLAC file format. It will also be digitally signed by Muse and every buyers name will be listen on a permanent roster of purchasers.  

Serenade’s founder, Max Shand, describes the Muse release as “the black T-shirt of NFTs." “What a fan wants is something simple and understandable but that gives them a sense of proximity to an artist and a sense of recognition from other fans.”

While most other NFTs require the purchaser to own a digital wallet, this offering from Muse and Serenade will not require it, as Serenade will create and issue a digital wallet on the purchasers behalf following purchase. If the purchaser already has a digital wallet, they are welcome to use it to purchase via that. 

Speaking to The Guardian, Sebastian Simone the vice president of audience and strategy at Warner Records UK, shared his thoughts on the forward-thinking offering 

"The band have always been at the forefront of technological innovation in their creativity and artistry.” "We wanted to keep it more about the product than about the ancillary experience."

Simone also clarified that it wasn't about trying to impact the chart, but rather giving people more purchasing options and increasing familiarity with the concept. 

 “If you want to make an impact on the chart, there are definitely ways to do that.” "With Muse it’s actually not essential as they are [already] on tens of thousands of pre-orders. We anticipate the No 1 spot to be very clear that week.” "“It will become more widely adopted. "This is going to be the beginning of the door opening."

Muse recently shared a new song Kill Or Be Killed ahead of the release of Will Of The People.

Featuring granite-heavy riffs, industrial production flourishes and an expansive, off-kilter prog structure, the track is one of the band’s heaviest songs to date and is already a live favourite. The song’s visceral intensity inspired a huge reaction from fans (after the band performed Kill Or Be Killed at various festivals in recent months), who went on to swarm the band’s social media with calls for it to be released. Responding to the overwhelming 'will of the people', Muse decided to share Kill Or Be Killed.

Frontman Matt Bellamy shares, “'Kill Or Be Killed’ is Muse at their heaviest! We wanted to update our hard rock sound on this album and with ‘Kill Or Be Killed’ we found a modern metal sound featuring double bass drum action and even a death growl. Lyrically the song takes influence from my favourite Paul McCartney song ‘Live And Let Die’, a dark take on how life’s adversity can sometimes bring out the worst human instincts to survival at any costs.”

Kill Or Be Killed follows Will Of The People, Compliance and Won't Stand Down in previewing Will Of The People.

Matt Bellamy has shared some insight into the artistic process behind and intention of Will Of The People which is due to drop August 26th via Warner Records. 

'''Will Of The People' was created in Los Angeles and London and is influenced by the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world.  A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests & riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters and the destabilization of the global order all informed 'Will Of The People'.  It has been a worrying and scary time for all of us as the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long are genuinely threatened.  This album is a personal navigation through those fears and preparation for what comes next.”

Of course with Muse being Muse, there is a lot of sonic exploration as well, with no bowing to any singular genre on Will Of The People.  The album’s title track Will Of The People brings playful provocation to a dystopian glam-rocker while there is an innocence and a purity to the nostalgic electronic textures of Verona. From the visceral thrill of Won’t Stand Down, to the industrial-tinged, granite heavy riffs of Kill Or Be Killed, or the lightning-bolt rush of Euphoria, the album concludes with the frenetic finale of the brutally honest We Are Fucking Fucked.

Will Of The People was produced by Muse. Key collaborators include mixing on eight tracks by the multiple Grammy Award winner Serban Ghenea; mixing from Dan Lancaster on Won’t Stand Down, and additional mixing on Kill Or Be Killed from Aleks von Korff.

Will Of The People 

1. Will Of The People

2. Compliance

3. Liberation

4. Won’t Stand Down

5. Ghosts (How Can I Move On)

6. You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween

7.  Kill Or Be Killed

8. Verona

9. Euphoria

10. We Are Fucking Fucked

Pre-order Will Of The People now

Will Of The People is now available to pre-order HERE, with Compliance and Won’t Stand Down provided as instant downloads. It will be released on digital, black vinyl and CD, as well as a selection of collectable formats. 

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