FanDuel Vault Music fantasy music

Photo Credit: Vault Music

Vault Music, headed by FanDuel co-founder Nigel Eccles, is launching a fantasy sports-inspired music game, Fantasy Music Manager, with a private beta open now — “Think fantasy sports but for the music industry.”

Web3 limited-run music platform Vault Music — whose CEO Nigel Eccles co-founded fantasy sports gambling platform FanDuel — is launching a fantasy sports-inspired music game that just entered a private beta test available to the first 100 sign-ups.

“Build a roster of emerging artists and score points based on their growth in monthly listener numbers,” the company says in a post revealing the concept on social media. “You can create your dream roster of artists, monitor their stats, and earn cash prizes every week.”

“Think fantasy sports but for the music industry,” said Vault in a statement to DMN. “It’s a fun exploration for us given our CEO Nigel Eccles’ background as co-founder and CEO of FanDuel.”

Given the dwindling spark remaining in the flash-in-the-pan of the NFT phenomenon, it makes sense Vault would dip its fingers into a growing market like fantasy sports. But could the concept of “fantasy music” really take off?

The rise of fantasy sports has grown at an impressive clip since its infancy in the ‘80s, thanks predominantly to the prevalence of the internet. Whereas fantasy sports used to be played only among friends or co-workers, where participants had to manually track their player statistics and calculate their scores, the internet has made every aspect infinitely more accessible.

Online platforms (like FanDuel) offer users things like team management, real-time player performance tracking, and competition with other users worldwide. The increased availability of online gambling in the United States is another key factor. Fantasy sports and sports betting become easily entwined online, enabling the popularity of both to blossom.

With that in mind, fantasy music betting has the potential to find its niche. With the focus on rising stars, the platform also appears it could help boost the visibility of upcoming artists. But there’s also no guarantee that the same interest generated from sports fans will be present in the music industry’s demographics.