The Ides of March are Almost Upon Us
Not THE Ides of March (when Julius Caesar was assassinated 2069 years ago), but the groundbreaking Bitcoin Ordinals project.
I was recently given a tour of the whole Ides of March ecosystem by the creator and curator of the project — Kane Mayfield. In 2023 Kane along with programmer extraordinaire Rad Audio developed a web player for his Bitcoin-themed album DU$T. Since then, the duo have continued to push the envelope of audio on Bitcoin. The DU$T player was and still is a revolutionary piece of technology. The fact that it works on any desktop or mobile device with or without the underlying Counterparty asset is amazing.
With Ides of March, Kane and Rad have taken the concept and pushed it even further. By owning one of the 2,100 Bitcoin ordinal inscriptions, you are not just getting some new songs. Rather you are gaining the ability to interact with the music in a way that has never been done before. This will be done by accessing a token-gated inscribed.audio page. It is here that the magic happens. Choose a song and watch a unique AI-enhanced music video. Click a button and you can follow along with the lyrics. Click another button and you are provided a Library of Alexandira’s worth of information for every reference made in the song!
Digital music never lived up to its promise — Kane Mayfield
Feeling creative? Click the “Samplerrr” button and go HAM on mixing and chopping up the beats and songs to your hearts desire. The advanced music player in the Inscription allows the ability to play, chop, and remix tracks with 12 customizable pads. Adjust BPM, loop points, sample start times, and lengths for full control over your sound. And the player supports 16 pads when a physical MIDI device is connected for professional-level production.
The Drop
The drop will consist of 2,100 pcs — 1,680 common versions which are dubbed “Imperium” and 420 rare “Dominus” versions. The minter won’t know which they’ve got until after the Inscription arrives in their wallet and they “flip the record”. There are 4 Imperium designs and 5 Dominus for a total of 9 unique images.
The difference between the common and rare versions is that the rares will include access to special tracks by producer and artist “Rare Scrilla” and rapper Ghostface Killah. Each will link to 1 of 4 songs inscribed by Rare Scrilla or 1 by Ghostface Killah.
Every inscription will be minted on a so-called “Hitman Sat” which are Satoshis that are tied to a grim piece of Bitcoin history, used in the illegal hiring of a hitman. Here they are being reframed to highlight the betrayal of Julius Caesar and the Ides of March.
The Contents
Owners gain access to an all-star lineup of iconic artists and producers such as Money B of Digital Underground, Ras Kass, Numskull from The Luniz, Homeboy Sandman, Rare Scrilla, Shower Shoes, DJ Booman, and Trash Lights. All the songs and beats are presented under the cc0 license meaning it is in the public domain, so that others may freely build upon, enhance and reuse the works for any purposes without restriction under copyright or database law. In all, there will be 12 beats and 6 lyrics that can be mixed 3 at a time. Each of the 12 beats has a unique video accompaniment.
One can envision a future where there will be remix competitions, mixtape-like compellations, song swapping, and more as people continue to interact with the music and sampler.
Additional Features & Benefits
- Beyond the above, there will be an exclusive Ides of March Bitmap parcel to explore which includes riddles to solve and hidden songs to discover.
- There will be unique collector rewards for the top 100, 50, 21, and 3 holders of Ides of March Inscriptions including bitmap skins, special Ordinals drops, and physical vinyl.
- Additional surprises are reserved for the most engaged collectors.
The release date is tentatively scheduled for December 12th with a price of 0.0015 BTC each. Keep an eye out for an exclusive whitelist opportunity which offers guaranteed purchase at a discounted price.
