Story by Elise Sandlin | Contributing Writer
The music industry has changed for young, developing artists since NFT technology has provided them a space to share their work without the usual gatekeeping many creators face. NFTs, or “non-fungible tokens” are digital collectibles that represent art, sound recordings, and other unique items so they can be bought and sold online without fraud.
David S. Rosen has been a game-changer in the NFT world. As CEO and founder of Dopr, an NFT dashboard dedicated to discovering and tracking music NFTs, Rosen has created a space for music artists to sell their work and gain recognition without the usual complications many creators face in the music industry.
“As an independent artist for the past 20 years, I’ve seen first-hand the inequities of the music industry,” Rosen said. “I set out to use the insights from my neuroscience research to help change things for artists. Dopr was born out of my neuroscience research on music preference formation in popular music.”
Rosen is passionate about making it easier for those who wish to publish their work but have had complications with recognition and fraud. His passion stems from an understanding, as he’s been on the side of the struggling artist. He’s loved music his whole life, and his career has taken him far since the days of being a solo artist.
“I fell in love with music in the second grade and started taking piano lessons at eight,” Rosen said. “I’ve been playing bass guitar for 22 years and am jazz trained. I have extensive music performance experience with my rock bands, Igor’s Egg, Chronicles of Sound, The Space Cats, and currently Nakama. I ran management and booking for them, as well.”
Rosen also has a background in education and public speaking, as well as researching and doctoral work.
He graduated with a Psychology degree from Emory University and gained his PhD in Applied Cognitive and Brain Sciences from Drexel University. In his research with Dopr cofounder, Scott Miles, patterns of optimal familiar surprise related to music preference and commercial success. This research was published in a Top 10 Paper in 2017 by Frontiers of Neuroscience. Rosen focuses his research on music cognition, creativity, and flow.
“We can use this research and technology to have the most impact on artists’ careers by helping bring about an economic paradigm shift in the music industry, so we can get more artists better compensated,” Rosen said. “It’s a future I can get behind, and my co-founders can get behind.”
Rosen continues to research ways to develop Dopr and provide young artists with a voice and the means to make their art.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Ethan Pickering, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com.
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