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“We are really happy with the results. The integration process was very smooth and everybody in the community agrees it’s been an improvement. I don’t know how I had not heard of GBM before, it’s amazing.”
Jonathan Mann
Founder, Song A Day
Overview
Song A Day was started in 2009 by Jonathan Mann, who writes and publishes one song every day. Since 2022, these songs have been published as NFTs and sold each day, with the proceeds going to the SongADAO, which owns 100% of the rights.
Challenge
Previously using English auctions, Song A Day wanted to make their auctions more fun and engaging. As the auctions are run on Ethereum, they were also looking for a way so that losing bidders could cover their gas cost.
Solution
GBM turns any Song A Day sale into a great experience where users either win or make money, making each auction a fun and exciting experience for everyone and generating more revenue for Song A Day. Bidders also cover their costs and then some!
The Situation
A new song, every day.
Jonathan Mann has been writing a song every day for over 15 years. Started as a one-month project at the height of the 2008 financial crisis when he was unemployed, Jonathan holds the Guinness World Record for “Most Consecutive Days Writing a Song” since 2014, when the Song A Day project reached 2,146 days.
Song A Day’s history is a testament to its cultural relevance: from Steve Jobs dancing to Song #561 as he walked on stage at a press conference in 2010, to singing Song #1518 live with Anderson Cooper on TV in 2012, to the Baby Yoda Song #3974 becoming the #1 Viral song on Spotify during 2019. In 2017, Jonathan discovered NFTs and wrote Song #3182 about CryptoPunks. In 2018, he sung Song #3591 alongside Vitalik Buterin at Devcon in Prague, and since 2022, each Song A Day is minted as an NFT and auctioned off on the songaday.world website, every day.
Previously using English auctions, Song A Day wanted to make their auctions more fun and engaging. As their auctions are run on Ethereum, bidders need to pay a not-so-small transaction fee to place bid on Song A Day NFTs, and Song A Day were looking for a way so that losing bidders could cover that cost. “We weren’t actively looking for a replacement for the English auctions, but when I met the GBM team at Devcon Bogota, I was like, how have I not heard of this before? It’s amazing” says Song A Day founder Jonathan Mann.
The limitations of the English Auction
Even though it is far the most common form of auction used in the world, the traditional English auction mechanic does have several shortcomings:
In an English auction, only the highest bidder wins. Everyone else loses and leaves with nothing.
There is no incentive to participate, thus many auctions don’t attract enough bidders and items are undervalued. Some auctions have no bidders at all.
It is difficult to generate excitement, most of the action happens at the very end of the auction.
On a blockchain like Ethereum, bidders pay a not-so-small gas fee to bid, so losing bidders end up with less money than they started with.
GBM: The auction where everybody wins
GBM™ turns any sale into a great experience where users either win the auction or make money. You place a bid, and if someone outbids you, you get your refunded bid, plus an incentive. Every participant either makes money or wins the auction, making the auction fun and exciting for everyone!
More Activity
Bidders are rewarded for bidding early, making the start of every auction an event no one wants to miss.
Better Prices
The incentives lead to greater price discovery, meaning items sell for their true market value, even when the demand is low, and the project captures most of the value.
Happier Community
Bidders cover their costs and then some, and every participant goes home with something. Everybody wins!
How GBM Works
When a bid is placed, the GBM™ formula calculates how much money that bidder will earn if they are outbid. Every bidder that gets outbid earns an incentive, and the highest bidder at the end of the auction wins, with the seller receiving what is left in the pot.
Incentive Function
Instant Payout
Hammer Time
Song A Day auction data comparison
Last 100 auctions before GBM vs. First 100 auctions with GBM
English Auctions
GBM Auctions
Increase with GBM
Average First Bid
English Auctions
$43
0.035 ETH
GBM Auctions
$95
0.0573 ETH
Increase with GBM
122%
Lowest Sale
English Auctions
<$0.01
0.00000001 ETH
GBM Auctions
$8
0.005 ETH
Increase with GBM
615m%
Average Sale
English Auctions
$118
0.094 ETH
GBM Auctions
$396
0.2348 ETH
Increase with GBM
234%
Highest Sale
English Auctions
$2,630
2.1 ETH
GBM Auctions
$10,786
6.9 ETH
Increase with GBM
310%
Net Revenue
English Auctions
$11,870
9.428 ETH
GBM Auctions
$35,534
21.236 ETH
Increase with GBM
199%
The impact of GBM on Song A Day
Record sales
Since integrating GBM, Song A Day has seen a drastic increase in average sale price and revenues: revenues have tripled in dollar terms and the average sale price has more than tripled compared to the 100 auctions before GBM was integrated.
The two highest Song A Day auction sales ever have happened in the first 3 months since GBM has been implemented: Song #5174 sold for 6.9 ETH and Song #5203 sold for 5.324 ETH. The highest sale ever before that was Song #5000, for 5 ETH in 2022. The lowest sale went from being less than $0.01 before GBM, to almost $8.
GBM auctions also improved price discovery for Song A Day NFTs, as we observe fewer bids per auction and higher average first bids.
Song A Day x GBM
199%
An elegant solution to gas fees
By rewarding each losing bidder, GBM auction allows bidders to recoup the gas fees they spend placing bids on Song A Day NFTs on Ethereum. Since GBM auctions have been integrated on the site, the average transaction fee per bid has been 0.0028 ETH whilst the average incentive earned per bid is 0.0081 ETH.
This means bidders have been earning 3x more in GBM incentives than they have paid for placing their bids on average, confirming GBM as an elegant solution to the blockchain gas price issue.
Song A Day x GBM
199%
x3
What is the community saying?
What they say
See what the Aavegotchi community has to say about GBM.
Smooth intergration
Speaking about Song A Day’s integration of the GBM codebase, Song A Day’s tech lead Alanparty.eth said: “We barely had to change anything on the site to integrate GBM. On the backend, we didn’t have any issues. Reading the documentation and the main GBM contract cleared up any questions I had”.
Looking into the future
For more than 15 years, Song A Day has been a journal; a record of Jonathan Man’s creative life, sung through both good and difficult times without fail. With GBM, the commercial side of that work of art has been transformed. The GBM team is honored to contribute to this project’s success and we look forward to the future, as Song A Day have announced that they plan to integrate GBM into their own secondary marketplace in the future.