The three-pathway model of content as an asset: How Story reshapes the IP lifecycle

Real World Assets (RWA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Intellectual Property (IP) are gradually becoming the three most imaginative main lines in the Web3 world.

RWA has made a splash in 2023 and is now in a more granular asset classification phase; AI will explode in full force in 2024, bringing Nvidia a historic jump in market capitalization; The IP, which was once regarded as an “unpopular track”, has also been redefined as the “energy engine” of Web3 due to the rapid development of AI, which is not only the source of content, but also the core structure of data assets, and Grayscale has listed IP tokenization as a key focus in its 2025 Q2 report.

What will happen if these three paths are connected?

As a Layer 1 dedicated to building an open and programmable IP market, Story is trying to provide answers.

Recently, projects such as MUSIC, Aria and Emergence have launched multi-dimensional explorations: from AI generation to on-chain rights confirmation, from music IP RWA tokenization to decentralized co-construction of franchise assets, a new world of IP creation, rights confirmation, splitting, profit sharing and inheritance is taking shape.

MUSIC: AI + Hot Posts = Tradable On-Chain Music Assets

! The Ternary Path of Content as Assets: How Story Reshapes the IP Lifecycle

Against the backdrop of the AIGC explosion, the issues of rights confirmation, attribution, and revenue distribution for AI-generated content have become increasingly prominent, especially in the field of music creation. The traditional music revenue pathway relies on platform distribution, which results in slow payments and opaque earnings, leading to the common dilemma for creators of ‘having avenues for creation but no way to monetize’.

In order to solve this pain point, Story announced that it has become the infrastructure partner of the AI-driven entertainment platform MUSIC (Virtuals ecological project), supporting the launch of its Bangers function: users only need to @musicbyvirtuals and attach prompts in Twitter hot posts, and AI can automatically generate music or MVs, and then realize on-chain registration, confirmation and tokenization through Story, and convert them into tradable music IP assets.

Each IP corresponds to a token with asset attributes, built-in 1% transaction tax, used to incentivize original creators, secondary creators, and distributors; at the same time, creators can also earn revenue through authorization fees and derivative profit sharing. The full-chain support of Story enables MUSIC to realize a conversion path from social media hot posts directly to on-chain assets for the first time, granting content instant rights confirmation and monetization capability.

On May 28, MUSIC officially launched the tokenized asset $DRIP for the music IP “Drip Drip” in collaboration with top DJs R 3 HAB and WUKONG, and initiated a 20% airdrop, having completed a snapshot for Banger trading users, $MUSIC holders, and Story active addresses.

Currently, $MUSIC supports one-click cross-chain from Base to Story, with the platform trading using the native token $IP of Story as gas. MUSIC has also partnered with Sony & Tencent’s joint venture label Liquid State, integrating over 1000 AI agents to promote the large-scale generation and distribution of community-driven music IP.

Aria: Targeting Music IP On-Chain, Connecting RWA Long Tail Track

On-chain RWA (Real World Assets) continues to grow. According to data from rwa.xyz, as of the time of writing, the total market value of on-chain RWA has surpassed $23 billion, with a monthly increase of 6.4%. Although it is currently dominated by U.S. Treasury bonds, private credit, and commodities, franchise-type assets and other non-standard assets are becoming new focal points.

In recent years, music assets have gradually gained favor among institutions due to stable cash flow, significant long-tail value, and high returns. Wall Street capital is accelerating its layout: In 2021, Blackstone Group invested $1 billion in Hipgnosis to acquire music copyrights; in the same year, KKR acquired Kobalt’s music royalty portfolio for $1.1 billion; in 2024, Apollo provided $850 million to Concord to support its third issuance of music asset ABS.

Aria is the core protocol focused on non-standard RWA within the Story ecosystem, concentrating on music assets, and tokenizing song copyrights, performance rights, and future royalty income, providing users with access to high-potential content IP.

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) 2025 report, the annual revenue of the global music industry is approaching $30 billion, with performance rights income doubling since 2010, becoming an important source of stable cash flow. Aria is also in line with this trend, converting music IP into composable and tradable on-chain financial assets.

Currently, Aria’s asset portfolio includes works from top artists such as Madonna, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Selena Gomez, Maroon 5, BLACKPINK, BTS, and Aespa. Most of these works have passed the royalty income decline period, with an average asset age of over 4 years, stable income, and low volatility; it also includes some new works from 2024, which have growth potential.

Aria integrates copyright, performance rights, and royalty income through a Portfolio model, building a standardized asset package that supports users to participate in early issuance with stablecoins. This path of music IP assetization effectively addresses the pain points of traditional music assets, including poor liquidity, lack of transparency in income, and low utilization of IP.

• SPV Architecture: Incorporating music copyrights into on-chain compliant entities, supporting partial tokenization for monetization, avoiding forced full sale by institutions;
• Real-time Royalty Distribution: Through smart contracts, royalty earnings can be automatically allocated to relevant parties, eliminating traditional distribution delays and intermediary losses;
• Programmable IP Authorization: Allows for secondary creation and flexible commercial use, unlocking long-tail value (such as remixing, film scoring, etc.).

In the future, Aria will achieve liquidity, staking, and lending through the RWIP token. The current expected annualized return for the portfolio is 8 – 9%, with an expectation to return to a long-term average of 4 – 5% within three to five years.

Based on the Story protocol, Aria implements transparent asset management from off-chain to on-chain, injecting a content-driven new path into the Web3 RWA market and also revitalizing the financialization of music IP.

In addition, Aria launched a points system at the beginning of May, providing exclusive incentives for OG users, and opened the $IP airdrop on May 22. Users who participated in the Aria Premiere Launch will receive the IPRWA token $APL starting from June 25.

Emergence: AI+ Blockchain, Reshaping the Logic of Franchise IP Production

In the traditional entertainment industry, IP is usually dominated by centralized teams, making it difficult for contributors to receive continuous returns. The sci-fi project Emergence in the Story ecosystem is attempting to break this pattern.

Launched in partnership between Incention and Story, Emergence is an open, decentralized “narrative sandbox” led by legendary screenwriter David S. Goyer (known for works such as the “Dark Knight Trilogy,” “Blade,” “Terminator,” and “Foundation”), supporting audiences, creators, developers, and even introducing the AI agent A.T.L.A.S. to participate in world-building.

Its content rights confirmation, authorization, and profit-sharing mechanism are fully built on Story: users leave verifiable “authorial traces” on the chain, and the system automatically allocates revenue based on content usage, ensuring that contributions can sustainably receive rewards. A.T.L.A.S. plays the role of “screenwriter partner” in this process, not only generating text and plot but also organizing interactions, integrating clues, and dynamically expanding settings, becoming an important part of building the worldview.

At the beginning of this month, Emergence officially launched the Codex tasks, encouraging users to create content such as characters, artifacts, myths, and locations. As of the time of writing, users have generated over 30,000 entries on characters, settings, and worldviews. These user creations will be officially included in the Emergence universe after community voting and high-level review. As the sci-fi universe ecosystem gradually unfolds, corresponding creators will receive ongoing rewards.

As an on-chain decentralized “laboratory” that integrates AI collaboration with IP market mechanisms, it provides a new “multi-agent collaboration” paradigm for the development of Web3 native IP.

The Composable Future of AI + RWA + IP

In MUSIC, hot posts become assets; in Aria, songs transform into bonds; and in Emergence, AI and humans co-create content civilization. Supporting all of this is the “programmable IP” infrastructure provided by Story - the underlying bridge connecting AI, RWA, and IP.

Currently, Story is holding its first global online Buildathon of the year —— “Surreal World Assets”, focusing on the innovative direction of IP × AI × RWA, supported by leading crypto VCs such as Pantera Capital, OKX Ventures, and Polychain. This event is open to both developers and non-technical participants, with winning projects having the opportunity to present to investors and gain access to ecosystem resources, with a total prize pool of $55,000.