Some of the most powerful assets in the world aren’t stocks or commodities. They’re songs that define generations, stories and characters with global reach, art that shapes culture. They are iconic intellectual property (IP), and long overdue for their financial and technological breakthrough.
Intellectual property (IP) as an asset class is estimated to be worth $80 trillion globally, but most of it, particularly iconic IP, sits behind significant walls: difficult to access, complex to license, and limited in how it can be monetized.
Aria’s mission is to build a new onchain economy for iconic IP by expanding access and monetization of historically illiquid, yet highly valuable assets. The protocol does this through Web3-native infrastructure which not only transforms IP into fungible IPRWA (Intellectual Property Real-World Asset) tokens, but also powers the mechanisms needed to activate, manage, and participate in IP-backed markets.
This new paradigm is purpose-built for a range of users, building towards a future where rights holders, retail investors, institutions, creators, and communities can engage with iconic IP and collectively share in its upside.
The Untapped Potential of Iconic IP
Despite its cultural and financial value, iconic IP is underutilized:
Rights holders need modern tools to monetize assets, raise capital, and license content.
Investors want exposure to IP but lack accessible and liquid paths to participate.
Creators want to build on existing IP, but licensing and royalty systems are slow, expensive, and opaque.
Bringing Iconic IP Onchain with Aria
Aria addresses this by turning IP rights into composable tokens called IPRWAs (Intellectual Property Real-World Assets). $APL was the first IPRWA which represents partial income rights to hit songs performed by global artists like Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, BLACKPINK, and BTS. Rights holders unlocked capital from future royalties, while investors gained the right to receive real-world royalty income, with payouts distributed daily to stakers.
Aria is building the foundation for a flexible IPRWA platform, tailored to serve the unique needs of different stakeholders and use cases:
Programmable IP
Aria can support IPRWA tokens backed by programmable IP, enabled by Story’s powerful infrastructure. Programmable IP allows rights holders to license their IP seamlessly and at scale, allowing for new works to be built upon the existing copyrights also known as ‘derivative’ works. Rights holders can maintain ownership and control, defining the terms for use and creators can build upon IP with clear permissions and royalty splits of derivative works. Licensing, usage rights, and royalties are registered and enforced onchain through Story’s smart contracts and programmable IP licenses.
With Aria’s infrastructure, IPRWA tokens backed by programmable IP are possible, with rights holders, retail investors and co-creators earning real-world royalties associated with the derivative works created. This introduces not only new creative outputs but also yield flows of real-world royalties into the Aria economy. Aria is anticipated to support programmable IP assets soon.
Passive IP
Aria will continue to support IPRWAs like $APL that offer partial income rights to iconic IP with non-programmable terms. These tokens provide investors with a simple, onchain way to access royalties from iconic works whilst enabling rights holders to unlock capital from future royalties.
Some IPRWA tokens may represent hybrid rights, combining passive royalty streams with programmable licensing features, offering both stability and new creative upside.
Soon, Aria will expand beyond music into other cultural verticals including visual art.
Institutional Onchain Infrastructure
Aria PRIME is Aria’s institutional arm, purpose-built for ultra-high-value IP portfolios such as billion-dollar music catalogs and globally-recognized entertainment franchises. It bridges global capital markets with the cultural economy, enabling IP owners to transform their assets into fungible tokens. Aria PRIME will launch with US$100M in tokenized Korean music catalogs, in partnership with Story and Contents Technologies, providing rights holders with control, visibility, and liquidity. Aria PRIME also aims to enable permissioned, institutional-grade investors to access iconic cultural assets with the efficiency, transparency, and liquidity of blockchain infrastructure. Over time, Aria PRIME is anticipated to support future composability within Aria’s financial stack and expand into additional categories of iconic IP, from film to art and beyond.
A Scalable Future for IP
With IPRWAs, Aria is building towards an ecosystem where:
Rights holders gain modern financial tools to monetize their assets, raise capital, and define how their IP can be used
Creators can collaborate on iconic IP with clarity, transparency and built-in royalty attribution
Investors can access real-world yield from IP-backed tokens, and even help fund future works
The community can share in the upside of culture made more liquid and accessible
Aria is building a new IP economy where anyone can access, invest in, and share in the growth of the iconic culture they care about. Aria opens iconic IP to collaboration and investment, fostering creativity and broader financial participation, while protecting the rights of IP owners.
If you’re new here, start by exploring $APL, the first IPRWA, and see how royalties are already flowing onchain.
For a deeper dive into why tokenized IP thrives onchain, check out the blog on Tokenizing Culture.
— Own the Iconic
