Medleys is a generative art marketplace built on hashes. A community led project from the Hashes DAO.
Medleys is a generative art marketplace built on hashes. A community led project from the Hashes DAO.
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Medleys is a generative art marketplace built on hashes. This is how it came to be.
Background
Loot and n project had already launched when I first heard about hashes. I’d browsed projects in those ecosystems so was familiar with the concept of an NFT primitive and had a few ideas about what I might do different if I were to launch my own project. One of those ideas evolved into Medleys, a community-led project from the Hashes DAO.
The Hashes DAO calls community-led projects ‘Permutations’. Meltem Demirors proposed the first permutation, and the DAO approved it to spend up to 20% of the DAO treasury on a community owned NFT collection. While the first permutation wouldn’t use the hashes primitive, it would begin to build some momentum, activate the community, and establish the DAO as a known entity in the generative art community.
Shortly after Meltem’s permutation was approved, I drafted a proposal to launch Medleys, curated generative art collections on hashes and began shepherding the proposal through the DAO governance process. It took about two weeks from the initial proposal to community approval via a snapshot vote.
While I didn’t request treasury funds, which would have required an on chain vote, the process was still an effective way to get community feedback and signal to the DEX Labs team — who I approached to lead the technical work stream — that the proposal had community support.
Approaching Artists
The first few drops would be critical for establishing a track record and brand. We had a few things going for us: novel technology, an engaged community, and a few high profile NFT auction wins, such as Refik Anadol at the MOMA and Nick Kuder at Sotheby’s, that signaled the DAO’s commitment to generative art.
I’d also known Jana for years having worked together on other projects, and she had some history collaborating w Joshua Davis such as The Deepest of Space project for OFFF in 2015. They saw potential and hopped on board right away, and it wasn’t long before I had commitments from two other well known generative artists that will be announced soon.
Designing the Drop
Josh and Jana developed some concepts that evolved from the codebase they used in their first collaboration. We wanted a drop structure that could appeal to a diverse set of collectors, so we went with a single edition auction, limited edition animations, and a set of generative images at a more accessible price point.
As you might imagine, there are a lot of moving parts with this project: a new DAO, a new NFT primitive, a new marketplace, and an operating team working together for the first time on an extracurricular project. Constraints are my go to treatment for chaos, so we split the first drop into two parts: a limited preseason drop to validate the infrastructure and fine tune drop mechanics followed by the first drop of season 1.
How’s it going?
So far so good. At the time of writing, the preseason drop raffle was 5x oversubscribed and the drop sold out in minutes, 15 editions to 15 collectors. The DEX Labs delivered bleeding edge smart contract infrastructure while Josh and Jana opened a portal to another dimension through their art.
What’s next?
Josh and Jana are putting finishing touches on art for the season 1 drop, and we just announced the eligibility criteria for the allowlist raffle.
The preseason drop donated $1.5K to the Red Cross for Ukraine relief efforts and a further 10% of Europa collection primary sales and royalties are committed to the Medley’s charity wallet.
Plus we have a few exciting surprises planned for Europa collectors. Stay tuned!
Learn More
Our Journey to Europa | Introducing Hashes Collections
Other Links
Medleys website | Hashes website
Medleys is a generative art marketplace built on hashes. This is how it came to be.
Background
Loot and n project had already launched when I first heard about hashes. I’d browsed projects in those ecosystems so was familiar with the concept of an NFT primitive and had a few ideas about what I might do different if I were to launch my own project. One of those ideas evolved into Medleys, a community-led project from the Hashes DAO.
The Hashes DAO calls community-led projects ‘Permutations’. Meltem Demirors proposed the first permutation, and the DAO approved it to spend up to 20% of the DAO treasury on a community owned NFT collection. While the first permutation wouldn’t use the hashes primitive, it would begin to build some momentum, activate the community, and establish the DAO as a known entity in the generative art community.
Shortly after Meltem’s permutation was approved, I drafted a proposal to launch Medleys, curated generative art collections on hashes and began shepherding the proposal through the DAO governance process. It took about two weeks from the initial proposal to community approval via a snapshot vote.
While I didn’t request treasury funds, which would have required an on chain vote, the process was still an effective way to get community feedback and signal to the DEX Labs team — who I approached to lead the technical work stream — that the proposal had community support.
Approaching Artists
The first few drops would be critical for establishing a track record and brand. We had a few things going for us: novel technology, an engaged community, and a few high profile NFT auction wins, such as Refik Anadol at the MOMA and Nick Kuder at Sotheby’s, that signaled the DAO’s commitment to generative art.
I’d also known Jana for years having worked together on other projects, and she had some history collaborating w Joshua Davis such as The Deepest of Space project for OFFF in 2015. They saw potential and hopped on board right away, and it wasn’t long before I had commitments from two other well known generative artists that will be announced soon.
Designing the Drop
Josh and Jana developed some concepts that evolved from the codebase they used in their first collaboration. We wanted a drop structure that could appeal to a diverse set of collectors, so we went with a single edition auction, limited edition animations, and a set of generative images at a more accessible price point.
As you might imagine, there are a lot of moving parts with this project: a new DAO, a new NFT primitive, a new marketplace, and an operating team working together for the first time on an extracurricular project. Constraints are my go to treatment for chaos, so we split the first drop into two parts: a limited preseason drop to validate the infrastructure and fine tune drop mechanics followed by the first drop of season 1.
How’s it going?
So far so good. At the time of writing, the preseason drop raffle was 5x oversubscribed and the drop sold out in minutes, 15 editions to 15 collectors. The DEX Labs delivered bleeding edge smart contract infrastructure while Josh and Jana opened a portal to another dimension through their art.
What’s next?
Josh and Jana are putting finishing touches on art for the season 1 drop, and we just announced the eligibility criteria for the allowlist raffle.
The preseason drop donated $1.5K to the Red Cross for Ukraine relief efforts and a further 10% of Europa collection primary sales and royalties are committed to the Medley’s charity wallet.
Plus we have a few exciting surprises planned for Europa collectors. Stay tuned!
Learn More
Our Journey to Europa | Introducing Hashes Collections
Other Links
Medleys website | Hashes website
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