On the one hand, Web3 is going through its own decades-long development and adoption cycle. On the other hand, we see fast-moving changes in the way artists and their fans, or broader communities, interact. By taking a look at the intersection of these two developments we can take stock on where we’ve come from, and what we can do to push for good growth. I’ll use music as a case study, but as a whole this can be applied much more broadly. Economics and community I’ve previously referenced Ca...

On the one hand, Web3 is going through its own decades-long development and adoption cycle. On the other hand, we see fast-moving changes in the way artists and their fans, or broader communities, interact. By taking a look at the intersection of these two developments we can take stock on where we’ve come from, and what we can do to push for good growth. I’ll use music as a case study, but as a whole this can be applied much more broadly. Economics and community I’ve previously referenced Ca...

In the platform economy, your account, your username, your social connections: none of those belong to you. If you break the terms of service, or are merely suspected of doing so, the platform may revoke any or all of those and take away everything you've created or built (after it has reaped the benefits in terms of ad dollars from it). I understand why people may be skeptical of NFTs and smart contracts, but I feel the budding Web3 solves issues left unsolved by the Web 2.0... and the ...

In the platform economy, your account, your username, your social connections: none of those belong to you. If you break the terms of service, or are merely suspected of doing so, the platform may revoke any or all of those and take away everything you've created or built (after it has reaped the benefits in terms of ad dollars from it). I understand why people may be skeptical of NFTs and smart contracts, but I feel the budding Web3 solves issues left unsolved by the Web 2.0... and the ...

The Web3 is about the "fundamental reorganisation of the internet towards ownership, data portability & being able to ascribe value to our digital assets." This quote, by Zoe Scaman who's also behind the New Creator Manifesto, perfectly describes what has so many people so excited to work with DAOs, NFTs and tokens. At this point in time, it takes quite a lot of onboarding to make the web3 click for most people. Until it clicks, a lot of what's happening understandably looks like a ...

The Web3 is about the "fundamental reorganisation of the internet towards ownership, data portability & being able to ascribe value to our digital assets." This quote, by Zoe Scaman who's also behind the New Creator Manifesto, perfectly describes what has so many people so excited to work with DAOs, NFTs and tokens. At this point in time, it takes quite a lot of onboarding to make the web3 click for most people. Until it clicks, a lot of what's happening understandably looks like a ...

A recent project called Tunes used AI to generate 5,000 unique NFTs. They’re songs, or rather, shells of songs - missing artwork, audio and an artist. That’s intentional. They serve as prompts for people to iterate on, tapping into a recent trend in the NFT space popularized by another project called Loot. Let’s dive in.An example of one of the Tunes NFTsLootAt the end of August an NFT project called Loot dropped. People could claim Loot NFTs for free by minting - only paying for the gas cost...

A recent project called Tunes used AI to generate 5,000 unique NFTs. They’re songs, or rather, shells of songs - missing artwork, audio and an artist. That’s intentional. They serve as prompts for people to iterate on, tapping into a recent trend in the NFT space popularized by another project called Loot. Let’s dive in.An example of one of the Tunes NFTsLootAt the end of August an NFT project called Loot dropped. People could claim Loot NFTs for free by minting - only paying for the gas cost...

In the heyday of the CD age, it was hard to make it as an artist. But there was a blueprint for what needed to happen. All that changed with peer-to-peer file sharing. Recorded music revenues tumbled and execs across the world panicked. What happened in the aftermath of Napster was never about musicians, it was always about bringing the overall revenues back up again. Musicians were never a part of creating the new infrastructures to achieve this. Subsequently they’ve been left without contro...

In the heyday of the CD age, it was hard to make it as an artist. But there was a blueprint for what needed to happen. All that changed with peer-to-peer file sharing. Recorded music revenues tumbled and execs across the world panicked. What happened in the aftermath of Napster was never about musicians, it was always about bringing the overall revenues back up again. Musicians were never a part of creating the new infrastructures to achieve this. Subsequently they’ve been left without contro...

You may have heard of CryptoPunks and Bored Apes. They’re NFT series of 10,000 unique and randomly generated images of characters. They’re also 2 of the most well-known examples of ‘NFT avatars’ - a trend which has exploded in the crypto space of 2021 and is set to permeate subcultures once they move into the web3. Here’s how, and why.Larva Labs' CryptoPunks (2017)PFPs & NFT AvatarsNFT avatar projects are casually referred to as PFPs: ProFile Pictures, since that’s a common use case for ...

You may have heard of CryptoPunks and Bored Apes. They’re NFT series of 10,000 unique and randomly generated images of characters. They’re also 2 of the most well-known examples of ‘NFT avatars’ - a trend which has exploded in the crypto space of 2021 and is set to permeate subcultures once they move into the web3. Here’s how, and why.Larva Labs' CryptoPunks (2017)PFPs & NFT AvatarsNFT avatar projects are casually referred to as PFPs: ProFile Pictures, since that’s a common use case for ...

This piece addresses two common questions and critiques about NFTs:“It’s just a jpeg everyone can see, so anyone paying for it is [delusional / getting scammed / etc].”“The internet’s supposed to be about abundance - why are we creating unnecessary artificial scarcity and financializing everything?”Given music’s history with ubiquity, including the economic effects of the sudden shift from paid to free post-piracy, I think these are two excellent critiques to explore the value of NFTs in gene...

This piece addresses two common questions and critiques about NFTs:“It’s just a jpeg everyone can see, so anyone paying for it is [delusional / getting scammed / etc].”“The internet’s supposed to be about abundance - why are we creating unnecessary artificial scarcity and financializing everything?”Given music’s history with ubiquity, including the economic effects of the sudden shift from paid to free post-piracy, I think these are two excellent critiques to explore the value of NFTs in gene...

This week hundreds of people pooled money to collectively place a bid on NFTs and attain fractional ownership using a tool called PartyBid. They succeeded. 478 people teamed up to form the Party Of The Living Dead and secured one of the highly popular (and expensive) NFT collectible CryptoPunks. 25 people acquired an NFT released by music x web3 project Songcamp Elektra, calling themselves Elektranauts. https://twitter.com/songcamp_/status/1424395306796560390 After purchasing the NFT (of whic...

This week hundreds of people pooled money to collectively place a bid on NFTs and attain fractional ownership using a tool called PartyBid. They succeeded. 478 people teamed up to form the Party Of The Living Dead and secured one of the highly popular (and expensive) NFT collectible CryptoPunks. 25 people acquired an NFT released by music x web3 project Songcamp Elektra, calling themselves Elektranauts. https://twitter.com/songcamp_/status/1424395306796560390 After purchasing the NFT (of whic...

We’re all full of the new Kanye West record, his open work-in-progress way of putting the record together and, of course, his Donda Stemplayer. This will be the future, a future of more transparency in the creative process of artists, and with amazing generative music that allows fans to become creators. And yet, each artist needs to be a content machine. Another perspective on the Donda success story is how it created tonnes of content, some of it experiential and other parts more digital. I...

We’re all full of the new Kanye West record, his open work-in-progress way of putting the record together and, of course, his Donda Stemplayer. This will be the future, a future of more transparency in the creative process of artists, and with amazing generative music that allows fans to become creators. And yet, each artist needs to be a content machine. Another perspective on the Donda success story is how it created tonnes of content, some of it experiential and other parts more digital. I...

The Web 3 is still rough around the edges, but the growth of value has been immense. Fertile ground for scams. This piece aims to achieve two things:How to avoid potential scams, and;How to avoid your company looking like a scam.This is based on years of watching the crypto space, from ICO pump & dumps to the NFTs & DAOs of today, so I’m not talking about any company in particular. However, should you have the feeling what I say applies to your own, then following the advice laid out here can...

The Web 3 is still rough around the edges, but the growth of value has been immense. Fertile ground for scams. This piece aims to achieve two things:How to avoid potential scams, and;How to avoid your company looking like a scam.This is based on years of watching the crypto space, from ICO pump & dumps to the NFTs & DAOs of today, so I’m not talking about any company in particular. However, should you have the feeling what I say applies to your own, then following the advice laid out here can...

Musicians are often thought to be a resilient bunch:They have to work jobs on the side to make their music;They face lots of competition from other musicians in getting their music heard;If they do find an audience it's near impossible to monetize them properly, and we're back to the first pointWeb3 is about ownership and collectives who share revenues, knowledge, networks. So, if we move away from thinking about resilience as an individual solution to individual problems we'll...

Musicians are often thought to be a resilient bunch:They have to work jobs on the side to make their music;They face lots of competition from other musicians in getting their music heard;If they do find an audience it's near impossible to monetize them properly, and we're back to the first pointWeb3 is about ownership and collectives who share revenues, knowledge, networks. So, if we move away from thinking about resilience as an individual solution to individual problems we'll...

DAOs are hot right now. In the world of blockchains if you bring together a couple of people who share profits, voting rights, or create some form of community it’s almost impossible not to be called a DAO. But the idea of a decentralized autonomous organization has a long history. Around 160 years ago the concept of the cooperative took shape in Britain. In a country industrializing at a fast pace, workers came together to form groups that shared responsibility and found ways to match indust...

DAOs are hot right now. In the world of blockchains if you bring together a couple of people who share profits, voting rights, or create some form of community it’s almost impossible not to be called a DAO. But the idea of a decentralized autonomous organization has a long history. Around 160 years ago the concept of the cooperative took shape in Britain. In a country industrializing at a fast pace, workers came together to form groups that shared responsibility and found ways to match indust...