✖️ Crypto-monetizing music on Discord with tone, WVRPS’ generative audiovisual NFTs, geniuscorp & hic et nunc radio
And: Web3 album fundraising case-study; Lil Pump's "security-NFT", Nicaraguan protest music; Holly Herndon's real-time AI vocal transfer; Astroworld security plans
In this week’s MUSIC x Web3 wrap-up:
tone: a Discord bot that gets artists paid in cryptocurrency through a server-centric payment model
WVRPS: audiovisual generative NFTs from a collective of avatar artists
geniuscorp: a web3 label with an address in a metaverse world built on Ethereum
hen radio: a way to explore music NFTs in hic et nunc’s proof-of-stake ecosystem
TECH
🌐 Why the Metaverse Matters (Phillip Wang)
“We recognize that the best way to prevent bad outcomes is to remove them as options entirely. Thus, we reject misaligned business models where we may be tempted to trade off our users' well-being for the company's gain.”
👀 Danger Zone - The Album Crowdfund (Ibn Inglor)
Ibn Inglor shows how a web3 crowdfund for music is done. Over 15 ETH raised (that's nearly ~$75k currently).
👾 Discord: Imagine a Place (Packy McCormick)
“As the internet itself evolves, from web2 to web3, and from internet to metaverse, it’s likely that whatever comes next takes inspiration from Discord’s architecture. Meta won’t control the metaverse; no one will. Instead, it will be a series of connected spaces built and managed by communities of people who care about the same things.”
💸 Lil Pump and Soulja Boy music NFT raises $500k on Opulous (Stuart Dredge)
“Stonks? Well, it all depends on how well the track performs, including on licensing outside streaming. It’s a much-debated model: Opulous was involved in a music copyright NFT sale earlier this year with artists Taylor Bennett and Big Zuu, for example, but has since faced questions about the delay in releasing one of those songs.”
X
🌱 How environmentally damaging is music streaming? (Ellen Peirson-Hagger & Katharine Swindells)
“Listening to an album via a streaming platform for just five hours is equal in terms of carbon to the plastic of a physical CD. The comparative time for a vinyl record is 17 hours.”
🌿 "Music is one thing our planet produces while rotating": Bottlesmoker play electronic music for plants, by plants (Miki Kitasako)
“They can move and feel things, therefore, with the device that we invented, they can communicate and they can be heard literally through musical notes.”
😕 Astroworld organizers had extensive medical, security plans. Did they follow them? (Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Craig Marks, Jenny Jarvie)
“Based on the site’s layout and numerous past experiences, the potential for multiple alcohol/drug related incidents, possible evacuation needs, and the ever-present threat of a mass casualty situation are identified as key concerns,” the security plan said.
🇳🇮 Meet the musician singing against Nicaragua’s ‘apocalyptic’ regime (Tom Phillips)
“One recent recording, Locos de Poder (Power Crazies), describes the authoritarian bubble within which many believe Nicaragua’s leaders live in the El Carmen compound in Managua. “They live in paranoia ... even their shadows have bodyguards,” Mejía sings.”
MUSIC
Mat Dryhurst real-time singing in the voice of Holly Herndon using their vocal AI model. How far this project has come. 🤯
