✖️ Where do Web2 fanbases fit in Web3?
And: The deadmau5 NFT mint; Declaration of interdependence; Make festivals safer for women; #ClassicalMusic TikTok; Taylor $SWIFT; Remembering Virgil Abloh
First, I’d like to thank everyone for your thoughtful responses and messages of support with regards to last week’s piece about Saudi Arabia. It’s encouraging to know there are so many folks who share the same ideals, even if our strategies may differ.
I think I’ve replied to every message personally - if I haven’t, please know that I’ve read and appreciated your thoughts. It served as a good reminder that music is political and I value the openness and respect through which we have been communicating. 🖤
✖️ Where do Web2 fanbases fit in Web3?
A common question I see many artists struggle with is how to educate their fanbases about web3. How do you bring together these audiences? My advice: let others with stronger economic incentives worry about the UX of bringing late adopters over. Focus on early adopters. Build a new fanbase. Your fans will follow you eventually. This is something we have also seen in previous shifts.
TECH
☘️ Songcamp announces Camp 3 (Songcamp)
During yesterday’s weekly heartbeat call, Songcamp, a DAO, announced they’ll be running a third season early next year. In its first season, a group of artists across disciplines teamed up to make audiovisual NFTs, each raising upwards of $10k in ETH at the time. The next season led to the spin-off of Elektra DAO, which was an audiovisual world-building exercise which also involved a month-long multiplayer puzzle set up on Discord. The third season’s theme is Chaos. If you’d like to get involved, I recommend hopping on their Discord and joining the Monday heartbeat calls.
🐭 I Participated in a deadmau5 NFT Mint so You Didn’t Have To (Lee Martin)
“You know what else I noticed? A LOT of folks quickly relisting their heads at exorbitant prices. Honestly, I couldn’t help but think about ticket scalping in this moment. How many true deadmau5 fans obtained one of these?”
🪢 A Declaration of the Interdependence of Cyberspace
“We believe that from our ethics, expanded self-interest, and the decentralized digital commons, our governance will emerge. Our identities may be distributed across many jurisdictions. The only values that our constituent cultures all recognize are those of interdependence, pluralism, and coexistence.”
🧰 Decentralised Tech & the Future of Organising (Richard D. Bartlett)
“In practical usage “DAO” is quite a vague term, it doesn’t specify exactly how the organisation is to be governed. But the intention is these organisations are not governed by a central decision-making body or a charismatic leader, but by a decentralised network of agents participating within a transparently accessible programmatic ruleset.”
👗 What Happens When You’re the Investment (Rex Woodbury)
“As an artist, Taylor Swift could have funded her work by selling $SWIFT. She might not have needed to sell ownership of her masters, and she might not have been forced to rerecord her albums to take back control over her art. Taylor’s fans, for their part, would have been rewarded for a decade of patronage.”
X
🚁 Drone and bass: Norhan Bayomi has the technology to change lives (Jacqueline Fuller)
“The Egyptian-born environmental scientist, architect, inventor, electronic music producer and trance DJ, also known as Nourey, reveals why she puts art and soul into being a power of good.”
⛺️ ‘Not a single security guard helped me’: The urgent need to make gigs and festivals safer for women (Elizabeth Aubrey)
This piece perfectly combines personal stories with wider angles. It’s so heartbreaking to hear, but it’s encouraging to know there are many initiatives to improve things.
“Violence in public spaces is a human rights crisis. It will continue to cause harm if we don’t act now… and we must act now.”
Claire Barnett, executive director of UN Women UK
🎻 #ClassicalMusic TikTok challenge racks up more than 734m views (Stuart Dredge)
“A specific challenge tasking TikTokers to post videos sharing ‘what classical music means to them’ has helped that hashtag generate more than 734m video views. The challenge was accompanied by a new ‘Classical Music’ playlist curated by TikTok itself, plus guest playlists from musicians Lang Lang and Esther Abrami.”
🧢 Remembering Virgil Abloh, Hip-Hop’s Designer (Dylan Green)
“He knew his every mistake would be analyzed and dissected but that by being in a position to make them, he was opening the door for other Black creatives to make their voices heard in an industry bent on ignoring them.”
🌏 How the ‘BC Sutta’ Song Defied Moral Censors in South Asia To Become a Cult Anthem (Pallavi Pundir)
“Given the cultural similarities between Pakistanis and Indians, the song appears to blur man-made borders and diffuse the otherwise fraught geopolitical tensions between the two countries.”
MUSIC
I’ve been listening to the brilliant Sega Bodega’s latest album Romeo. Its narrative features a mythical girlfriend named Luci, who is made entirely of light.