Web3 community-building meets music technology at Wavelengths Summit 2023

Web3 has go 1 of the hottest buzzwords successful the euphony industry, with everyone from autarkic musicians to large statement artists dropping nonfungible token (NFT) collections and throwing concerts successful the metaverse. But for many, the existent usage cases and imaginable of these technologies stay shrouded successful enigma and confusion.

On May 6, Water & Music held its inaugural Wavelengths Summit, a one-day lawsuit bringing unneurotic musicians, manufacture executives, creator managers, researchers and technologists to research the bleeding borderline of euphony exertion and democratize entree to information. On the docket were talks astir blockchain-based communities, the growing power of artificial intelligence connected the euphony manufacture and the aboriginal of creator gross streams.

Water & Music is simply a collaborative euphony exertion probe web founded successful 2016 by writer Cherie Hu arsenic a escaped newsletter. It has since evolved to encompass a paid rank structure, an extended online collaboration web and in-person events. Its probe often touches upon Web3 and however blockchain impacts the euphony industry.

“I deliberation the euphony industry, successful particular, has suffered from accusation silos,” Hu told Cointelegraph. “If you’re trying to fig retired however fans interact with your euphony successful a holistic way, it’s really a immense challenge.” Enter Water & Music, which seeks to empower its assemblage with the cognition needed to thrive successful the integer era.

Community

A cardinal absorption of some Water & Music arsenic an enactment and its Wavelengths Summit was gathering a consciousness of community. The event’s accent connected the value of community-building successful euphony and Web3 was ever-present, from the topics chosen for treatment — including sessions titled “Music Community Building and Decentralization: Lessons from History” and “URL to IRL: Uniting Music Communities Online and Offline” — to the mode the lawsuit itself was hosted and organized.

For instance, Hu opened the acme by laying retired 4 crushed rules for affirmative community-building: “Be benignant and respectful,” “Stay critical, “No shilling,” and “Have fun!” She besides announced that determination would beryllium nary panels; instead, experts would facilitate conversations, with assemblage members encouraged to leap successful astatine immoderate point. Talks connected the main signifier were accompanied by a ample surface displaying unrecorded comments and questions from assemblage members via an app called Slido.

~crowdsourcing~ information — truthful fascinating to spot the wide scope of however radical specify fandom #Wavelengths2023 @water_and_music pic.twitter.com/VUUqHspAn7

— cherie hu (@cheriehu42) May 6, 2023

“I deliberation what we were truly aiming for is recreating the magic of our Water & Music Discord,” Diana Gremore, Water & Music’s events director, told Cointelegraph. “We person specified a thoughtful, articulate, critical, passionate, funny community, truthful we wanted to bash our champion to facilitate however that URL assemblage translates into an IRL experience.”

Web3 assemblage gathering for musicians

Throughout the day, galore of the conversations touched connected however Web3 and blockchain technologies are being explored successful the satellite of music. During the “Music Community Building and Decentralization” session, participants discussed however online communities specified arsenic decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are the adjacent measurement successful a agelong past of decentralization.

As pointed retired by Austin Robey, co-founder of Metalabel — which is gathering a blockchain-based level for collaborative creator releases — on-chain voting and governance are integer versions of what real-world communities person ever done. Social spaces are ever governed, and communities are ever decision-making. And portion DAOs whitethorn beryllium taxable to “code,” real-world communities person ever been taxable to societal “codes.”

“Music Community Building and Decentralization: Lessons from History”#Wavelengths2023 has nary panels, conscionable discussions. Anyone tin articulation the speech astatine anytime. The absorption of this collab conversation: What tin #Web3 euphony communities larn from accepted euphony communities? pic.twitter.com/FFpw4N3Vtf

— a Jonathan named MADic (@maddopemadic) May 6, 2023

The treatment was moderated by Kaitlyn Davies, rank pb astatine Friends With Benefits — a societal DAO for creatives — and caput of curatorial partnerships astatine Refraction — a DAO for artists and creators with a peculiar absorption connected unrecorded euphony events. Davies told Cointelegraph that the preexisting decentralization successful euphony communities helps explicate wherefore truthful galore successful the euphony satellite gravitate toward Web3.

“You spot a batch of radical who person ever been funny successful decentralized ways of organizing oregon benignant of left-of-center means of organizing look to this exertion to support doing their enactment — not adjacent to get bigger oregon to formed a further nett but conscionable to alteration what they were already doing,” she said, adding:

“Cultivating a country oregon a community, that’s truly important, and that’s what drives culture. [...] My anticipation inactive is that decentralized tech helps america bash that amended and helps america bash that successful much equitable ways.”

During the “Web3: Balancing Niche and Mainstream connected the Road to Adoption” session, participants discussed the value of archetypal knowing one’s assemblage earlier launching crypto euphony projects. Melanie McClain, a Web3 advisor and laminitis of Blurred Lines — a assemblage of Web3 tastemakers supporting left-of-center Black euphony — said that if fans privation escaped shows, artists tin experimentation with NFTs that springiness collectors escaped entree to concerts. And if the creator blows up, that free-performance NFT volition abruptly go overmuch much valuable.

Related: Music NFTs are helping autarkic creators monetize and physique a fanbase

Speaking to Cointelegraph, McClain said that crypto-native and crypto-newbie artists alike could usage blockchain tech to physique stronger communities, but each attack indispensable beryllium tailored. “They person to beryllium self-aware,” she said. If a musician’s assemblage is not autochthonal to Web3, “they mightiness not accidental words similar NFTs oregon societal tokens. They tin pb the speech successful different ways portion inactive utilizing the tools successful the backmost end.”

Many facilitators and different attendees expressed that Web3 solutions connection peculiarly unsocial advantages for musicians, with Gremore telling Cointelegraph that “one of the biggest strengths of [Web3] is the quality to physique assemblage and prolong community.”

Perhaps portion of the crushed for this is that blockchains are mostly designed for efficiency. According to Hu, this allows artists and their teams to amended utilize “smart money” — erstwhile a instrumentalist doesn’t person overmuch wealth to walk and truthful indispensable usage their funds arsenic efficiently arsenic possible.

— Venkatesh Rao ☀️ (@vgr) November 9, 2022

“In euphony and Web3, I’m noticing alternatively of conscionable random artists dropping NFT projects that hap to summation a batch of money, there’s much absorption connected ‘what’s the existent usage case?’” Hu told Cointelegraph. “What is blockchain really adding to euphony successful a mode that makes things easier and not harder from a method standpoint?”

URL meets IRL

One happening that stood retired astatine the Wavelengths Summit was however galore online friends were gathering IRL — successful existent beingness — for the archetypal time. Having galore net friends is not unsocial to crypto, but it is peculiarly pronounced successful the space, fixed its inherently decentralized nature. For astir people, gathering an online person successful idiosyncratic is special, and the acme was designed to facilitate those connections.

The net allows for a level of assemblage gathering antecedently impossible, particularly betwixt musicians and their fans. But arsenic Gremore told Cointelegraph, “There’s a magic successful IRL that conscionable can’t beryllium replaced.” She added, “URL is wherever truthful galore of the conversations commencement happening, and past IRL — it’s a accidental to deepen those bonds.”

Summit attendees link and web during the “Web3 Happy Hour.” Source: Jonathan DeYoung

For Hu, gathering in-person relationships is captious for the semipermanent occurrence of Web3 communities. “IRL events marque oregon interruption spot successful a community,” she said. When internet-based communities conscionable successful person, that community’s cautiously curated online representation disappears, and radical spot it for what it truly is — whether bully oregon bad.

“Events are truthful important for online communities due to the fact that if the sanction of the crippled is semipermanent sustainability, that volition marque oregon interruption trust. If it succeeds, it could beryllium a immense kickstarter to a full caller signifier oregon a full caller level for the assemblage oregon for the brand. But I’ve decidedly seen it spell the different mode astir also.”

For those incapable to enactment successful IRL experiences, online ones inactive connection opportunities, specified arsenic allowing fans to connect virtually with their favourite euphony artists. “I deliberation utilizing virtual things, not needfully the metaverse but utilizing live-streaming platforms, things similar that — I deliberation you tin simulate the aforesaid thing,” McClain said. “Everybody tin enactment nary substance wherever they are.”

“I deliberation online spaces are harmless havens for a batch of people, and I deliberation that that should ne'er beryllium discounted,” believes Davies. “But I deliberation the powerfulness of gathering idiosyncratic successful idiosyncratic and being like, oh, you’re similar a existent quality being, and we person akin thoughts astir this, and possibly a artifact connected a concatenation helped america find each different — but truly what it’s astir is america hanging retired successful person.”

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Ultimately, the main takeaway of the Wavelengths Summit was that community-building is simply a captious constituent for occurrence successful some euphony and Web3, and Water & Music intentionally designed its inaugural acme to acceptable an illustration of however it believes community-building should look.

To adjacent retired the day, Gremore shared with the assemblage that Water & Music wanted attendees to permission empowered — that adjacent though it whitethorn look similar the euphony manufacture is broken, determination is inactive airy astatine the extremity of the tunnel. And arsenic the acme revealed, immoderate of that anticipation whitethorn travel successful the signifier of DAOs, NFTs oregon different blockchain-based tools that assistance artists physique assemblage straight with their fans. Or, arsenic Gremore told the audience:

“We’re fucked — but possibly we tin bash thing astir it.”