Music NFT Hot Take: Artist Leverage

•

Music NFT hot take: Artists have a tremendous amount of leverage and power but don’t realize or utilize it as they should This is a thread, let’s talk about it:

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how despite having an unprecedented amount of opportunity being in web3, especially at such an early state in the game, artists are willing to give most of their individual power to marketplaces, platforms & other communities.

I’ve got songs on @opensea, @catalogworks, @soundxyz_ & soon to be @mintsongs & while I’m excited to work with amazing people, platforms & marketplaces, giving them too much power as artists just reinforces centralization. I get daily DMs asking how to get on Sound & Catalog.

I think of these platforms as needed destinations on my music NFT journey, but I feel like a lot of folks are putting too many eggs into a basket that looks like a marketplace. ESPECIALLY these gated communities like @catalogworks & @soundxyz_. These are TOOLS, that’s it.

Don’t get me wrong guys: I LOVE @catalogworks & I can 100% say @Alex_Siber is one of my top 5 people in web3, not an exaggeration. I LOVE @soundxyz_ & I think @dgreenstein1 is a super smart dude who knows what he’s doing and cares about artists.

I think a lot about what it would look like if artists in the NFT space tried to consolidate their power and create something in the image of what we eventually desire. This doesn’t have to take the form of a marketplace, but a formal community of some sort.

When we talk about communities in web3, I think there are 2 kinds to consider: formal and informal.

A “formal” community I think is something that you claim being a part of. I look at DAOs & PFPs as versions of this. An “informal” community consists of a group of people you’re in community with but there’s no flag to plant. I think of group chats like this.

I think about if a handful of artists went really hard on turning an informal community into a formal one and how much of a focal power point that would be. If the power is supposed to be in the hands of artists in web3, this is major, I think.

I think of my favorite women in the space like @CallMeLatasha @ImanEurope @Verite @SassyBlack_ @Yahzarah @withlovetika @aurafbaby & more banding together and creating a formal community that really just plows through the space making moves on behalf of each other & the community.

I use women as an example just to remind y’all how many of them are really paving the way but it could be any group of people of any identity. This doesn’t require anyone giving anyone money, this doesn’t require multisig wallets, just a group of people who formally plant a flag.

I wonder if even artists who are less popular than the ones I name could all formally band together and move with this much power. There are already collectives/agencies out there like @hplus_creative & @madebyanimus on the visual side, and they get to make plays for each other.

I think this would also create really interesting opportunities for marketplaces to exist in more of a decentralized fashion as well, handing the spare key to collectives, crews DAOs, orgs — whatever — and allowing them to handle things like curation, while platforms just build.

ALSO stop being so thirsty to get on these major appearing platforms. Yeah, it’s a good look but it’s not necessary at all. We can do it ourselves if we build up in our informal communities to try and create a formal community.

Here’s a cheat code: 1. Start a crew, formally 2. Every member mint a song on @manifoldxyz 3. Go to @ArtivaApp & make a site/marketplace for the crew 4. Put on for each other and get those NFTs sold.

I wonder what the first Odd Future or Wu Tang or A$AP or whatever will look like in the Web3. I use them as examples because the group had a deal but the individual artists could all sign deals on their own. Working as a formal community and individuals. Power on two fronts.

I might bring the homies in my crew, The Worst Generation (don't try to steal my name now that I said it), into Web3…see if what I’m saying is actually true.

I feel like I’m rambling so I’ll stop here. Would love to engage in conversation with you guys about this. As always thanks for getting this far if you’re reading this. I have nothing to promote right now but this was sitting on my mind so I wanted to drop it on the community.