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Snoop Dogg, serial web3 collaborator, is at it again
Shib the Metaverse at SXSW, the merit of token-gated playlists, plus more top stories
🎵 Metaproof Music
Hey friends, this is Sophia from 🎵 Metaproof Music, the weekly newsletter where we keep you informed on how the metaverse and web3 are changing the music industry.
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📲 By the numbers
Game creation platform and multiplayer game Roblox, which has hosted performances from real-world music artists, is seeing rising user numbers (Source):
Its DAU has risen by 20% from 2021 to 2022, up to 58.8 million users.
The 17-24 age group saw the highest growth, a climb of around 31%.
In January 2023, it saw the same age segment grow at 39% YoY for bookings.
📫 News & trends
In his continuing involvement in the space, American hip-hop artist and producer Snoop Dogg gets involved once again in the web3 creator movement through Shiller, his new live streaming app. Shiller, which aims to bring together creators and fans in a decentralized platform, allows creators to earn rewards in the form of cryptocurrency, which can be used to purchase goods and services on the platform. Shiller has been launched on Ethereum, making it one of the first major live streaming apps to be built on a blockchain.
Snoop Dogg has been actively involved in web3 since 2021, partnering with The Sandbox metaverse, Yuga Labs, and CryptoPunks, among many prominent players in the space. He also recently tied up with crypto casino Roobet, where he will serve as its “Chief Ganjaroo Officer.” The movement is centered around the idea of empowering creators and users by giving them more control over their digital assets and online identity.
Shiba Inu, the popular meme-inspired cryptocurrency, is hosting a celebration for the premiere of Shib the Metaverse at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. The event, slated for March 15, will feature a metaverse happy hour hosted by Shiba Inu and Departure Lounge, where visitors can join the happy hour, stop by the XR Exhibition and enjoy “The Dark VR” immersive music video experience, and explore the virtual world Shib the Metaverse. SXSW, colloquially termed South By and usually taking place in Austin, Texas in March, is an annual conglomeration of various entertainment events such as parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences. Find a list of free SXSW events here, including metaverse and web3 thrills.
Spotify, the world's leading audio streaming platform, has announced two big moves: a personalized AI DJ guide that helps users discover new music based on their preferences, and a new web3 token-gated playlist pilot that would allow certain NFT project holders to test out a unique crypto integration. The big question: Are token-gated playlists a solution to onboarding non-native web3 users into the scene, or just another targeted value add for those already immersed in the space?
Experts weigh in on the matter, with Thomas Fiss, SVP of strategic partnerships at OneOf, believing that if Spotify is serious about catering to PFP communities, then pre-existing holders should be front-and-center of the curation process.
He told Hypemoon: “Since Spotify’s NFT-gated playlists are being beta-tested with popular PFP communities, such as Moonbirds and Fluf, playlists curators will need to take into account each community’s personality when curating these playlists…and should involve pre-existing holders in the curation process – rather than using their own curators.”
Universal Music Group is on a roll, its 2022 revenues reflecting a 21.6% climb to nearly $10.95B as fueled by streaming and a strong performance from its recorded music and publishing segments. Revenues from its streaming and subscriptions increased about 19% to over $5.6B, while digital revenues from the publishing division were up a staggering 50% to $1.05B.
The company hailed the “enormous commercial and creative success in markets around the world” of its global artists, which include top sellers like Taylor Swift, BTS, the “Encanto” soundtrack, Olivia Rodrigo, Morgan Wallen and The Beatles. It also highlighted in a statement its new partnerships in fitness, health, gaming and the metaverse, “driving the industry forward through leadership, creativity, innovation, and collaboration.”
The February 2023 list is not without controversy, as fans clamored for a share of streaming royalties in Rihanna’s "Bitch Better Have My Money." Based on analysis of sales data from 19 NFT platforms, independent releases paired with secondary sales volume on OpenSea, some of the biggest-selling music NFTs and collections in the previous month are:
Rihanna – “Bitch Better Have My Money”
Violetta Zironi – “Another Life”
Kids of the Apocalypse
MyFi Studio – “Wind Tunnels” + “Circles Are Bad”
Shilly: The Access Pass
In partnership with the German Music Industry Association (BVMI) and web3 music platform twelve x twelve, Universal Music Germany has held an awarding ceremony differently from its predecessors: The Gold and Platinum Awards were given in digital tokens along with their traditional physical formats. Stored on the blockchain, digital tokens are digital representations of the physical trophies or discs that are traditionally awarded to the artists. By leveraging blockchain technology, digital awards are tamper-proof and secure, offering a transparent way to verify and validate artistic achievements. Once recorded on the blockchain, the award cannot be altered or deleted, providing a high level of trust in the awards process.
Black Dave - a nonconformist musician, producer, rapper, artist, anime and streetwear enthusiast, and web3 innovator - unapologetically thinks outside the box. He’d rather break them all open. “Feel Good,” Black Dave’s sucker punch of a contribution to HIGH FREQUENCY Volume 1, is the perfect cocktail of his eclectic influences and combines his background in rock, rap, anime and video games to take the listener to an unforgettable trip to the delicious space of genre-mixing.
After taking a “How to make a NFT in five days” class, Black Dave minted his first visual collection and began onboarding others to web3. He became a founding member of the first NFT club on Clubhouse and started a Discord, now with more than 300 members. In 2021, he started to drop music NFTs on Catalog and Sound as well as experimented with governance tokens and unlockable content.
🏃♂️ Quick hits
The metaverse should be “open” unlike Fortnite and Roblox and enable users to bring their assets wherever they want, declares COO and co-founder Sebastien Borget of The Sandbox, where major label Warner Music Group has opened a virtual outpost earmarked for use as a metaverse concert venue.
Arts DAO, touted as the Middle East’s largest web3 community, is all set to host Dubai’s first-ever web 3 cultural, art, and music festival on March 11, featuring all-day live music from DJs, NFT-themed pop-up food vendors, and more.
Why doesn’t French electronic music producer DJ Agoria, with his work as a generative artist and exploration of ideas previously “not possible in web2,” want music NFTs to go mainstream?
See what’s in store at Miami NFT Week 2023, a three-day NFT and web3 celebration that includes music, culture, and entertainment events.
RnB recording artist Gina Thompson, debuting her Billboard charting premiere single with Missy Elliott in the mid-1990s, is venturing into web3 with a new song.
Here’s how musicians can sell NFTs via Public Pressure, a distribution platform that sells music and digital collectibles packaged as the uniquely owned digital assets.
💸 Finance buzz
London-based investment firm Infodriver Capital announced a new $10M fund focused on DeFi, GameFi, and AI startups across the UK, UAE, Europe, and the US, already identifying promising startups including Stage’ only-music-fans for Zen Z. (Source)
The RLTY metaverse platform launched as a no-code virtual experience builder for virtual event organizers, enabling them to create and launch metaverse events or experiences like a music festival and go live in minutes. (Source)
Blockchain-powered music platform Audius appointed music tech veteran and ex-SiriusXM/Pandora VP Shamal Ranasinghe as Chief Business Officer. (Source)
🗣️ Quote of the week
“The concept of token-gated playlists is a really awesome use case, and we’ll see even greater utility here when NFTs are used … to also benefit the creator through direct royalties.”
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All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.
If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse.
Stay informed via our Twitter and Subscribe here to get your metaverse music news every Tuesday.