Category: Fandom

Connecting artists and fans is one of the most critical functions of the music industry. It’s also facing an onslaught of new challenges, as technology expands fandom into a hyper-speed, 24/7 business.

As revenue streams for artists become more precarious over time, merchandise has stepped in as a dependable alternative. At their best, these items can be artistic statements in their own right.

Amber is an investor and founder (her community software startup Zyper was acquired by Discord) and author of the book The Rise of Virtual Communities.

Analyzing the fan journey in music and Web3 from project discovery to post-mint community engagement, based on interviews with 22 music NFT collectors and subject-matter experts.

Music’s potential in virtual worlds is much more than just a game.

In today’s crowded landscape, the best moat you can invest in as an artist is a strong, memorable brand — which comes downstream of good marketing.

The concept of community has risen to a new level of prominence in the last few years as a critical source of social and commercial resilience in artists’ careers.

As touring and streaming increasingly fail to present sustainable revenue streams to middle class artists, it’s never been more critical for artists to find their true fans — fans that will follow their artists throughout their careers, across projects and platforms.

Data literacy is table stakes for making smart decisions about how to grow music careers and brands, and Web3 shouldn’t be any different.

From August 12–14, 2022, Water & Music and Friends With Benefits (FWB) joined forces to explore the nature of IRL <> URL communities through a collaborative workshop at FWB Fest, where attendees came together to document how they would map the communities they are a part of.

Cutting through the hype to present tangible, focused opportunities for growth and improvement around one of the most in-demand and fundamental use cases for musical metaverse experiences today: Having fun with friends.

A set of nine artist- and fan-centric design principles for building the next generation of musical metaverse experiences.