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

How we created a music Web3 learning experience with and for our members — going from ideation to execution in just three months.

2021 has seen a flurry of new generative music NFT project launches, but they have yet to see the same consumer demand or financial upside as their immensely popular visual counterparts.

This breakdown is part of an ongoing, members-only interview series focused on artist and label DAOs, as part of Season 1.5 of our ongoing collaborative research on music and Web3.

Our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business.

Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business. On a biweekly basis, our research team highlights the most interesting jobs emerging in music — “interesting” defined as involving new technologies, skill sets, strategic priorities, and cross-industry synergies like in gaming, fitness, and podcasts — as a vector for charting potential futures for the music industry as a whole.

Last week, our community got an inside look at bleeding-edge music AI tools from Harmonai, the open-source music AI arm of Stability.ai, and Pollinations, a company focused on creating more accessible interfaces for existing AI models.

After interviewing several music AI startup founders, key differences have emerged in how music AI companies are building out their tech stacks compared to companies building visual- or text-based AI tools.

A new series unpacking essential foundational concepts for navigating music and tech.

As a follow-up to our myriad studies of fan sentiment around music/Web3 projects in Season 1, we embarked on a survey analysis of how artists and music-industry professionals were feeling about Web3 across its numerous forms, including NFTs, DAOs and social tokens.

A recap of how we designed the latest iteration of the W&M Academy, and the main themes that our speakers shared with our community.

2022 closed with a dynamic debate in the #web3 channel of the Water & Music Discord server about the role of aggregation and traditional IP law in the music NFT landscape.

Capturing the W&M community’s unique, early-adopter, critical pulse on the music/Web3 landscape, backed by ongoing reporting from our Web3 research team that you won’t find elsewhere.

Our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business.

The HitPiece debacle crystallizes several key issues that crop up time and time again within the music NFT ecosystem.

The HitPiece debacle crystallizes several key issues that crop up time and time again within the music NFT ecosystem.

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

Now that we’re easing our way into 2022, we thought now would be a good time to check in on how we’re feeling about the future of the music industry. Has the hype and excitement around tech trends in 2021 burned off — or has it morphed into something solid and sustainable?

Our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business.

Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business. On a biweekly basis, our research team highlights the most interesting jobs emerging in music — “interesting” defined as involving new technologies, skill sets, strategic priorities, and cross-industry synergies like in gaming, fitness, and podcasts — as a vector for charting potential futures for the music industry as a whole.

Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business. On a biweekly basis, our research team highlights the most interesting jobs emerging in music — “interesting” defined as involving new technologies, skill sets, strategic priorities, and cross-industry synergies like in gaming, fitness, and podcasts — as a vector for charting potential futures for the music industry as a whole.

Last week, our community got an inside look at bleeding-edge music AI tools from Harmonai, the open-source music AI arm of Stability.ai, and Pollinations, a company focused on creating more accessible interfaces for existing AI models.

After interviewing several music AI startup founders, key differences have emerged in how music AI companies are building out their tech stacks compared to companies building visual- or text-based AI tools.

2022 closed with a dynamic debate in the #web3 channel of the Water & Music Discord server about the role of aggregation and traditional IP law in the music NFT landscape.

Our dedicated editorial vertical covering the future of work in the music business.

Our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business.

Our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business.

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.

Capturing the W&M community’s unique, early-adopter, critical pulse on the music/Web3 landscape, backed by ongoing reporting from our Web3 research team that you won’t find elsewhere.

Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business. On a biweekly basis, our research team highlights the most interesting jobs emerging in music — “interesting” defined as involving new technologies, skill sets, strategic priorities, and cross-industry synergies like in gaming, fitness, and podcasts — as a vector for charting potential futures for the music industry as a whole.

Our latest community barometer survey identified several challenges currently affecting music-industry workers in a rapidly changing market, while providing context on whether workers feel equipped with the skills needed to enact change in their careers and in the wider music business. 

Now that we’re easing our way into 2022, we thought now would be a good time to check in on how we’re feeling about the future of the music industry. Has the hype and excitement around tech trends in 2021 burned off — or has it morphed into something solid and sustainable?

To platform more voices from the Water & Music community, we’ve decided to reignite our Community Member Q&A section. Biweekly, we’ll be running a Q&A with W&M members doing particularly innovative or interesting work with music and technology.

To platform more voices from the Water & Music community, we’ve decided to reignite our Community Member Q&A section. Biweekly, we’ll be running a Q&A with W&M members doing particularly innovative or interesting work with music and technology.

En el año 2021, los titulares acerca de los NFTs de música se han centrado en los números de sus ventas astronómicas… y la pregunta sigue latente: ¿qué es lo que realmente se vende?

Music NFT headlines this year have focused on astronomical sales… but what is actually being sold?

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

After interviewing several music AI startup founders, key differences have emerged in how music AI companies are building out their tech stacks compared to companies building visual- or text-based AI tools.

2022 closed with a dynamic debate in the #web3 channel of the Water & Music Discord server about the role of aggregation and traditional IP law in the music NFT landscape.

Our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business.

Where the production and physical space limitations for this type of augmented reality inhibits scaling this type of experience to mass audiences, we can see the metaverse – with its many platforms and worlds, and with varying levels of interactivity – being a place where we see more of these estates extend their reach using new technologies.

Where the production and physical space limitations for this type of augmented reality inhibits scaling this type of experience to mass audiences, we can see the metaverse – with its many platforms and worlds, and with varying levels of interactivity – being a place where we see more of these estates extend their reach using new technologies.

How we created a music Web3 learning experience with and for our members — going from ideation to execution in just three months.

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

A new series unpacking essential foundational concepts for navigating music and tech.

Outlining the challenges we’ve faced in attempting to build a public database of music marketing ROI benchmarks, and what they reveal about the way the music industry measures growth and success.

Entender el universo alrededor de los NFTs de música de Latinoamérica tiene múltiples implicaciones: no solo es comprender la actualidad de una tecnología que puede cambiar las maneras de consumo cultural a nivel global, es además la posibilidad de visibilizar en tiempo real cuales son los principales aprendizajes que dejan las experiencias ya realizadas en este paradigma y con esto una primer foto sobre la capacidad de adaptación de los proyectos de música con la utilización de las tecnologías actuales. 

Capturing the W&M community’s unique, early-adopter, critical pulse on the music/Web3 landscape, backed by ongoing reporting from our Web3 research team that you won’t find elsewhere.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are ushering in a whole new paradigm for music-making, where automated processes and tools are aiming to augment or even replace fundamental compositional and engineering skills.

The FN Meka debacle has more resonance from a branding/ethics perspective, than it does as a purely technological case study.

The FN Meka debacle has more resonance from a branding/ethics perspective, than it does as a purely technological case study.

Capturing the W&M community’s unique, early-adopter, critical pulse on the music/Web3 landscape, backed by ongoing reporting from our Web3 research team that you won’t find elsewhere.

Capturing the W&M community’s unique, early-adopter, critical pulse on the music/Web3 landscape, backed by ongoing reporting from our Web3 research team that you won’t find elsewhere.

Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical dedicated to tracking the music/Web3 landscape.

Last week, our community got an inside look at bleeding-edge music AI tools from Harmonai, the open-source music AI arm of Stability.ai, and Pollinations, a company focused on creating more accessible interfaces for existing AI models.

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

After interviewing several music AI startup founders, key differences have emerged in how music AI companies are building out their tech stacks compared to companies building visual- or text-based AI tools.

Highlighting the most impressive music and gaming collaborations you might have missed in 2022 — including the key features that made these collaborations so remarkable, how they were activated and monetized, and what you can learn from them.

In September 2022, Space Ape Games announced that its mobile rhythm game Beatstar had generated $73 million in revenue — and shared over $16 million of its income with rightsholders, in a revenue-share model that is almost unheard of in the video game industry.

There’s been a significant rise in music and gaming collaborations across mobile games, rhythm games, virtual world platforms, and more. But the barriers to entry remain high for most independent artists.

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

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.

There’s been a significant rise in music and gaming collaborations across mobile games, rhythm games, virtual world platforms, and more. But the barriers to entry remain high for most independent artists.

Riot Games, the studio behind League of Legends, has collaborated with Lil Nas X on the 2022 League of Legends World Championship (Worlds) Tournament anthem, “Star Walkin.’”

A new series unpacking essential foundational concepts for navigating music and tech.

Continuing Water & Music’s exploration of the legal maze around music and Web3, this article takes a closer look at nascent smart-contract developments around collaborative splits for Web3-native music releases.

A starting metrics framework for evaluating and comparing different music NFT drops over time, with a focus on tracking collector activity and gauging the overall community health of music NFT projects.

Highlighting the most impressive music and gaming collaborations you might have missed in 2022 — including the key features that made these collaborations so remarkable, how they were activated and monetized, and what you can learn from them.

In September 2022, Space Ape Games announced that its mobile rhythm game Beatstar had generated $73 million in revenue — and shared over $16 million of its income with rightsholders, in a revenue-share model that is almost unheard of in the video game industry.

There’s been a significant rise in music and gaming collaborations across mobile games, rhythm games, virtual world platforms, and more. But the barriers to entry remain high for most independent artists.

We interviewed nearly 20 different artists and community leaders from underrepresented genres in Web3, to learn about the role of genre in shaping long-term branding strategies as well as artist sentiment around the technology.

We interviewed nearly 20 different artists and community leaders from underrepresented genres in Web3, to learn about the role of genre in shaping long-term branding strategies as well as artist sentiment around the technology.

A recap of how we designed the latest iteration of the W&M Academy, and the main themes that our speakers shared with our community.

Over the last month, several contributors in the Water & Music community collaborated to analyze music NFT market dynamics, based on data from our members-only music NFT database. This report is the result — an in-depth analysis of 2021 music NFT sales by artist genre, platform/protocol, and label affiliation, covering over $86M worth of revenue, as well as a qualitative discussion of popular and emerging forms of utility that have emerged around the format in the last year.

Sone is a music DAO spun off from the longstanding indie record label Topshelf Records. The ultimate vision for Sone is not necessarily to build a “Web3 label,” but rather to produce public goods for music.

This breakdown is part of an ongoing, members-only interview series focused on artist and label DAOs, as part of Season 1.5 of our ongoing collaborative research on music and Web3.

Entender el universo alrededor de los NFTs de música de Latinoamérica tiene múltiples implicaciones: no solo es comprender la actualidad de una tecnología que puede cambiar las maneras de consumo cultural a nivel global, es además la posibilidad de visibilizar en tiempo real cuales son los principales aprendizajes que dejan las experiencias ya realizadas en este paradigma y con esto una primer foto sobre la capacidad de adaptación de los proyectos de música con la utilización de las tecnologías actuales. 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

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

This project began as an effort to create a “simple” music NFT contract template, as a follow-up to our high-level research from Season 1 on issues facing the music/Web3 ecosystem. Our modular template guides the user through different paths based on their answers, and outputs a custom PDF file that they can then attach on- or off-chain to their NFT releases.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

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

After interviewing several music AI startup founders, key differences have emerged in how music AI companies are building out their tech stacks compared to companies building visual- or text-based AI tools.

2022 closed with a dynamic debate in the #web3 channel of the Water & Music Discord server about the role of aggregation and traditional IP law in the music NFT landscape.

Our dedicated editorial vertical covering the future of work in the music business.

Capturing the W&M community’s unique, early-adopter, critical pulse on the music/Web3 landscape, backed by ongoing reporting from our Web3 research team that you won’t find elsewhere.

The FN Meka debacle has more resonance from a branding/ethics perspective, than it does as a purely technological case study.

Only 5% of the U.S. general population has attended a virtual concert or livestreamed performance in the past year, and only 5% of the U.S. general population plans to attend a virtual concert or livestreamed performance in the upcoming year.

Our dedicated editorial vertical covering the future of work in the music business.

Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical dedicated to tracking the music/Web3 landscape.

Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical dedicated to tracking the music/Web3 landscape.

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

Outlining the challenges we’ve faced in attempting to build a public database of music marketing ROI benchmarks, and what they reveal about the way the music industry measures growth and success.

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.

In response to growing demand and market activity, we’ve updated our music NFT contract builder to include off-chain, IRL benefits around merchandise and access, which comprise some of the fastest-growing forms of utility around music NFTs.

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

A proposal for a more minimalist, needs-driven approach to ironing out a music NFT metadata schema, grounded in emerging contextual use cases around the artist/fan journey in Web3.

A new series unpacking essential foundational concepts for navigating music and tech.

Highlighting the most impressive music and gaming collaborations you might have missed in 2022 — including the key features that made these collaborations so remarkable, how they were activated and monetized, and what you can learn from them.

In September 2022, Space Ape Games announced that its mobile rhythm game Beatstar had generated $73 million in revenue — and shared over $16 million of its income with rightsholders, in a revenue-share model that is almost unheard of in the video game industry.

Highlighting the most impressive music and gaming collaborations you might have missed in 2022 — including the key features that made these collaborations so remarkable, how they were activated and monetized, and what you can learn from them.

In September 2022, Space Ape Games announced that its mobile rhythm game Beatstar had generated $73 million in revenue — and shared over $16 million of its income with rightsholders, in a revenue-share model that is almost unheard of in the video game industry.

In late September, we hosted our first Wavelengths in Brooklyn, where industry leaders discussed Music Curation & Discovery in Web3.

Ampled is a digital cooperative building a paid membership platform that is 100% owned by its artists, workers and community. Founded in 2019 by a group of designers, software engineers and musicians, Ampled helps artists gain sustainable and predictable income in today’s streaming economy. The cooperative is currently incorporated as an LLC, and is evaluating a DAO structure as a means to give the organization more long-term financial sustainability.

Independent artist Jonathan Mann built SongADAO as an ownership and decision-making layer on top of his daily songwriting project Song A Day, which has been running for over 13 years.

In late September, we hosted our first Wavelengths in Brooklyn, where industry leaders discussed Music Curation & Discovery in Web3.

A proposal for a more minimalist, needs-driven approach to ironing out a music NFT metadata schema, grounded in emerging contextual use cases around the artist/fan journey in Web3.

Capturing the W&M community’s unique, early-adopter, critical pulse on the music/Web3 landscape, backed by ongoing reporting from our Web3 research team that you won’t find elsewhere.

In September 2022, Space Ape Games announced that its mobile rhythm game Beatstar had generated $73 million in revenue — and shared over $16 million of its income with rightsholders, in a revenue-share model that is almost unheard of in the video game industry.

A new series unpacking essential foundational concepts for navigating music and tech.

Continuing Water & Music’s exploration of the legal maze around music and Web3, this article takes a closer look at nascent smart-contract developments around collaborative splits for Web3-native music releases.

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

2022 closed with a dynamic debate in the #web3 channel of the Water & Music Discord server about the role of aggregation and traditional IP law in the music NFT landscape.

A new series unpacking essential foundational concepts for navigating music and tech.

A new series unpacking essential foundational concepts for navigating music and tech.

Continuing Water & Music’s exploration of the legal maze around music and Web3, this article takes a closer look at nascent smart-contract developments around collaborative splits for Web3-native music releases.

The HitPiece debacle crystallizes several key issues that crop up time and time again within the music NFT ecosystem.

Now that we’re easing our way into 2022, we thought now would be a good time to check in on how we’re feeling about the future of the music industry. Has the hype and excitement around tech trends in 2021 burned off — or has it morphed into something solid and sustainable?

Any artist at any career stage can start thinking early on about how to increase the longevity of the art they create and distribute online.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical dedicated to tracking the music/Web3 landscape.

Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical dedicated to tracking the music/Web3 landscape.

Sone is a music DAO spun off from the longstanding indie record label Topshelf Records. The ultimate vision for Sone is not necessarily to build a “Web3 label,” but rather to produce public goods for music.

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

2022 closed with a dynamic debate in the #web3 channel of the Water & Music Discord server about the role of aggregation and traditional IP law in the music NFT landscape.

A new series unpacking essential foundational concepts for navigating music and tech.

2022 closed with a dynamic debate in the #web3 channel of the Water & Music Discord server about the role of aggregation and traditional IP law in the music NFT landscape.

Capturing the W&M community’s unique, early-adopter, critical pulse on the music/Web3 landscape, backed by ongoing reporting from our Web3 research team that you won’t find elsewhere.

Capturing the W&M community’s unique, early-adopter, critical pulse on the music/Web3 landscape, backed by ongoing reporting from our Web3 research team that you won’t find elsewhere.

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.

Capturing the W&M community’s unique, early-adopter, critical pulse on the music/Web3 landscape, backed by ongoing reporting from our Web3 research team that you won’t find elsewhere.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

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

A new series unpacking essential foundational concepts for navigating music and tech.

There is a new generation of alternative streaming and curation services being built on top of music NFTs, providing a crucial contextual and social layer on top of the wider music/Web3 ecosystem as it scales.

A self-directed guide for artists and their teams to explore the diverse set of entry points into musical metaverse experiences.

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.

Last week, our community got an inside look at bleeding-edge music AI tools from Harmonai, the open-source music AI arm of Stability.ai, and Pollinations, a company focused on creating more accessible interfaces for existing AI models.

After interviewing several music AI startup founders, key differences have emerged in how music AI companies are building out their tech stacks compared to companies building visual- or text-based AI tools.

Our dedicated editorial vertical covering the future of work in the music business.

2022 closed with a dynamic debate in the #web3 channel of the Water & Music Discord server about the role of aggregation and traditional IP law in the music NFT landscape.

Outlining the challenges we’ve faced in attempting to build a public database of music marketing ROI benchmarks, and what they reveal about the way the music industry measures growth and success.

Capturing the W&M community’s unique, early-adopter, critical pulse on the music/Web3 landscape, backed by ongoing reporting from our Web3 research team that you won’t find elsewhere.

Highlighting the most impressive music and gaming collaborations you might have missed in 2022 — including the key features that made these collaborations so remarkable, how they were activated and monetized, and what you can learn from them.

In September 2022, Space Ape Games announced that its mobile rhythm game Beatstar had generated $73 million in revenue — and shared over $16 million of its income with rightsholders, in a revenue-share model that is almost unheard of in the video game industry.

There’s been a significant rise in music and gaming collaborations across mobile games, rhythm games, virtual world platforms, and more. But the barriers to entry remain high for most independent artists.

Our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business.

Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business. On a biweekly basis, our research team highlights the most interesting jobs emerging in music — “interesting” defined as involving new technologies, skill sets, strategic priorities, and cross-industry synergies like in gaming, fitness, and podcasts — as a vector for charting potential futures for the music industry as a whole.

Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical about the future of work in the music business. On a biweekly basis, our research team highlights the most interesting jobs emerging in music — “interesting” defined as involving new technologies, skill sets, strategic priorities, and cross-industry synergies like in gaming, fitness, and podcasts — as a vector for charting potential futures for the music industry as a whole.

The HitPiece debacle crystallizes several key issues that crop up time and time again within the music NFT ecosystem.

A diverse set of ideas to monetize music IP and engage meaningfully with fans in the metaverse, across three main categories: Creating visually immersive content, licensing music IP directly to platforms’ content libraries, and making artist IP available for user identity and expression.

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

2022 closed with a dynamic debate in the #web3 channel of the Water & Music Discord server about the role of aggregation and traditional IP law in the music NFT landscape.

A new series unpacking essential foundational concepts for navigating music and tech.