The Weekly Note: Edition 007
April 25, 2023
Welcome!
The Note is Oohlala’s weekly digest of global music news; covering the latest in community, industry and technology. If you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, please subscribe, comment, and share it with friends!
Welcome to edition 007:
Kits Integration
Community Rewind
Artist Development Programs
Playlist of The Week
Mainstream news and more…
Let’s get into it, plus don’t forget to collect this edition.
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New Integration: Kits Publishing
Kits and Oohlala Explorer have integrated their platforms, making all published sample packs from Kits available on Oohlala Explorer. Kits is a platform where musicians can share their samples and songs with other artists for remixing. Kits offers on-chain licensing, providing permanent proof of ownership and programmable licenses for compliant publishing of derivative works. This integration allows users to easily discover samples and songs that suit their style for their next remix.
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Recent and Upcoming Drops:
Upcoming Drops
“Breathe” (Single) by fred riko
https://www.oohlala.xyz/drops/1310e506-a9bc-49f1-bbd3-11606af0a1a6“Impression Op. 1 No. 3” by Mikado Koko
https://www.oohlala.xyz/drops/314b199f-3ec4-4435-8ac5-74e15de2aef2
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Recent drops:
“Fried Frog” by MAi World
https://app.manifold.xyz/c/friedfrog“Cheddar” by iGOByLC
https://www.oohlala.xyz/track/f2f82878-7838-497e-bdc1-5df1ba083ad9“Like I Always Do” by Weinbagz
https://www.oohlala.xyz/drops/d5ecf193-e94d-46dc-aee5-e4e027f26762“Pieces of The Past” by glbkst
https://www.oohlala.xyz/drops/77535e3d-3bff-4133-a1e5-a93e9961c264
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CALL FOR ARTISTS:
Interested in having your drops listed on our Newsletter? Just go to our Drop Calendar and add your upcoming Music NFT drops to our public schedule.
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Community:
NFT NYC: Rewind!
We continue to celebrate the joy that communities create together when they all share one common passion: MUSIC. A shining example of a community that puts emphasis on friendship through music is the wavWRLD; we want to take a few moments here to take a look back at what their community had been up to recently. The word is that the camp spun up a couple of playlists on Oohlala for their enjoyment too!
If you haven’t already, make sure to join their Telegram chat room and sign up for their newsletter.
Here are a couple of flashbacks we really enjoyed:
KarmaVioletta @ CLUB CHAOS; Public Records, Brooklyn NY.
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wavWRLD community touches grass in Central Park
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Neume Network Participates in Gitcoin Beta Round
Neume Network has been accepted into the Gitcoin Open Source Software (OSS) Beta round. They are asking for support from fans of on-chain music and open-source software to donate funds that will be matched to help build a credible and neutral future for music. The link provided directs to the funding page for the Gitcoin OSS Beta round.
Neume is an open-source project building infrastructure for the music and creative industries. They have built an open-source indexer that runs strategies to define contracts and crawls blockchains directly to collate data provided to front-end applications. The project is looking to expand the types of contracts indexed, develop indexing for on-chain curation, develop additional indexing strategies, develop indexing for identity and agreements, develop an open API, and comprehensive documentation.
Visit their Gitcoin page and support now!
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Water & Music: Wavelengths Summit
Water & Music is excited to announce the lineup for their first Wavelengths Summit on music and tech, happening on May 6th in Brooklyn. They have revealed a diverse group of speakers including artists, artist managers, label reps, community leaders, and startup founders, among others. The programming slate for the event features highly interactive roundtables, workshops, and demos, focusing on three thematic tracks: Emerging Tech, Fandom + Community, and Industry Bridges.
These tracks were chosen through a community-driven ideation process, to address the key issues and trends at the intersection of music and technology. The Summit sponsors will offer a range of benefits to the attendees, such as dedicated workshops from Wave partners Sony CSL and SoundExchange, a Creator Tools Coffee Cart, and a Web3 Happy Hour, among others. Those who are interested in joining the conversation can get their Summit ticket today and use the exclusive member discount code WM-Members.
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Curation Highlight: Catalog
The shrinking market share of the three major record companies has highlighted the need for human curators and editors to navigate the increasing number of music releases. With nearly 50% of the 196 million tracks available on music streaming platforms being released since 2020, AI’s impact on the music industry is growing. Music curation is becoming increasingly important, and some organisations are building sustainable curation strategies in web3 to maintain quality and cohesion. Catalog is one platform that uses curation cycles to maintain quality and has recently brought in Athena Yasaman as head of community and curation strategy. Yasaman’s story highlights the importance of music curation and shows how the increasing number of music releases has led to the need for quality music curators. Read more here.
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Artist Development Programs: Quantum Sound
Quantum Sound is a Web3-focused artist development program designed to guide producers, songwriters, and musicians in creating and minting an EP or album while learning advanced techniques in songwriting and production as well as cutting-edge tools in Web3. Created by Kate Ellwanger (PKA Dot Music), the 12-week program will run from June 20 to September 2023, and applications are open until May 31, 2023, for 15 spots on a first-come, first-serve basis. The program aims to help artists hone their strengths, discover what sets them apart, and prepare them for creative, spiritual, and financial success. Learn more about the incubator.
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POV: On-chain Music is Ripe for Multiplayer Mode
The emergence of web3 technology has enabled broader participation in creative works, blurring the lines between creators and their communities. The prevailing paradigm for releasing works limits who can participate by means of geography and economic or social access. The multiplayer creativity stack introduces permissionless and composable infrastructure that enables communities to discover and onboard the individuals that share their purpose, produce creative works that stay true to their values, and sustain itself without subverting to the success metrics of third parties. Multiplayer creation is the end-to-end process of formation, coordination, production, value distribution, and post-release evolution of creative work — in which multiple parties are involved in one or more of the stages. In this article, we explore how web3 projects are enabling co-creation at each stage of the process and categorize ways in which multiplayer creativity infrastructure is emerging in web3. Read more from 1kx on Multiplayer Creation.
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Playlist of The Week: ‘Socidedad 2020’
Ed Keziah, a musician and producer, aims to challenge societal norms and address taboo subjects through his music. His album ‘Sociedad 2020’ reflects his perspective and experience in the music industry. The project consists of 8 tracks, minted using Decent XYZ and curated into a playlist with the goal of breaking down barriers and bringing people closer together.
Keziah experiments with various elements, blending alternative rock with R&B, trap, and electro-pop, resulting in an eclectic musical piece. By exploring social issues and emphasizing the power of connection, ‘Sociedad 2020’ offers a unique journey. Dive in and experience it for yourself. Listen to ‘Sociedad 2020’ on Oohlala.
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Collection to Watch: Zora Zine Issue 001
Zora Zine Print Issue 001 is an NFT available for purchase at 0.0777 ETH, with a limit of 10 per wallet. The NFT includes exclusive access to features gradually published on the zine’s website and comes with a vacuum-sealed print issue produced by @ourZORA and @actual_source, as well as three additional inserts. Some packages may also include an audio-reactive light device created by @lycheevision. Redemption starts on May 20 and shipping begins on May 25. Mint yours here.
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Industry:
Coinbase Sues the Securities Exchange Commission
Coinbase has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for not providing a clear answer to the company’s petition for a rule specific to digital assets. The suit filed by Coinbase is a writ of mandamus, which seeks to force federal officials to act. The SEC has not engaged in drafting a rule specific to digital assets but has reopened custody and exchange rules to include them. Coinbase also faces an SEC investigation into its wallet and staking services, and a former employee has been charged with insider trading. Read more here.
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Judge rules in favor of Yuga Labs summary judgement against BAYC rip off.
Yuga Labs, the company behind the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection, has scored a legal win against Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen, the guys behind the RR/BAYC NFT collection. The court found that Yuga Labs owns the BAYC trademarks, which are legit and enforceable, and that the defendants used the BAYC marks to sell RR/BAYC NFTs without permission, which confused consumers. The court also said that the defendants’ domain names could cause confusion and that they’re cybersquatting. The defendants argued that NFTs aren’t protected under the Lanham Act, which governs trademarks, but the judge disagreed.
The takeaway: The recent court ruling recognizes that NFTs can receive trademark protection, even though they are intangible. The court cited Hermes and noted that NFTs are acquired to gain exclusive ownership of the content linked with them, not just the “digital deed” that is detached from any other asset. Read more here.
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NFTfi announces rewards:
NFTfi, a protocol for NFT lending, has introduced the NFTfi Rewards program, which allows eligible borrowers and lenders to earn exclusive reward points. These non-transferable points are reserved for those who have contributed to the platform’s success and can be redeemed for blockchain tokens in the future. To secure the reserved OG Points, eligible borrowers and lenders must start an eligible loan before May 15th. The ultimate goal of NFTfi is to become a user-owned and operated protocol, and the NFTfi Rewards program is the first step in that direction.
Read more here.
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Technology:
Grimes, the musician and record producer, has invited creators to use AI-generated versions of her voice to create new music, offering to provide raw audio files to facilitate the process. She has said that she will “split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice”. However, it is unclear how any profit will be shared legally. Grimes has asked creators to register their music with her website. She has also indicated that she may only take down songs with “toxic lyrics” that are “viral and anti-abortion or smthn like that”. This is not the first time Grimes has explored AI-generated art or music-making. Read more here.
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How Web3 Powers the Gamification of the Music Industry
Writer Taylor Silveira discusses how Web3, through gamification, is transforming the music industry by enhancing the human desire for exploration, challenge, and reward. Gamification has psychological drivers that are based on the concept of “intrinsic motivation,” which creates a sense of accomplishment, ownership, and community. Web3 deepens the psychological part of gamification by introducing true ownership of assets, enabling players to have tangible stakes in the items, characters, or other currencies they mint in the game and potentially monetize their in-game activities.
The democratization of video production and distribution has allowed artists to have more control over their creative content and reach fans directly. The article also talks about Reveel, a trustless and composable protocol for revenue sharing among collaborators, and Showtime, a web3 social network for the industry that leverages novel primitives like NFTs, Soulbound tokens, and social tokens. Read more here.
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UTOP-AI: Discord Community creates AI-generated album using famous voices like Travis Scott, Baby Keem and more.
This AI-generated album was the result of a dedicated online community on Discord who worked together over the course of just one week. Using original lyrics, beats, and singing, the transformative art voices of popular artists like Travis Scott, Baby Keem, Playboi Carti, Swae Lee, and Don Toliver were recreated using AI models. It is important to note that the album does not claim to be an official representation of the featured artists or a copy of any copyrighted content, but rather a unique and original fan-based work created for non-commercial and educational purposes under the fair-use policy. The album was released on April 23, 2023, showcasing the incredible possibilities of collaborative AI technology in the realm of music. What does this mean for distributed creator communities?
Listen to it now:
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Friend’s Recommendation:
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