I started getting active in Web3 about eight weeks ago. As an independent creative I was so interested in the elements of decentralisation that web3 promised, the sense of community it seemed to offer and the way it can act as funding for independent artists.
I became active in web3 spaces for music artists on Discord where I quickly found out that performing on Twitter spaces was the way to go. For those unfamiliar with Twitter spaces they’re essentially like Instagram lives but are audio only. One account acts as host and can invite other accounts to co-host. People that join are ‘Listeners’ and can request to have their mic turned on to be ‘Speakers’.
At first I found many exciting spaces for exciting communities from a society specifically for Latinos in web3, queer femme artists in web3 (still my favourite chat) and other great spaces. I would also sing live and play demos in spaces which was a great way to get advice from people. Web3 is still relatively small, especially in the music field and being active allowed me to connect with people I could never reach over email. This includes people who have worked with Travis Scott, Miley Cyrus, Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg and Lil Nas X. It was prime networking and community building.
Then the crypto crash came about a month ago. I hoped it wouldn’t affect the space but I noticed there weren’t as many exciting Twitter spaces happening. The spaces I did join seemed to be less about music, NFTs and networking and more just about…well, general chat. It seemed most of the niche spaces I had found before had either disappeared, got less active or just become oversaturated and thus changed their tone.
I was initially planning to release my first NFT collection in July but now i’m not so sure. I have also been approached by a few NFT distributors who promise to curate and deliver a dedicated pool of buyers ready to snap up your NFT. My worry with this is that I ideally wanted an organic pool of buyers there and ready to find interest in my project. I’ve tried asking for advice in the space but receive different answers every time.
The point is, it often feels that the web3 community gets ahead of itself. Most spaces are filled with people stating how web3 is this and that but in reality none of them know what it is yet but it doesn’t concretely exist. All we can do is to create art that motivates and generates a successful space for the future, one that puts artists first.
For the meantime, my advice to myself is to stay active but also to tiptoe around the subject. Web2 is still very much in action and still deserves attention. Finding the split or attention ratio to give between the two digital spaces is a juggling act only learnt in time.
