Singer Vérité’s Fan-First Approach to Web 3, Music NFTs and Community Building – Cointelegraph Magazine
Making a sustainable career as an independent musician is no easy task. The competition is fierce, endorsements can be hard to come by, and earning a living without major record label funding is an uphill battle. However, for those who can build a loyal following, complete creative control can be liberating.
Technology has long proven friendly to musicians willing to embrace it, and Invincible Tokens are the latest innovation that many tech-savvy artists have begun to incorporate into their careers. But NFTs are both controversial and experimental, especially among the mainstream, and music NFTs are still relatively comfortable.
One artist who has cracked the code to sustain a successful career as an independent musician is American singer Verité, who has racked up hundreds of millions of streams since releasing her debut single “Stranger Enough” in 2014 without record label support. .
After her success and international tour, Verité became one of the first musicians to experiment with NFTs in February 2021. Since then she has built a strong Web3 community and has had several successful top drops including the release of the 1/1 NFT. For the master rights to her music, fractionalizing song royalties on the blockchain and issuing NFTs to concertgoers. She did all this while still retaining her non-Site 3 fans, many of whom have no interest in crypto.
Along these fine lines, how does one successfully integrate Web3 into their work without alienating their existing, perhaps skeptical, fans? Magazine sat down with Vérité to find out.
Don't rely too much on Web3
For many musicians, Web3 is an exciting frontier full of new opportunities for fan engagement and revenue generation. However, Verité believes it's important for artists to have a variety of revenue streams and marketing strategies, and not fall into the trap of thinking that hype around anything, especially NFTs, will last forever.
Building a music career in Web3 is “a bit of a double-edged sword,” he told Verité magazine. While it can help bring people together, “maybe when artists decide themselves to only use those tools and they're only in those communities, then it's a negative cycle that's broken and those avenues of monetization are closed off.” He said.
“My focus is ‘How can I build a career that withstands trend cycles, that focuses on the foundation of my career while trying to push forward to build better?' Because we recognize that most of these systems are deeply flawed.
Expect and respect fans
Not every fan wants to join their favorite artist on their Web3 journey, and that's fine, according to Verité. When she started releasing NFTs, she heavily emphasized that she was simply experimenting with the technology. “I was very clear that I don't care if you come with me on this trial – this is a trial for me,” she said.
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Vérité actually took it a step further, actively discouraging fans from joining her. “A lot of my communication with them was, ‘Don't buy this. Unless you are fully educated and willing to fully educate yourself and take risks, don't get involved.” Still, she says fans shouldn't feel pressured to participate in anything Web3-related.
“More than making money, it's really about protecting the people who have supported my work for the past eight years,” Verite emphasized.
Obviously, not everyone is sold on the power and potential of blockchain. The bear market did not help the space's reputation, with the collapse of crypto exchange FTX making major media headlines and the price of blue chip NFTs falling 95% from the peak of the bull market.
“If you go on my Discord — and I'll tag everybody and say, ‘What do you think about crypto and NFTs?' – People aren't jazzed. Most of them, honestly. It's just a general lack of interest,” Verite explained. But her fans don't necessarily hate cryptos. “I'm seeing people not wanting to do something new because they don't see a problem, right?”
According to Singer, “NFTs, Web3, how it's presented to the mass market is also very unappealing to non-tech-native fans.” Instead, she offers the following advice.
It's a weird market so I recommend people use it as a tool. “
Offer an option, not a requirement
Rather than forcing its fans to join the chain, Vérité focuses on building experiences that are part of Web3 but alternative. She described her approach as a “door” for fans to walk in where blockchain functions to further enhance the fan experience – but even if they do open the door, the fans will still enjoy the experience:
“You need to jump the technology barrier to get the experience, right? Or is it just a door? If it's a door, you can talk about it because it's not a burden.
“For me, it's, ‘What are the experiences that we can provide, what are the non-hard-to-solve use cases of blockchain technology?' “He's trying to think,” she says.
One example is “The Vérité Crewneck,” a tech-inspired sweater the singer wore in 2010. Falling in late 2022, IYK is a company that collaborates with brands, artists and creators to develop physical experiences. The sweater has a near-field communication, or NFC, chip embedded in the sleeve that can unlock unique content and an NFT representing a certificate of authenticity.
Vérité explained that fans who bought the sweater got “first access to the next era of my records.” Buyers can scan the chip with their phone and access music and bonus content in the background in advance. “That was the original price point – not Web3 activation, right?”
But the landing page offers an option to check out the outfit, where curious fans can receive the NFT.
Fans are everywhere
Between directly telling her fans not to buy NFTs, to offering experiences where the Web3 option is an added bonus, Vérité's fan-centric approach has undoubtedly been instrumental in pushing the boundaries and seeing success at Web3. Protecting Unfaithful Web 3 Fans. Or, in her words, “My fans come first, and I don't have fans, I don't have fans to sell them all the time.
Regarding her long-term vision for the future of blockchain and music, Verité says, “We can demystify the black box information between artists and their fans that is held by social platforms, ticketing agencies, etc.” And that blockchain really has the ability to make that information transparent so that artists can directly connect with the people who support them and reward them in long-term scenarios.
If the hype is to be believed, this dream may one day come true. But based on Vérité's experience at the forefront, the only way the Music-Web 3 revolution will truly succeed is if fans are put at the center.
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