April 2024 Updates and Thoughts in the Creative Web3 Space

Hey, Reflection readers!

It's been another strong month in the web3 creative space with lots going on.

We also experienced the 'Bitcoin Halving' in April.

For those not aware, happening roughly every four years, Bitcoin's mining reward is split in half. The number of bitcoin entering circulation every 10 minutes – known as block rewards – will drop by half, from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC.

This means the number of new bitcoin entering circulation shrinks, but demand should, in theory, stay the same, possibly driving up the bitcoin’s price.

This is important to mention as it could have an effect in the web3 creative space - this halving hasn't seen as prominent gains or drops in price as previous halvings yet... but we will see.

Maybe hype is slowing down for Bitcoin?

With this in mind, this month I also posted the below graph on LinkedIn which is interesting

Called the 'Gartner Hype Cycle' It's used as a graphical presentation developed?to represent the maturity, adoption, and social application of specific?technologies.

Web3 isn't pictured on this example but I would put it along with NFTs and other blockchain tech at the beginning of the 'Slope of Enlightenment' (which is a cool name...).

Web3 has gone through the hype, past the 'Trough of Disillusionment' and now building use cases that will gradually be taken on by the masses and embedded into society.

This is why I feel 2024 will be a strong year for creative web3.

We're beginning to see use cases that will bring in more of the population. The hype is ebbing but embedding the tech into society on a whole will continue to grow.

Wow... I got more technical than usual in this opening! It needed to be done though to explain what an exciting year we have ahead.

Now, onto the usual stuff!

Art

This month I came across a fantastic interview with the wonderful Shavonne Wong that caught my eye.

Shavonne started out as a fashion photographer but the covid pandemic amongst other things, saw her pivot from fashion photography to 3D art and NFTs...as you do.

Her story is highlighted in this article on Coindesk and is a good read for any artists or creatives in the space who might be thinking about following a similar journey or ways that you can diversify or grow your presence in the art space.

Music

Heavy Metal and web3, anyone? This month, The Shredderz, a web3 rock and heavy metal band, rolled out an NFT collection dubbed Shredz.

This includes 6,666 hand-drawn characters each linked to a Shredderz song.?

Shredz will grant holders access to a gamified listening experience on Audius, as well as a decentralized streaming platform.

The band hope it will breathe new life into their debut album with a feature creating thousands of new songs spanning across multiple genres that has the potential to add value.

We're going to see more of this 'gamification' in the music industry going forward as upcoming bands and artists need the income, as highlighted in this devastating post about how little money many upcoming artists make.

Hopefully web3 can continue to be utilised as one of the avenues to grow and cater for superfans.

Fashion

Two brands announced NFT clothing collabs in April, and the interesting thing is they're both using different methods:

?? One is high-end and for the rich

?? One is low entry point and for a larger audience

Louis Vuitton have teamed up with none other than musician Pharrell Williams for their first ready-to-wear garment to be reimagined as an NFT.

It drops with a $8,400 price tag...ouch on the price

Alternatively, Manchester City is launching a new NFT collection that will allow fans to win a limited number of unique jerseys and matchday experiences in partnership with OKX.

The NFTs are free.

There you have it, two fashion drops, one for the rich, one for the not so rich.

And interestingly, both don't really mention NFTs in their marketing.

The tech continues to be used, but the name remains a problem, seemingly.

It's going to be interesting to see whether the Prince vs the pauper method of fashion NFTs works best.

Did you know there are NFTs in a vault underneath the permafrost in the arctic?!

NFTs have been added to the Arctic code vault as part of a project to protect information, art, code and tech for over 1000 years incase of natural or man-made disaster.

Check out the link above and this video for more details of the project. A very interesting initiative.

If you're a new creative to web3, blockchain and crypto (or you know someone that is), it's worth checking out the resources over at the Chainalysis Academy.

They provide a good, free starting point and introduction to blockchain, bitcoin, and more before you decide to invest any money or dive in further.

Remember also - LinkedIn is still somehow an underused resource for web3 education, networking and growth.

It's where I found my favourite audience and continue to help people and grow my own network.

The amount of times I have asked someone on LinkedIn s web3 question, only to be provided with a great answer, then had an IRL chat that has led to other things has been numerous.

Put yourself out there and reap the rewards!

That's it for this month, folks. As always, I welcome comments and discussions! See you in May...

Jamie

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Hi, I'm Jamie, the CEO of RealNifty. I help the digital and physical worlds connect through NFTs. Subscribe to my newsletter if any of the above content interests you!