March Updates and Thoughts in the Creative Web3 Space

Hello Reflection Readers!

Once again it's been a crazy month in the web3 space.

I couldn't start without mentioning the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). It marks the second-largest bank failure in United States history and the largest since the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

This caused (and was caused by) an influx of panic in the tech industry which led to many web3 startups and beyond being affected, losing money and VCs and investors freaking out. The fallout? What seems to be a lot more caution by said VCs and investors.

It's not difficult to see that web3 is going through a difficult time at the moment, but the amount of innovation, creation, development and great people involved in the space is why it will stick around. The tech WILL change the future but it will take time and setbacks are bound to happen, just like with any pioneering sector.

Prepare yourselves for a bumpy, well-intentioned, thrilling and ultimately completely necessary journey if you're in the industry. We are here to stay and change lives.

Art

Beeple continues to make waves in the NFT art space. Not content with kicking off the bull run for Art NFTs a year ago by selling “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” for $69.3 million as an NFT, he has now opened Beeple Studios, a 50,000-square-foot digital art space in South Carolina. It's designed to foster a community among non-fungible token (NFT) artists.

If you know me at all you know I always champion the digital AND physical when it comes to NFTs and artists, so this is awesome to see. The more integrations between NFTs and real-life art galleries we see, the more it's going to open up the previously closed-off world of fine art to more of the general public and introduce newer audiences.

Music

In March it was announced that global music revenues rose to $26.6bn for 2022.

HOWEVER... record labels and high-brand artists such as Taylor Swift and BTS would have benefited the most from these figures.

The music industry infrastructure can still be seen as vastly unfair to smaller or upcoming artists, using antiquated systems to distribute royalties and is still fearful of new technology redistributing those profits more equally.

Web3 hasn't been taken up by the industry the way that art has. It's making valuable steps forward but there is more pushback from fearful labels and investors.

Did they not learn from streaming?! It's going to happen. Web3 will be integrated.

Companies to keep an eye on while they develop the future of music: Public Pressure, TokenTraxx, Audius.

Fashion

Another month, another web3 fashion collaboration. This time it comes in the form of Bored Ape Yacht Club's parent company Yuga Labs and none other than Gucci.

Apart from an image of an ape holding a gucci-branded bottle, more details are thin on the ground but if I were to guess it's going to be activations based around the upcoming BAYC metaverse and hopefully feature ideas that are both physical and digital.

It's interesting to see the fashion industry taking bigger and braver steps into the web3 space than the music industry. Gucci and other big brands have been messing around with web3 for a while and seem to be pretty fearless.

It's going to be fun to see what the future holds.

This month's recognition heads to the wonderful work being done by Mintangible.

Mintangble allows those with assets connected to NFTs to also digitally bind IP, royalties and legal terms to NFTs directly on the blockchain.

With the recent foray of rules and regulations being looked at and gone through with a fine-tooth comb in both the web3 and AI industries, it's great to see this type of innovation being tested and taking hold.

We've also worked with the Mintangible team to embed the tech for our RealNifty launch artists. Starting with Leila Pinto's collection of abstract art titled 'Exuberance' - you can now view legally binding RealNifty IP contracts minted to the blockchain directly from the NFT page.

This is a huge step forward and paves the way for a safer and more secure way for both creators and customers to be protected.

March 8th was International Women's Day. There are many amazing women in the web3 space (and in fact, I hosted a 'Women Redefining the Web3 Art Industry in the web3 this month highlighting that fact) and it's great to see the industry flourishing because of them.

It's why I see a great promise from Unstoppable Women of Web3 and their campaign to train the next generation of diverse talent, with a goal to onboard women to Web3.

In March they announced a commitment to provide Web3 and metaverse education for six million women in Africa over the next five years.

They plan to partner with organizations to offer Web3 and metaverse education via a wide assortment of educational streams, programs, learning materials, in-person events, and online courses.

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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 interests you!