This article is based on a talk at a W3b Lab online event featuring dif co-founder Nadia Says.
Read the full talk HERE.

Art and new tech can work hand in hand in ways that are not necessarily cringe or gimmicky when artists and curators have a serious understanding of that synergy. Many argue that oftentimes, artworks featuring new tech just use buzz technologies, and that it doesn’t bring anything special to the art. Plus the tech scene suffers from an over-representation of cis-white men and of the stereotype of the “tech bros” who may not have connections to the art scene, nor share its essential values, and have already polluted new tech with sexism, racism, ableism…
To that we can answer that an AI will be as racist or anti-racist as what you train it with. And indeed we’ve all heard of incidents with AI being racist, for example with facial recognition used as a dystopian surveillance system – multi-disciplinary artist Vanessa Reynolds reacted to such an occurrence in Detroit. Or with how Capital Records had to drop their racially insensitive and appropriating AI rapper.

There are other DEI challenges, such as green sustainability, that has to remain central to new tech advancement, but also needs to be put into the context of previous means that may have been as polluting, to avoid unwarranted opposition to new tech.
Yet another equity challenge as in many industries, is how the Western world hoards high-paying jobs while exploiting the Global South with low-paid and high risk jobs such as online violence moderation – read a full report on Big Tech’s Success: The untold stories of the exploitation of African workers.

So why should musical creatives build impactful space on web3 when facing all these challenges?
The case for collective ownership is one that seems to belong on the blockchain; the reason why it would be necessary in the music industry is to ensure fairness for artists, to make sure creatives do not build communities for the benefit of corporations and do not reap the reward – such as when Bandcamp was bought twice without its community having any say, or Soundcloud, built by the community, but where many users and staff had to leave the platform after creating immense added value for major labels and shareholders.

Another aspect of how web3 will gain importance in the music scene, is the advent of UGC (user-generated content) in its broader meaning: the audience no longer wants to just receive music, they want to participate; this is part of the gamification of the music industry. This can be done through NFTs and Metaverse shows, among other new tech avenues.
Additionally about Metaverse and streamed shows, while these virtual experiences will never replace in-person live shows, they are needed alternatives to address certain DEI concerns. Here is a very shortened list of reasons why some music lovers cannot attend concerts, festivals, and club nights in person often or at all: immunodeficiency, tinnitus, social anxiety, gender-based safety concerns, distance, finances, age, need for lyric subs, allergy to smoke, substance abuse early recovery, having to take care of someone at home, etc.

Web3 is a chance for artists and their teams to have better visibility and control over distribution and payment splits, direct connections to fans, not giving up big parts of their income to middlemen, having new ways to copyright their work on the blockchain, and the list goes on.
This also means that music field workers, including artists, would need to learn how to use new platforms, that are not straight-forward and evolve literally every minute, and not always with full transparency or safety. While this is by no means easy, it remains not only a great opportunity, but also a duty: if genuine scene actors, especially those marginalised, do not pro-actively make space in these systems, the result will be new Metas, Spotifys, Live Nations, and other corporations that milk “content” without giving back to the artists or their fans. The time for creatives to make use of new tech, and with that process improve new tech for all, is now.