2022 has seen the rise of several Web3-powered, decentralized music festivals and communities, including Superf3st, and most recently, the UK-based DCentralize. These organizations are aiming to give their communities of music fans and artists a space where they can connect and have control over the creative festival planning process.
Community members are NFT holders, which enables them to provide input on things like festival dates, lineups, design, etc. These decentralized festivals are still in their early days, but they provide an incredibly exciting look at the potential for Web3 to shape the future of the music industry.
The first major DCentralize festival will take place next summer as a hybrid music festival and conference at Prestwold Hall Estate. Those who can’t attend in-person will be able to join the event via a live stream in a custom-built metaverse hosted by Passage.
XLIVE sat down with DCentralize Founder Ian Kerr and Technical and Creative Director Joe Crossley to discuss what fans and artists can expect from the community and how it will evolve in the future.
XLIVE: How did DCentralize come about and what made now the right time to launch it? Was this in the works before the pandemic?
Ian Kerr: Great question, the truth is that a combination of factors all came together. It was like the universe aligned perfectly just at the right time! After 17 years of running sporting holidays, I was looking for a new challenge and having previously flirted with the music industry, a music festival had already received plenty of thought. The pandemic allowed for me to go full time web3 and really dive down the rabbit hole. After 12 months of sense checking the idea with musicians and friends it was obvious the market was ready for this type of event!
It was on a Twitter space on the 30th Sept 2021 that the idea of tokenizing a festival was pitched to 1,000 plus listeners and we asked for feedback. Hundreds of DM’s flooded in and the desire to make the project succeed was obvious. It was the pandemic and a chance to grab some headspace that really spawned the idea.
XL: What was the importance of having a virtual/metaverse option for the festival? What can people expect from the virtual experience?
IK: The metaverse is the new buzz word in web3 and the tech world, everybody seems to be building a metaverse. The metaverse means different things to different people but essentially our iteration with ‘Passage’ will allow every human on earth to attend. The experience will be different for different people, you may attend to make new friends, you may attend with family or loved ones. You may wish to connect a wallet and buy digital collectables from performing artists or you might just want to enjoy the experience. Ultimately the exciting thing for me is that all artists can interact directly with every attendee, the term we like to use is hyper-accessible.
XL: Are members of your community also able to connect and engage with artists as well as with each other?
Joe Crossley: In regards to the metaverse, yes absolutely. We are working closely with the real professionals about what's possible. We will have a fully virtual festival site where free flow communication and exchange of web3 items can take place. At the in real life event the artists and attendees will have a much closer connection than ever before by utilising the latest technology at everyone’s fingertips.
XL: What is your vision for what this can be in the future? Do you expect the event to evolve every year and even potentially organize more community events per year?
JC: As a decentralised organisation and music festival I foresee that the event and the artist will be able to be owned by the fans and attendees. Going to the festival either online or offline will mean you are a part owner of the event itself and the decisions it makes. And by holding your tokens you benefit from the growth and development of the brand.
The genesis festival is the first major event, we’ve already held a host of smaller events; such as at Pacha, and the plan is to scale out globally to many iterations across multiple continents.
XL: On a broader scale, there have been a few similar communities launched in recent months, such as Superfly's SUPERPASS. Do you think these types of fan-driven events and festivals are the way of the future? Do you expect that eventually, fans may be part of more than one?
JC: The future in this world is most definitely converting viewers and spectators into members and owners. I believe that people will be members of many communities either brand or blockchain protocol based.
Control comes back to the creators and owners, building a world for music that is open to all decentralised communities is the goal of the festival and we partner and collaborate as much as possible. Of course, fans will be members of multiple communities, it’s how these communities cross interact is what’s the interesting part here.