Will Artists Embrace the Metaverse? These LA-Based Experts Think So.

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

concert with lots of people
Photo by Hume

In the past year, musicians including Megan Thee Stallion and Travis Scott have forged their way into metaverse-related businesses by hosting virtual reality (VR) concerts. It’s no surprise then that the metaverse, still in its early stages of development, has captured the attention of some of the largest investors over the past few years. And a handful of Los Angeles-based music companies invested in the metaverse are trying to capitalize on the moment. Two such companies are Hume, a web3 record label and music NFT project Blocktones, that creates unique tracks minted on the Ethereum blockchain. We spoke to them to find out if musicians along with the music industry will embrace the metaverse.


Here are the most important takeaways:

Web3 will not replace Web2 because both will continue to exist. 

“You're still gonna have the traditional world of entertainment,” songwriter, producer and Hume co-founder Jay Stolar says. “But as more people start spending more time in virtual spaces, and owning virtual goods, you're gonna have more major entertainment and music companies finding a way to bring that(Web3/metaverse) into their world.”

With over 100,000 tracks being uploaded to streaming platforms each day, it is becoming more difficult for fans to engage with new content. 

“Consumers and fans don't really feel tied to the song that they're listening to because there's a new viral song on TikTok every week,” Grammy-winning producer Gino Borri says. “And it makes music feel cheap like fast fashion.”

Music NFTs give fans the connection to artists the way vinyl and CDs did in the past generations.

\u200bman singing in front of crowd at concert

Reo Cragun singing in front of crowd at concert

Hume

“We (Blocktones) really wanted to create something disruptive for the music industry and give people that access again,” Borri says. “You may have no music background, but let's say you buy this track and you connect with somebody in our Discord and they're an upcoming artist, and they're looking for a beat,” Borri continues. “By owning this beat on the blockchain you essentially are a producer. If they record a derivative on it and put it out and put a track over your beat, you're now a producer on that record.”

Web3 has added another layer for fans to interact and consume music from their favorite artists.

“The ethos of web3 is about digital ownership,” Borri says. “And we are allowing people to rethink the way you not only collect and consume music, but also what they can do with their music, and how they can activate the music that they own.”

Independent artists are reaping the benefits of the metaverse and how it will allow them to grow as a musician.

“I've released over 1000 music NFTs and sold over 1000 of them,” rapper Reo Cragun says. “I have a more organic reach than I've ever had which is great because it matters to me to know my community and to know the people who are supporting the music over how many monthly listeners that I have on Spotify.”

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: LeaseLock, Visgenx, PlayVS and Pressed Juicery Gains New CEOs

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: LeaseLock, Visgenx, PlayVS and Pressed Juicery Gains New CEOs
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

***

LeaseLock, a lease insurance and financial technology provider for the rental housing industry named Janine Steiner Jovanovic as chief executive officer. Prior to this role, Steiner Jovanovic served as the former EVP of Asset Optimization at RealPage.

Esports platform PlayVS hired EverFi co-founder and seasoned business leader Jon Chapman as the company’s chief executive officer.

Biotechnology company Visgenx appointed William Pedranti, J.D. as chief executive officer. Before joining, Mr. Pedranti was a partner with PENG Life Science Ventures.

Pressed Juicery, the leading cold-pressed juice and functional wellness brand welcomed Justin Nedelman as chief executive officer. His prior roles include chief real estate officer of FAT Brands Inc. and co-founder of Eureka! Restaurant Group.

Michael G. Vicari joined liquid biopsy company Nucleix as chief commercial officer. Vicari served as senior vice president of Sales at GRAIL, Inc.

Full-service performance marketing agency Allied Global Marketing promoted Erin Corbett to executive vice president of global partnership and marketing. Prior to joining Allied, Corbett's experience included senior marketing roles at Disney, Warner Bros. Studios, Harrah's Entertainment and Imagi Animation Studios.

Nuvve, a vehicle-to-grid technology company tapped student transportation and automotive sales and marketing executive David Bercik to lead the K-12 student transportation division.

This Week in ‘Raises’: Curri Scoops Up $42M, Mosaic Scores $26M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local logistics platform raised fresh funding to put toward product development, infrastructure and sales and marketing initiatives, while a San Diego-based fintech company closed its Series C funding round to expand its investment in AI which will empower high-growth SMB and mid-market finance leaders.

***

Venture Capital

Curri, a Ventura-based logistics platform, raised a $42 million Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

San Diego-based financial platform Mosaic raised a $26 million Series C funding round led by OMERS Ventures.

AHARA, a Los Angeles-based startup focused on providing personalized nutrition suggestions, raised a $10.25 million seed funding round led by Greycroft.

Per an SEC filing, San Diego-based developer of peptide therapeutics designed to assist in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and disorders selectIon raised $5 million in funding.

Miscellaneous

Los Angeles-based Sensydia, a company working on non-invasive cardiac diagnostics, said this morning that it has received $3 million in a NIH grant.

Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).

'Esports Winter’ is a Myth, Local Gaming Execs Say

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

'Esports Winter’ is a Myth, Local Gaming Execs Say
Samson Amore

Last year, global venture capital investment in esports dropped by more than 40%. Investors have been rapidly selling off teams and franchises, and the industry has witnessed a consistent decline in ad spend. This has prompted many critics to coin the term “esports winter,” referring to a fall-off in the industry, an indication that VCs believe their investments didn’t achieve success as expected.

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