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Cherie Hu of Water and Music discusses Web3 at Consensys 2022
Water and Music, the newsletter as well as the research DAO (decentralized autonomous organisation) creating the guide for innovators to the world of music was created to facilitate conversation discussions between music industry professionals. tech. They're now going one step further by actively engaging with the industry's hive mind to create research projects and to give everyone involved a reward. This latest dive by the company has been into the chaos that is Web3 which is the new generation of internet built on blockchain technology.
"I think a big factor in our expanding is because we're now using more collaborative methods for research editorial," begins Cherie Hu co-founder of Water and Music. Cherie Hu explains that the business does regular 'research sprints' of up to 10 weeks where they choose a topic in order to collect as much information as possible for their customers The most recent one was on Web3.
"We're trying to figure out what's the State of the Union for the latest technological trends within music, specifically the ones that generate a lot of noise," she explains. "Web3 is the perfect example as there's a lot of confusion and no one knows exactly the exact nature of what's going on. This is the most up-and-down rabbit hole and it just keeps going down. And it's like, 'What's going on? ?'!"
One of Cherie's key mantras, especially in the context of reporting for business, has always been creating effective writing. "At the end of every article, you'll get an understanding about what you can do for your business or to improve at what you do. Making sure that you are able to bridge the gap between what the community require, as well as our writing, is crucial," Cherie explains. In these sprints of research, once they have decided to focus on a particular topic, they go out and speak to the Water and Music community: "We inquire, 'What are your concerns right now?', and then crowdsource the responses. Then the structure of our report stems directly from those needs," she tells me.
In the world of music Unsurprisingly, among the most pressing issues is the fan's opinion. "I consider that to be the top one reason that lots of musicians aren't doing NFTs currently: out of fear of the backlash of supporters," she muses. "We did a report on concerns around Web3. In the world of music, there are plenty of issues with licensing and IP (IP) as well as NFTs. It's a whole chapter!"
As is the norm, Water and Music research sprints are very community-oriented. "It's a bottom-up ideation and we engage a wide range of individuals to assist in the process of conducting research," Cherie says. So far the Water and Music community has issued two papers under the collaboration arrangement. To keep up with trends, they sold NFTs retroactively so that, if anyone wanted to support their research they were able to, and the proceeds were distributed equally among contributors. "It's obvious to me that the result of the research was much better than if one single person attempted to explore every aspect of Web3. This research would not be completed!" she smiles. "It's made me believe in the potential of not only connecting people but collectively synthesizing information."
The r6M3DkfqEiC4ADGxKc The Water and Music meetup at the NFT.NYC conference
Cherie adds that the next report collaboratively created within the community has already started. "We're researching even more nebulous issues right now, such as the metaverse, what does that mean?" she jokes. "We're not making any plans to create any thing right now. We're just trying to figure out what people think about it and what people are confused about." The publication includes interviews with artists, startup founders and industry professionals on how they view the metaverse , what they're trying achieve within it, and the issues that are causing them to be troublesome.
Cherie states that her goal is to combine this research and the development of online tools to tackle these issues. "We have done this in the past with a few Web3 themes already such as secondary sales of music through NFTs as well as shares of royalties. Certain smart contracts stipulate that between 10 and 20% of the secondary sales should go back to the original creator and many users are communicating this as an advantage. But I think the reality is that the vast majority of NFT's don't generate any secondary sales," Cherie explains. Cherie thinks the value lies on the personal relationship and connection that the NFT represents, not in the opportunity to having an item that can be sold on to others later.
Together with the report Water and Music will be developing a tracker dashboard that customers can enter their NFT collection to see the extent to which there has been additional sales, and if yes and how the NFT has been able to move through the marketplace. "We would like to create more interactive tools: it's as interactive data journalism specifically for musicians as they are probably the ones who are thinking the most about releasing prices for their NFT drops. We're building essential frameworks and tools to aid people to do this work themselves."
Conflicting visions
Cherie says that these new concepts are getting more complicated and less clear as time goes by "For the metaverse, for example, there's a huge gap between how the metaverse has historically and conceptually defined earlier in the '60s." She explains her Water and Music team is developing a model for understanding historical definitions of the metaverse, and then the gaps between expectation and reality.
"The early sci-fi novels which mentioned the metaverse contained an expansive idea that interconnected both virtual and IRL worlds. We are so far off from this right currently. However, at the same time within the music industry musicians are now saying "I've just created my personal metaverse!' even though they essentially mean an imaginary world.
"There are now directly conflicting visions of the metaverse," she says. "You have Meta [Facebook's holding firm] and Epic Games on one side Both are centralized where one corporation owns all the assets however, there's the concept of a Web3-forward, multi-layered metaverse, with interoperable assets and identities. It makes sense to at least experiment with blockchain, and the roles it has in supporting the process, yet it completely contradicts Facebook's approach."
Cherie concludes that the metaverse has "just turned into this vague word which anyone can use to their own benefit" and she is determined to break through the confusion. It is in line with Cherie's main purpose: Water and Music can critically and analytically dig at the topic, and then provide actionable insights to advise people about how they should react. It has practical applications, too, such as helping artists and their team in evaluating partnerships with certain metaverse platforms.
The Water and Music team
These research initiatives follow naturally from Water and Music's work: "My 'why' for this organization is to help members get to know the world more and then also understand their own place in the world," Cherie says. She hopes to assist people get the best education possible so that they are able to make the greatest influence on the industry they work in.
"For Water and Music the main focus is the music industry, which is the personal motivation. I'm motivated by this work because I grew up playing piano. I was able to spend a lot of time with classical music and I enjoy engaging with artists of all kinds and learning their viewpoint on where tech is going. We hope that whatever information shared with the world will help artists and their teams to understand tech better, so they can use it to make cool work!"
There's an element of 'taking control back' with this. Cherie is trying to convince musicians that they are more in power than what it appears: "Certainly, in the streaming industry, there's more and more consolidations, that are dominated by Spotify and other big tech companies. The rates for royalties are decreasing -- well, everything is going to go downwards! -- so we're giving artists the ability to comprehend the many different alternatives. The artists we train and individuals around them to think creatively."
A community of practise
"It's more of an academic concept, however I believe that it is applicable in the context of Water and Music: we're an ensemble of practice," Cherie continues. "The term was introduced in 1991 [by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger] and it refers to a community of people who not only have the same interests and passion, but also come together for the sole purpose of finding out how to make something better."
The author explains that this could relate to individuals in a similar industry, or with similar positions within different sectors. People who communicate regularly and share knowledge. "Usually this is for professional groups, but it can be for creative communities like music. There's an element of creating media, but also creating tools, but also facilitating peer-to-peer education. It's a crucial part of our future: dissolving the information barriers in the world of music, and encouraging everyone to become more cooperative," Cherie adds.
The Water and Music meetup at the NFT.NYC conference
Cherie concludes her tour in the usual manner, encouraging collaboration within the Water and Music community. "In the coming months, we'll be carrying interviews with musicians as well as platforms and startup founders. Out research into the metaverse will probably continue through the summer into the season of autumn. If you want to be involved with that, inform me. If you have suggestions for interviewing people, I'm open for suggestions!"
To get involved, to get involved, follow Cherie to get involved, follow her on Twitter: @water andmusic. To become a member of the Water and Music community, and gain access to the community's in-depth research reports and Discord server, go to waterandmusic.com/membership.