Web3 brings fresh ways for the entertainment industry to do business and share revenue. As more people enter Web3, artists, sports teams, brands, and designers find new ways to connect with their fans. At the same time, musicians, athletes, and designers are trying different ways to make money from their creations. Let’s explore this in our article!
Basics
Web3 is the next generation of the Internet, based on blockchain technology and decentralization, which gives users more control over their data. Since its introduction in 2014, Web3 has gained immense popularity. By 2026, approximately two billion people worldwide will spend at least an hour each day in the metaverse for various activities like socializing, working, shopping, and learning. This rise of Web3 has opened up exciting possibilities for brands, personalities, and teams to engage with their fans in new and innovative ways. Moreover, it allows them to monetize their work more fairly without intermediaries.
What Are the Benefits of Brands Getting Into Web3?
Web3, built on the blockchain, offers users enhanced transparency, reliability, and trust compared to Web2. It also enables the ownership of digital assets through non-fungible tokens (NFTs), ensuring their immutability. This has led to brands linking real-life experiences and products with digital assets in their communities.
Notable examples of this trend include Hublot's release of limited edition timepieces accompanied by corresponding NFTs and Decentraland's Metaverse Music Festival, where renowned artists like Soulja Boy and Ozzy Osbourne performed as avatars.
Web3 has given brands and personalities unprecedented opportunities to engage with their fans. Specifically, the music, fashion, and sports industries have embraced Web3 and blockchain technology to create immersive experiences and innovative products.
Music and Web3
The music industry has developed rapidly in the last two decades, from listening to CDs using a Discman to having access to millions of songs on our mobile devices. Web3 presents new opportunities for musicians to connect with fans, protect their intellectual property (IP) rights, and generate revenue from their work.
IP laws and ownership form the basis on which the music industry operates, with ironclad contracts and documentation that dictate who gets a share of the $26 billion global music industry.
Web3 is influencing the legal component of the music industry by leveraging blockchain technology to create secure, transparent, and immutable records of ownership and royalties for music creators and rights holders. As such, Web3 allows artists and other stakeholders to benefit from more equitable revenue distribution and greater control over their music.
One Web3 music platform facilitates the release and purchase of instrumental tracks to which lyricists can apply their vocals as NFTs. Owners of these NFTs are then granted IP rights related to the music they’ve purchased, establishing fresh avenues for artists and creators to produce open-source music.
This also allows musicians to circumvent intermediaries such as record labels or streaming services that typically receive the lion’s share of the revenue. With Web3, musicians at all levels of their careers have the opportunity to create self-controlled revenue streams through tokenization and fan engagement.
Sport and Web3
Similar to the music industry, Web3 introduces exciting possibilities for sports teams, athletes, and fans to interact in unprecedented ways. One such innovation is integrating digital fantasy sports games using NFT-powered game cards.
For instance, a unique NFT platform combines Web3 technology with sports by digitizing soccer, baseball, and basketball athlete cards. Users can create their fantasy teams using these cards and compete against fellow fans in global tournaments. This offers players a fresh avenue to connect with other enthusiasts and customize virtual dream matches, all supported by renowned figures in the sports world.
This enhanced connection and community experience with fans is just the tip of the iceberg. Web3 can revolutionize the sports industry by fostering transparency, ownership, and autonomy. This involves utilizing intelligent contracts for sports event ticketing and leveraging blockchain for sponsorship agreements, ensuring transparency and immutability.
The Web3 Era in Fashion
Fashion brands are embracing the transparent nature of Web3 to revolutionize their business models, combat counterfeiting, and engage with customers through personalized experiences. The shift is now towards long-term value alignment for NFT holders rather than short-term financial gains.
Renowned brands like Louis Vuitton, Paco Rabanne, Gucci, and Prada have already ventured into the world of NFTs, launching their collections. Some of these fashion NFT projects even include physical pieces from limited edition or vintage collections.
Gucci's SUPERGUCCI NFT collection garnered immense popularity, resulting in the Web3 company it collaborated with, raising over $38 million. As a result, other major brands are now seeking partnerships to launch their own NFT collections.
A prime example of the fusion between NFTs and physical items is luxury jewelry brand Tiffany and Co. Owners of popular NFTs like CryptoPunks can monetize their assets through IP rights. Tiffany and Co. capitalized on this opportunity by designing custom jeweled NFTiff pendants, incorporating the owner's specific CryptoPunk as a tangible piece of jewelry.
Web3 also tackles a significant challenge in the fashion industry – supply chain transparency and traceability. By recording every supply chain step on an immutable blockchain ledger, Web3 ensures secure and decentralized tracking of goods from production to sale. This fosters accountability and helps combat human rights abuses and counterfeiting.
The increased transparency and traceability offered by Web3 have the potential to mitigate unethical practices, environmental violations, and human rights abuses within the fashion industry. However, its effectiveness relies on the willingness and participation of all supply chain stakeholders in entering data onto the blockchain.
Limitations of Web3
Adopting Web3 and blockchain technology in various industries presents both opportunities and obstacles. One major hurdle is the technical expertise required to implement Web3 and blockchain, which exceeds the capabilities of many musicians, athletes, fashion designers, and their teams.
Hiring Web3 developers can also be costly, posing a barrier to entry for smaller brands and personalities with limited budgets. This financial constraint may limit their ability to embrace the advantages of Web3 fully.
Another challenge lies in the low adoption rate of Web3 among the general population. Most people have yet to interact with Web3, raising concerns for brands and personalities considering Web3 projects. They must carefully assess whether the projected revenue from adopting Web3 justifies the associated costs.
Furthermore, achieving supply chain traceability through Web3 relies on the willingness and capability of all parties involved in the design and manufacturing process to utilize the on-chain tracking system. The success of this approach hinges on widespread participation.
Conclusion
Web3 can potentially revolutionize the fashion, music, and sports industries in many ways. It enables direct engagement between fans, communities, and their favorite brands and personalities. Additionally, it provides consumers with transparent supply chains and protects intellectual property rights.
The possibilities of Web3 in fashion, music, and sports are immense, and we have only just begun to explore its potential. As Web3 continues to develop, we can anticipate more exciting innovations that will bring positive transformations to these industries.