FanSociety creator explains how NFTs can bring musicians and fans together

As an analyst with a background in technology and finance, I believe that NFTs have shown great promise but have faced significant challenges during the crypto market downturn. Instead of dismissing failed projects as scams, it’s essential to understand what features were necessary for success.


In 2019, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) gained significant popularity, only to experience a dramatic downturn along with the rest of the crypto market, leading to nearly two years of stagnation in the industry. A balanced evaluation of the NFT phenomenon might reveal that the technology lived up to many of its expectations. Instead of dismissing failed projects as fraudulent, it could be more enlightening to examine which elements were crucial for project success.

In my role as a researcher, I recently came across an intriguing discussion on Episode 35 of “The Agenda” podcast. Hosts Ray Salmond and Jonathan DeYoung interviewed Miles, the innovative brain behind FanSociety – an exciting new funding mechanism designed for musicians. This platform draws inspiration from the traditional fan clubs popular in the 1950s while integrating contemporary crowdfunding concepts and the security of immutable storage on blockchain networks.

Tech should be adaptable and give users room to grow

As an analyst, I’ve noticed that securing financing for an album is a common challenge for aspiring musicians. And once that hurdle is overcome, retaining fans long-term becomes the next objective. Miles envisions FanSociety as a valuable tool for creators to build and nurture relationships with their audience, incentivize loyalty, and foster growth in a more authentic way compared to the standard NFT collections presently available.

Musicians can use FanSociety for two reasons: first, it enables them to collect funds from their fan base; second, they can provide digital mementos or additions to their music catalog as a way of engaging and retaining supporters.

As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed that one challenge with many NFT (Non-Fungible Token) collections is their inflexible nature. Creators frequently face the hurdle of having to establish a fresh contract whenever they wish to expand the scope of their project.

“It doesn’t make sense to have a limit, you know, and kind of just have one smart contract. And, like I said, it’s like a boolean. You either have the token, you either have the NFT or you don’t. And a lot of what was going on as well was very successful musicians were launching NFT projects, and it was kind of that same situation where, you know, they’ve only got 10,000 NFTs available, and you either have one or you don’t. And to me, that’s very elitist and kind of antithetical to kind of the whole Web3 ethos, to me. And so I wanted to do something different.”

Fan engagement should also have value

As a crypto investor and supporter of FanSociety, I can tell you that this platform is addressing an important pain point in the creative industry. I’ve often felt frustrated, just like Miles did, about how streaming platforms and record labels only give a small percentage of the revenue generated from creators’ music to them. To make matters worse, these platforms tend to keep the lion’s share of the tips that fans generously offer. FanSociety aims to change this dynamic by implementing revenue sharing models that put creators first.

“You look at Twitch, for example. You tip somebody, you give them money, you subscribe to them. First of all, the platform takes 50% rev[enue] split, which is atrocious to me. And we don’t know if that’s going to go up in the future, right? The content creators on there don’t know if that’s going to go up to 60%, 70%, if they’re going to throw more fees on top of that. So there’s that kind of problem.”

Artists utilizing this platform to broaden their collection and connect with fans can find more depth in expressing gratitude through NFTs, rather than relying on something as casual as “sticker packs for chat” or other ephemeral and less significant offerings.

Miles said:

“I’d like to see more value being able to be given back to the supporters, and so that’s what I’m trying to support. And it’s up to the artist to decide what sorts of things, what sorts of ways they want to show their appreciation to people who support them.”

To gain insights from Mile’s discussion with “The Agenda” about his upcoming plans for FanSociety, tune in to the complete episode on CryptoMoon’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Don’t miss out on CryptoMoon’s other engaging shows as well!

The content of this article is meant to provide basic knowledge and isn’t intended as legal or financial guidance. The perspectives shared within are solely those of the author and may not align with CryptoMoon’s viewpoints.

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2024-05-01 17:36