maartenwalraven

Posted on Apr 19, 2023Read on Mirror.xyz

Wild Awake, the seeds of a scene pt 1

Wild Awake is an experiment in scene building through a common cultural ethos. It uses Web3 tools and structures to help artists, collectors, and music lovers more generally grow together around a scene. We see so many artists go at it alone, and we feel it’s better to go at it collectively. Web3 can provide structural solutions to problems all artists face, but if these artists are then forced to take this on by themselves, Web3 is nothing more than an extension of the creator economy. This is why we need more artist collectives to rise up around Web3 music, and Wild Awake is one of those. We feel we need more people building scenes together, creating the social tissue and safety nets that we all need to flourish.

Focus

Everything starts with music and Wild Awake is no different. All the artists that manifest through Wild Awake are hand-curated by Sound of Fractures. To kick off, all artists will mint their first music on chain through their interaction with Wild Awake. This way, we aim to help great musicians find their feet together in the Web3. All of the music veers towards the alternative electronic spectrum. While Web3 music can feel broad, most of the successes come through more pop-leaning and EDM-adjacent genres. Wild Awake will be a home for those artists who look for more edges, who find beauty in nooks and crannies of sound while always moving through melodies and rhythms that connect emotionally.

Beyond extending the sonic world of Web3 music, Wild Awake also wants to push beyond the current main hubs that exist both geographically and digitally. Scenes build through people from the outside having a clear understanding of what they can expect. Some of our favourite music labels are good examples of this: Warp, Young Turks, or Ninja Tune. We also look to some of the most forward-looking communities in Web3 music: WavWrld, Mashibeats, LNRZ, or Future Surf. From there, we find inspiration and knowledge which helps push us to look for digital homes outside of those we already know. Our first such home is TokenTraxx, who also helped us bring together this first chapter of Wild Awake into the world.

Wild Awake is a Web3 first experiment, and thus a digital-first experience. That doesn’t, however, stop us from creating human connections. So much of our lives now takes place online and so much of that online life can feel lonely. Musicians need strategies for any and all social media while doing all their creative work as well. By doing this together, as a scene, the human connections come back into our digital existence. Our aim is to extend that beyond the first group of artists and include collectors and others as well. The scene will truly flourish if we can find ways to bring everyone’s talents to the fore. This starts by sitting down together, at our keyboards.

Throughout all this runs our desire for counterculture. We are endlessly curious and push for experimentation. We are open to people and ideas, but hold firmly to our aesthetic sense of self. We value all artistic expressions and perpetuate them through collaboration, support, and critical thinking.

Benefits and challenges

We are not the first to combine music and blockchain technologies. We are also not the first to push for new artists to engage with Web3 tools. What we do, is to advocate for a holistic approach combining Web2 and Web3 into an artist’s career to help push them forward. In doing so, we build trust with new technologies, both for artists and the fans they bring along. Of course, Web3 still has barriers to entry and our aim is to work in those digital homes where we can provide the guidance to help onboard new people into collecting. There’s a need to look at what has worked so far, both for artists and collectors, and to see how others can find their path. Each artist and each collector who steps into Wild Awake becomes part of the experiment, but will also find ways and inspiration to connect with and build their own scenes and communities.