Culture comes first and is the force behind ideas that stick.
This story is part of the Web3 Writing Contest hosted by The Octopus Network in collaboration with HackerNoon.
Culture is birthed from new ideas and interactions.
Paradigms recalibrate in the midst of a shift caused by evolving desires from the majority who hold a similar opinion.
We inherit our environment with conditions set beyond control. Still, novel products and patterns emerge as new information flows.
They emerge particularly as we search for new means of self-expression.
Culture is erupting—all over and all at once. Constantly iterating. Impossible to pin down.
It's the reason black markets can't be stopped, and our reality is shifting every day. There are no powers in control and even the powers that be… are struggling to keep up—they react more than they lead.
It's a reflection of a group's voice, choices, and the things they want the most. That's how it’s always been, even with barriers put up between. An influence that stems from our needs, surrounded by systems designed to broadcast and organize.
So, if this is the strongest force that affects our daily lives, how can we adjust our models and explore a more effective design?
To be decentralized is to have no one in charge of the whole. A network of systems that place value above prestige. And regardless of where it comes from, they enable value to be captured by those who create it.
Decentralized models take varying shapes but within these tenets lie the core of the guiding message.
The internet put cultural power back in the hands of the individual. And now for everyone involved and everyone affected, blockchains are providing an opportunity to create more open systems.
Re-Defining Value
What’s the value of a work of art? Is it the going rate of the market or the impact on the heart?
What it’s worth to the [label, art dealer, or agency] doesn’t have to be where we stop.
There’s no price to quote; the status quo has died.
And behind a rising tide, the model is shifting.
Instead of one-to-all, value can be decided one-to-one. A painter holds the power of a gallery: they can send their works to bid and be subsequently paid for every sale afterward. The value of a work is left to only what a person or community is willing to put into it.
Cultural capital creates real value. Online and in real, tangible ways. In an open system, the value can be distributed more fairly.
We have useful tools today that harness the power of instant spread and social connection. But they capitalize on this work and exclude creators from capturing the value they create. In an open economy, creators have all the tools they need to produce, distribute, and market anything they make.
Bitcoin paved the way by introducing an asset-backed social agreement and a decentralized database.
Now NFTs are doing the same by providing a new medium to anybody with a story to tell. Enabling the ability to create, program, verify and customize for a global audience all through one permission-less database.
The inclusion across diverse sectors of society isn't perfect, but any new technology can only reflect the place it came from. But it’s early days and we're far from mass adoption.
Alone in the last decade, a new generation of artists, investors, and teams have emerged. Some became disillusioned with the traditions of their field. They came to web3 for a second chance, but for most in the old systems, they wouldn't have even been given a second look.
Despite being the magnet, creating alone is not enough. On a fleeting internet, to create a moment that lasts, the most important asset is the community that surrounds it.
Re-Thinking the Relationship
Most artists with a dream start with a love for their craft.
Blessed with talent, they have to learn two games. The internal challenge of digging within to create their best work. And the external struggle that comes with its presentation and learning the politics of the trade. It’s easy to get lost and end up in a position serving someone else.
When all you want to do is to win and win bad, you can fixate on the game instead of the reason you started playing. I’m an artist for my sake and it’s my imperative to create. Anything that stops that flow is in the way of my greater purpose.
There are tools to connect with fans directly, but the broader ecosystem doesn’t allow that to be an artist’s priority. To make a living from standard industry rates, most creators are forced to focus on volume—instead of going deeper with connections already made.
The more that fans buy in, the more value is created.
The line between meme and movement is getting fuzzier every day. Once a community starts to form, intrinsic value is reinforced by cultural significance.
Derek Sivers’ has an idea that people like to pay.
If you don’t buy into this, you’d be surprised by the outsized support that the biggest fans can have on an artist’s financial independence.
Why fish for streams at $0.00437 per play, when you can give your biggest fans a form of ownership into the songs they listen to every day.
Creators want to create, and fans want to belong.
In an open system, fan clubs can hold the real power. They can organize as a DAO, armed with a real treasury to support an artist’s career.
Or just be a base for people with a shared passion to engage and organize real-life events. In a way that seemed didn’t seem possible with strangers turned friends met on the internet.
Most people don’t want to be famous. They want to live good lives filled with more fulfillment than sacrifice. Fans want just the same, and to be treated like people instead of consumers.
Everything is downstream of culture.
No products, no trends, nothing worthwhile rise unless it fills a need and connects on some level. This is driven by people and the collective sum of our personal decisions. We are—and we do—everything else reacts to that truth.
If culture is decentralized, so should the systems that govern our lives. No hard problems are solved so quickly and the promise of technology is proven to come with flaws. With the power to build better systems, we have a duty to see to them all.
You can plan a revolution or you can think of tomorrow. Showing up to build better systems, fulfilling a need, and benefitting all. The ultimate focus should be on one result—to give someone a better life than they had the day before.