Cryptonews Industry Talk Behind the NFT: Andrew William Ralph x J Scrilla

Behind the NFT: Andrew William Ralph x J Scrilla

Roger M. Benites

Last updated: June 26, 2023 06:57 EDT | 4 min read

Disclaimer: The Industry Talk section features insights by crypto industry players and is not a part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com.

Web 3.0, content distribution, and digital asset derivatives.

For this segment of Behind the NFT: featuring Andrew William Ralph and J Scrilla, we will be talking about their latest NFT collaboration as well as touch topics on Web 3.0, content distribution, and digital asset derivatives.

First of all what is web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0?

Web 1.0 was an early stage of the World Wide Web. It focused on how the user could connect to the web through an easy-to-use user interface. Web 2.0 emerged around 2004,and its main purpose was the interactivity and collaboration through social media networks. So what is web 3.0? According to Slate.com, “Web3 refers to a potential new iteration of the internet that runs on public blockchains, the record-keeping technology best known for facilitating cryptocurrency transactions. The appeal of Web3 is that it is decentralized, so that instead of users accessing the internet through services mediated by the likes of Google, Apple, or Facebook, it’s the individuals themselves who own and control pieces of the internet. Web3 does not require “permission,” meaning that central authorities don’t dictate who uses what services, nor is there a need for “trust,” referring to the idea that an intermediary does not need to facilitate virtual transactions between two or more parties. Web3 theoretically protects user privacy better as well, because it’s these authorities and intermediaries that are doing most of the data collection.”

The goal and purpose of Web 3.0 is that it will allow a new marketplace for artists and creators to distribute their assets without needing permission and funding from central institutions and corporations such as music, fashion, and movie studios. This technology will create a new alternative for artists to raise funds for future projects and give fans and followers a stake or revenue of the investment. Through NFT’s, artists and creators will have the ability to receive direct income from their fans and receive the majority of their revenue compared to using the traditional legacy systems by corporations and studios. The combination of Web 3.0 and NFT’s will also let artists create derivatives from their art/music. What does this mean? A derivative is an agreement between two or more parties whose value is based on an agreed-upon underlying financial asset (in this case it would be art or music). So for example a music group such as the Rolling Stone can create alternative versions of their most played songs and turn it into a new digital asset which can now be sold to their fans and followers. The goal of Web 3.0 and NFT infrastructure is not to necessarily remove the corporations and studios from the business model, but rather for these entities to build platforms using NFT technology and use web 3.0 to create new revenue models that are more transparent, efficient, and profitable for artists and creators.

NFTs have opened a whole new form of revenue for digital artists and animators and given more control back to visual creators. Everything I make now I view as a potential NFT, so when I’m negotiating, it’s something that always has to be considered; whether it’s a gif, a visualizer, or a music video. My work was never something intended to be limited to watching on your phone or computer. I always envisioned it to be showcased, shared and collected by people that appreciate my artistry; and for the first time, it’s actually happening.- Andrew William Ralph

The NFT that Andrew and J Scrilla will be dropping is based on the animation that Andrew created for Lil Uzi Vert for his video, ““XO TOUR Llif3”, which received a massive spotlight of 300 million views on Youtube. This video was one of the first visualizer videos, which created a new format for musicians and artists to create short-length animations for their music videos, which dramatically reduced production costs for both the artist and studios. The theme of the NFT will be based on the Rare Pepe meme that the OG NFT community, including NFT artist and musician J Scrilla have been experimenting with since the 2016 days of Counterparty which uses Bitcoin to create NFT’s instead of the expensive Ethereum network.

“ I partnered up with Andrew after hearing his story of creating this viral video loop that helped shape a new way of releasing music videos and started a wave of memes dedicated to it, and how cool it would be to have the creator take his own creation back and create their own official Pepe derivative using Bitcoin.” – J Scrilla

It is crucial for artists and content creators to start using NFT and Web 3.0 for their assets to show studios and corporations that if they build on top of this infrastructure it will be the beginning of Media/Entertainment Industry 2.0, as well as create new revenue models for both the artists and the corporations. According to Bankless, “With web3 platforms, artists will be able to set customizable streaming rates, meaning artists can choose exactly how much they want to charge for any piece of content. Coupling this with the ability for micropayments and a system where fans make payments directly to the artist they listen to, it’s natural to see a future in which the peer to peer nature of web3 directly benefits the creators of tomorrow.”