Inside the Internet's First 77-Artist "Headless Band"

Another tactic is “default to open.” All of our channels are defaulted to open to foster greater transparency and context for all participants. Most of our decision-making comes, not from consensus, but more consent-based decision-making — looking for objections, rather than wider consensus on everything.

Q: From “Headless Brands” essay by Other Internet: “A brand lives in the minds of those who are aware of it [...] In this way, a brand operates as a consensus system, facilitating a consistent set of beliefs across people." How did this article influence how you all thought about Chaos?

A: “personalities as single points of failure,” which is appli... See more

There are a few concepts or fundamentals that we have explored in this project. One, as Matthew touched on, is containers: time-bound, spatial, experiential containers [such as “scope,” which outlined the end goal of the entire project for clear mission alignment, and “teams,” which detailed strategies for groups of people with different creative s... See more

The last piece was holdback. We kept 10 percent of this pie held back, so that [a committee of 14 members from Camp Chaos, including team stewards, music guides, and core operations members] can make the decision to flow value to emergent and undervalued work that was less visible in camp and therefore did not receive [as much].

The lore — which includes an enigmatic character named Eris, the “Goddess of Discord,” and a narrative about Order, Disorder, Entropy, and Rebirth — was designed to emphasize “a new dimension of chaotic co-creation.” It’s also reflected in how they're releasing the project: Rather than release the music as an album or as individual songs, Chaos is ... See more

Two and a half years and a pandemic later, we have Chaos, a group of musicians, visual artists, engineers, economists, lore masters, and more behind the internet’s first-ever "headless band."

Q: How integral was the lore? A: One of the cool things we talked about was how storytelling pulls you in in a more focused way than a set of instructions would. I think this world-building aspect helps you reframe things. You almost end up acting like a kid again: You have no restraints, you have this freedom, and you’re operating in this new worl... See more

Q: How does SongCamp fit into the world of music NFTs? Is there unfulfilled promise there? A: Songcamp is a little different from other music NFT projects, as it strongly values collective creation. In a musical landscape that puts the solo artist genius on a pedestal, a whole community creating an ego-less body of work feels more interesting and n... See more

I don't feel a sense of unfulfilled promise with regards to NFTs at all. They are not a solution, but a canvas. I think if they are seen as a salve to musicians' problems, they will fall short every time. If they are used by artists in creative ways, more and more people will see that their true nature is that of a medium to play with. This is wher... See more