The Grammy-winning artist RAC launched $RAC last fall with the caveat that fans can’t buy $RAC—they can only earn it through their fandom. RAC distributed $RAC retroactively to fans based on their support: whether they’d been a Patreon subscriber, whether they’d bought merchandise in the past, and so on. Fans could then cash in the $RAC they’d earn... See more

Communities like Friends with Benefits allow owners to access exclusive social communities and cultural events. A core premise here is ownership satisfying a need for social belonging and community.

7. Create a private community or fan club: For musicians, this might mean something like a fan club where the NFT acts as a membership pass into the club. With that membership comes all kinds of perks: meet-and-greets, early or exclusive access to merch and tickets, unreleased music, artist Q&As, etc.

The social returns to prescient taste and committed fandom just went up dramatically. This dynamic will upend how cultural trends are born, financed, grow and die, change marketing and community building, and turbocharge the value of influence. It will also create a backlash to the financialization of every aspect of creativity, and leave us to gra... See more