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Cherie Hu of Water and Music discusses Web3 at Consensys 2022

Water and Music, the publication and study DAO (decentralized autonomous group) building the innovator's guide to the world of music was created to facilitate conversation discussions between music industry professionals. tech. They're now going one step further, actively engaging the industry hive of minds to design research initiatives and honor everyone who is involved. The latest research conducted by the company was into the chaos that is Web3 The new generation of internet built upon blockchain technology.

"I consider that a significant part of why we are growing is that we're now using more collaborative methods for editorial research," begins Cherie Hu co-founder of Water and Music. She explains that the company regularly holds'research sprints' of up to 10 weeks in which they select a subject in order to collect as much information as they can for their clients; the most recent report was about Web3.

"We're trying to understand what's the State of the Union for the latest technological trends within music, specifically those that are very noisy," she explains. "Web3 is the perfect example due to the sheer amount of chaos; nobody knows the exact nature of what's going on. It's the biggest web and the rabbit hole just continues to go down. And it's like, 'What's happening? ?'!"

One of the most important tenets she has used that she has used, particularly in the realm of business reports, has always been creating useful writing. "At the end of reading each article, you'll be armed with a better idea of what to do in your industry or how to improve at the job you do. Making sure that you are able to bridge the gap between what the community require, as well as what we write about, is vital," Cherie explains. These research sprints are conducted after they've decided on a topic, they go out and speak to members of the Water and Music community: "We seek out, 'What's you currently struggling with?', and then crowdsource the responses. The structure of the report stems directly from those needs," she tells me.

In the world of music, unsurprisingly, one of the top issues is the fan's opinion. "I think that's the number one reason why a lot of musicians aren't doing NFTs right now: because of fear of backlash from the fans," she muses. "We did a report on concerns about Web3. Naturally, in the world of music, there are many concerns around licensing and Intellectual property (IP) as well as NFTs. It's a whole chapter!"

In true fashion, the Water and Music research sprints are incredibly community-centric. "It's a bottom-up ideation and we have a large number of people in helping us do the research," Cherie says. As of now, the Water and Music community has published two research reports under this group arrangement. Keeping on-trend, they sold NFTs in retroactive fashion, so that, if anyone wanted to support the research, they could - and that the profits were divided equally among those who contributed. "It's evident for me that the results of this research was superior to if a singular person tried to research every aspect of Web3. This research would not be fully completed!" she smiles. "It's made me believe in the power of not just connecting people but collectively synthesizing information."

R6M3DkfqEiC4ADGxKcBQ The Water and Music meetup at the NFT.NYC conference

Cherie says that the report's next collaboration in the group has started. "We're investigating even more obscure topics now, for example the metaverse, however that's defined!" she quips. "We're not making any plans to create anything right now; we're simply trying to understand what people think about it and the things people are confused about." The book features interviews with artists startup founders and industry professionals regarding their definition of the concept of metaverse, and what they are trying to achieve within it, and the issues that are causing them to be troublesome.

Cherie says that her aim is to blend this research by creating online tools that address these issues. "We have done this in the past with a few Web3 themes already such as the secondary sale of music via royalty shares and NFTs. Some smart contracts state that between 10 and 20% of the secondary sales must go back to the original artist and many users are communicating that as a benefit. But I think the reality is that the overwhelming majority of NFT's do not result in any secondary sales," Cherie explains. She thinks that the value is due to the immediate relationship and connection that the NFT is a part of, and not so much in the opportunity to having the ability to sell it again later.

Along with the report, Water and Music will be building a tracking dashboard where users can input an NFT collection and see if there have been any additional sales, and if yes, how the NFT has moved through the marketplace. "We are looking to develop new interactive tools that are as interactive data journalism particularly for artists as they're probably the people who think the most about releasing and pricing their NFT drops. We're building essential frameworks and tools to aid people to do this work by themselves."

Conflicting visions

Cherie observes that some of these cutting-edge concepts are getting more complicated and less clear with time "For the metaverse for instance, there's an enormous gap between how the metaverse has historically and conceptually defined to the 1960s." She explains her Water and Music team is developing a model for understanding how the metaverse was defined in the past as well as the gaps between reality and expectations.

"The early sci-fi novels which mentioned the metaverse contained the idea connected virtual as well as IRL worlds. The world is so far from that vision right today. But at the same time there is a trend in the world of music musicians are now saying "I've launched my personal metaverse!' even though they are really talking about a virtual world.

"There are currently two distinct views of the metaverse,"" she says. "You have Meta (Facebook's holding company) and Epic Games on one side they are both centralized, with one company owning everything and everything else. But then you have the idea of a Web3-forward multi-layered metaverse, with an interoperable identity and asset. It makes sense to explore blockchain technology and the role it can play in helping facilitate that, but that directly opposes Facebook's stance."

Cherie says that the metaverse has "just turned into this vague word that anyone could use for the benefit of their own" and she wants to break through the confusion. This is completely in line with Cherie's raison d'etre: Water and Music will critically and analytically look into the subject, then provide actionable knowledge to guide people on what to do. These are real-world applications, too, such as aiding artists and their teams in evaluating partnerships with metaverse platform.

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Water and Music team Water and Music team

These research initiatives follow naturally from the Water and Music's mission: "My 'why' for this organization is to help members get to know the world more as well as understanding their own place in the world," Cherie says. She wants to help people become better prepared so that they are able to make the greatest influence on the industry they work in.

"For Water and Music the exact focus is the music industry, and it all comes back to an individual motive. I'm motivated by this work because I grew up playing piano. I was able to spend a lot of time in the company of classical musicians however, I am a fan of engaging with artists of all kinds and learning their viewpoint about where technology is heading. I hope that the knowledge that we share helps artists and their teams to understand technology better so that they will be able to use it in the creation of amazing work!"

There's a little bit of 'taking the power back' in this. Cherie hopes to assure musicians that they are more in influence than they think: "Certainly, in the streaming world, there are growing consolidations that are dominated by Spotify as well as other major tech companies. Rates of royalties are dropping but the trend is all downwards! We're offering artists the tools to understand the variety of choices. We're helping artists and individuals around them to think creatively."

A group of practice

"It's more of an academic term, but I think it really applies in the context of Water and Music: we're a community of practise," Cherie continues. "The concept was coined in the year 1991 by cognitive sociologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger] and it refers to a community of people that do not just share a shared interest and passion, but also come together for the sole purpose of finding out how to make something better."

The author explains that this could be the case for people working in a similar industry, or who have similar jobs across industries. These people communicate regularly, and share knowledge. "Usually, it's for professional groups, but it can be for creative communities like music. It's creating media, but also building tools, but facilitating peer-to-peer learning. This will be an essential part of our future: eliminating information gaps in the world of music, and encouraging people to be more collaborative," Cherie adds.

The Water and Music meetup at the NFT.NYC event.

Cherie ends her show in a typical fashion, encouraging collaboration within her Water and Music community. "In the next couple of months, we'll be carrying interviews with musicians platform owners, artists, and startups founders. Our research into the metaverse is expected to last through the summer into the fall and so if people would like to get involved, please let me know. If anyone has recommendations of people to talk with, we're all ears!"

To be involved, follow Cherie on Twitter: @water andmusic. To become a member of the Water and Music community, and gain access to the community's in-depth research reports and Discord server, go to waterandmusic.com/membership.