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Jul 28, 2022

The R2vgOULNXVhGzUq5YeQ Cherie Hu of Water and Music discusses Web3 at Consensys 2022.

Water and Music, the magazine along with the study DAO (decentralized autonomous group) creating the guide for innovators to the world of music, was founded to encourage conversations with music tech experts. They've taken it one step furtherand are actively working with the industry's collective brain in the design of research projects, as well as to recognize everyone who are involved.

"My motivation for starting this association is to help others get to know the world better and also understand their role within the world," says Cherie Hu who is founder of Water and Music. Her goal is to assist those who are seeking the highest quality education so that they can make the most influence on the industry they work in. Cherie's principal tenets, particularly when it comes to reporting for business, has been to write in a way that can be used in action. "At the conclusion of every report, you'll walk away with a clearer understanding of the best practices within the field you work in or how you could improve your do. Making sure that you bridge the gap between what the members of society want and need, and also what we write about, is vital," Cherie explains.

Today, the Water and Music team has expanded the duration of'research sprints' of around 10 weeks. they choose a particular subject to gain all the information they can so that they can assist their customers. These research sprints are held once they have decided to select a topic for the team. is able to go out and interact with people in their Water and Music community: "We ask, 'What are your current concerns?' We then ask the public to respond. The report is based on these needs" she tells me.

Like most research sprints, Water and Music research sprints are extremely collaborative, and community-focused. "It's an open-ended ideation process and we engage a number of participants to aid in editing the research," Cherie says. In the present time, this Water and Music community has released two research papers in the collaboration arrangement. To stay on top of developments, they made NFTs available retroactively, so that people who would like to contribute to this effort to study there was a choice for a donation, and profits would be divided equally between the participants. "It's obvious to me that the outcome of that research was so better than if one individual attempted to research each aspect. The work would never be fully completed!" she smiles. "It's led me to be convinced of the benefits of not just creating connections and connections, but also the ability to combine the knowledge."

Regaining power

"It's mostly an academic expression, but I feel that it is applicable in the context of Water and Music: we're part of a community of musicians," Cherie continues. "The term was first coined in the year 1991 by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger] and is that refers to a group composed of people who do not just share a common interest and passion, but also come together with the sole aim of finding out how to create something more effective."

She explains that this can happen for those who work in the same field or who hold similar jobs within different sectors. People who communicate regularly and also share their information. Water and Music will contribute to this through the development of tools and materials that support the peer-to-peer learning process "That'll be a really crucial aspect of the future plans in removing data silos within the music industry and encouraging the public to be more cooperative," Cherie adds.

It's a way of taking control' back with this. Cherie is trying to convince musicians that they are in greater influence than it may seem: "Certainly, in the world of streaming, we're seeing more and more consolidations, that are dominated by Spotify and the other tech giants firms. Rates for royalties are declining and the market is going to go downwards! Therefore, we're offering artists with the capacity to understand the wide range of options. The artists as well as people around them with the capability to think in a creative manner."

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Cheire says the phrase "community of practice" was originally used to describe professional organizations, however it can be applied to artistic communities such as the ones the ones we have here. The reason for this is that in Water and Music the exact objective is to help promote the industry of music, which is a personal reason. "I'm motivated by this project because I played piano. I spent much of my performing with classical musicians, however, I am a fan of working with artists from all genres and getting their views about where technology is heading," Cherie continues. "Hopefully that the data we share can help musicians and teams understand the technology more, allowing the creation of cool art!"

The rabbit hole that leads to the bottom

The latest research session has focused on the mess of Web3 that is the name for the next version of the internet that is built using blockchain technology. "We're trying to figure out how to understand the State of the Union for technological developments that impact music, specifically the ones with a significant amount of noise" she elaborates. "Web3 is a perfect illustration because of the volume of confusion; nobody knows how it's all happening. It's the most extreme web and goes on and on. It's as if "What's happening?" ?'!"

The music industry is it is not so surprising that one of its most important issues facing fans is their sentiment. "I think that this is the reason which explains the reason why a lot of musicians aren't doing NFTs currently: out of the fear of adverse reactions from their fans" she ponders. "We produced a study on concerns regarding Web3. Naturally, in the field of music, there are a lot of concerns regarding licensing as well as intellectual property (IP) which can be affected by NFTs. There's an entire chapter!"

Water and Music meetup

     The Water and Music meetup at the NFT.NYC Event    

The next report that is collaborative with the community is in progress. "We're looking into some of the most obscure subjects right currently, such as the metaverse, whatever that signifies!" Cherie jokes. "We're doing nothing to come up with anything at the moment We're just trying to figure out the opinions of people on the subject, in addition to what people have a hard time understanding." The book features interviews with entrepreneurs, artists and' founders, along with industry experts about their views of the metaverse and the goals they're trying to achieve in it in addition to what's becoming hard to resolve.

Cherie says that the aim is to combine this research with the creation of web-based tools that address these problems. "We tested this approach on a couple of Web3 issues already, such as the secondary sale of music via NFTs as well as shares of royalties. Certain smart contracts state that 10%-20% of all secondary sales have to go to the artist who originally created it and lots of people see this as an added benefit. The reality is that vast majority of NFT's don't generate a secondary sale," Cherie explains. Cherie believes the value is more due to the relationship that is immediate and that the NFT is a part of, and not so much in an opportunity to sell onwards again in the future.

In addition to the report, Water and Music will be building a tracking dashboard where the users are able to add their NFT collection and see if there have been any additional sales, and if yes, how the NFT moves through the market. "We intend to develop interactive tools that function like an interactive data journalism. This is especially important for musicians since they are probably those who think the most about the pricing of release for their NFT drops. We're developing essential frameworks and tools to assist people in doing the analysis on their own."

Conflicting visions

Cherie is aware that specific words in these more recent versions tend to become more complicated rather than clearer in the process of time "For the metaverse for instance there is a vast variation in the way the concept of metaverse has been historically defined as well as how it was been conceptualized prior to in the 60s." She elaborates her Water and Music team is working on a framework for understanding traditional definitions of the metaverse and the gaps between expectations and actuality.

"The earlier sci-fi novel that had a metaverse connection offered a grand vision of connected digital and IRL worlds. Our world is different from that currently. Yet, in the meantime it is happening in the world of music musicians are declaring "I've made my own metaverse" in essence, they are referring to creating a world that is not real.

"There are currently two distinct views of metaverses" she states. "You are dealing with Meta [Facebook's holding company] as well as Epic Games on one side each one is centralized in which one company owns the entire assets. But then there is the idea that a Web3 forward open non-centralized metaverse with interoperable assets and identities. It's logical to perhaps experimenting with blockchain technology and its potential role it can play in the process, yet it completely opposes Facebook's method."

Cherie says that the metaverse "just transformed into a unclear word anyone can use to their own benefit" and she's determined to cut through all the absurdity. This ties back in perfectly with her purpose: Water and Music examines and critically analyzes the subjectand is capable of delivering actionable information that will guide readers on the best way to go about it. This is a real-world application in as well, such as helping artists and their staff in evaluating whether they can work with a certain metaverse platforms.

Water and Music meetup
Water and Music meetup

Water and Music meetup at the NFT.NYC conference

Cherie closes in usual fashion by encouraging collaboration among Cherie's Water and Music community. "In the next few months, we'll roll out interviews with artists platform owners, artists, and startups creators. The metaverse research is likely to continue into the end of summer through the fall, so anyone who wants to get involved in the metaverse, get in touch with me. If you've got suggestions of people to talk with, I'm open for ideas!"

To learn more, and how it is possible to join in, follow Cherie for news via 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.

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