NFT LA Wrap Up
The Low-Down
This past November, only five months ago, the NFT community descended on New York City for NFT NYC during a revelatory period of growth for NFTs. It was a different air over NFT LA this week, one we thought to describe as ‘professional’ as an increased number of brands, legacy players, and Web2 heavyweights seem poised to mobilize teams to figure out what exactly is going on in this emergent corner of the Web3 world. Across panels, meetings, events, and lunch tables, a general thematic emerged to us, What is Next? You could almost touch a collective sentiment of “ok, NFTs, you have our attention, but is there anything beyond just JPEGs?”
We can say, there is.
At Vivid Labs, our premise is that the media experience of NFTs must be compelling and engaging. Today, the primary utility of owning an NFT comes from entrée to fantastic communities of genuinely passionate people, bragging rights and social cred around owning a rare or unusual piece of digital art, or access to IRL benefits like events or meetups. However, even though the PFP we might be holding might be compelling to us, generally the media experience itself of NFTs can be, well, pretty bland. That is why we designed our platform to enable richer media experiences, creating updateable multimedia NFTs capable of storing multiple gigs of media — all so that brands, creators, and content platforms could create more compelling and dare we say, entertaining NFTs.
Well, that note struck a chord. NFT LA resoundingly affirmed that Vivid Labs has a unique approach to how we think about NFTs and what they can be. In our conversations, from high-powered brands to individual creators across verticals as varied as film & television and food & beverage, we were greeted with a growing recognition that NFTs can be more. As Halsey has said, we are where the industry is going — we just have to make sure we’re still around when it gets here.
Web2 vs Web3
Speaking of Halsey, he participated in a panel, “The Impact of Video & Streaming Applications of NFTs,” with colleagues from Theta Labs, OTOY & RNDR, Livepeer, and moderated by Shelly Palmer of The Palmer Group. The conversation surrounded the practical uses of Web3 decentralized infrastructures for the delivery of premium video and streaming use cases, and the realities of the shift from Web2 centralized infrastructure with large gatekeepers to Web3 decentralized infrastructure with a democratized ownership, management, and access model. Touting the NFT as a “new media format,” Halsey spoke about his experience at CNET and how bringing on real customers was critical to the success of Web3 platforms.
Throughout the panel discussions, and in evidence around the networking zones and exhibit floor, we often heard this tension between Big Media and brands’ excitement about marrying NFTs with their proven products and powerhouse IP, vs. artists and creatives who are looking to NFTs to take back control, and financial rewards, from Big Media.
Some on the creative side have adopted a militant stance that they are all in with Web3 and NFTs that will, in their view, let artists completely wrest the power from the entertainment behemoths who’ve run everything for decades.
Reality Check
Others were more pragmatic, accepting that Warner, Sony, DC, Disney and the rest are not just going to sit on the sidelines and cede the Web3 revolution to others. Some on this end of the centralized-decentralized spectrum thought artists would be wise to figure out how to coexist alongside Big Media in a Web3 world while still maximizing their own independent control. Some felt the smart play was more about leveraging the capabilities of Web3 to piggyback on top of the reach, money, and clout of the large incumbents to their own benefit, going beyond what they’d get in a Web2 world, and past what may be possible operating completely on one’s own. There were strong opinions on all sides.
Across the board though, there was agreement that we’re clearly only in the embryonic stage of NFTs. While the artwork, JPEGs, and video clips that now dominate NFT marketplaces are unlikely to last long-term in their current form, the underlying tech is much more mature and already represents a sea change that is definitely here to stay — whatever it may look like on the outside in a year, or two, or five.
Once again, we at Vivid Labs passionately embrace this perspective. Our NFT publishing platform opens the door to anyone who wants to explore and extend the limits of NFTs to create richer, more immersive, and compelling experiences for their fans, followers, and customers.
Screen Play
We also hit a few well-placed marketing milestones, releasing Vivid’s first sizzle reel that appeared on screens at the head of every mainstage panel, as well as across LA nightlife landmarks like the Wisdome in the heart of the Downtown Los Angeles Art District. The latter was the venue for two special performances by Scott Page, a technologist, and former Pink Floyd saxophonist and guitarist, and Steve Aoki, the noted electro house musician, record producer, D.J. & music executive with his finger on the pulse of future tech in media. The Wisdome show capped high energy and enthusiastic gathering that is sure to grow to more fully justify booking the cavernous LA Convention Center as the locale for NFT LA in future years.
Check out how cool our sizzle looked projected onto the Wisdomes:
Watch our sizzle on your own screen to get the full impact (crank up those speakers!).
As always, Make It Vivid.
