AMA Transcript of Aventus x VereNFT x Aficionados x West Contemporary — 22 June 2022

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VereNFT

11 min readJun 24, 2022

On the coming Monday, 27 June, VereNFT-powered Aficionados will be launching their NFT marketplace for breakthrough music talent. Many household names and game-changing projects are joining onboard to leverage the innovative blockchain technology, including Darrell Craig Harris and the Queen’s Jubilee NFT project of West Contemporary.

Two days ago, we had the pleasure to do an AMA session with Ade Smith, Darrell Harris, and Alan Vey, discussing more details about the partnership. In case you missed the AMA, give the below transcript a read before the BIG drops on 27 June!

Attendee:

1. Ade Smith: Aficionados Spokesperson, Music & Art Advisor
2. Darrell Craig: NFT Artist, Pro Bassist, Music Journalist, Podcast Host
3. Alan Vey: Executive Chairman & Co-Founder from VereNFT

AMA Transcript

AMA Background

VereNFT: Hello everyone! Welcome to this brand new AMA session.🙋It’s a different one today because we have three guests to answer all the questions you might have about the collaboration between Aventus-powered VereNFT, Aficionados, and West Contemporary!

Our Guests today:
1. Ade Smith: Aficionados Spokesperson; Music and Art Advisor
2. Darrell Craig: NFT Artist on Aficionados, Music Journalist, Podcast Host
3. Alan Vey: Founder at Aventus-powered VereNFT

A lot of you may already know about it, but in case you are new to this community:

1. VereNFT is an enterprise-grade whitelabel NFT platform built on top of the Aventus Network. It was founded by Alan Vey, who will be speaking at the NFT.NYC conference this week about the experience at VereNFT. Welcome Alan to our AMA!

2. Aficionados partners with VereNFT to create their own NFT marketplace for musicians and artists. The NFT marketplace will be launched on 27 June, next Monday! Welcome Ade to our AMA!
Reference: https://twitter.com/AficionadosNFTs/status/1538944829903732736

3. Many household names and talented musicians are joining Aficionados including Darrell Craig — an NFT Artist, Music Journalist, and Podcast Host. Welcome Darrell to our AMA!

4. VereNFT & Aficionados are partnering with global leading art consultancy West Contemporary to release exclusive NFTs to commemorate Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The NFTs will be available on 27 June!
More details on: https://www.aventus.io/aventus-powered-verenft-aficionados-will-release-exclusive-nfts-to-commemorate-queens-platinum-jubilee/

This is the background for this AMA. We can’t wait for next Monday, 27 June, to come! It’s great to see the launch of Aficionados NFT marketplace, and so many talented musicians and projects joining onboard, including Darrell and the Queen’s Jubilee NFT project!

So, let’s START our AMA now!

Ade Smith’s Session — Aficionados Spokesperson

For the first session, let’s welcome Ade Smith. He is the Aficionados Spokesperson, and Music and Art Advisor!

Aficionados partners with VereNFT to launch their own NFT marketplace. Please drop all your questions for Ade now!

Q1: What strategies do you have in place to deal with NFT inflation?

Ade Smith: Good question Chukky — I believe as inflation continues at such pace we’re going to see a lot of newcomers investing in NFT artists and projects they believe in. Projects of cultural significance,aswell as projects that are affecting positive change for creatives. Crypto savvy investors will be ploughing more and more into NFT projects they feel have real significance right now, increasing their investment exposure to non cash assets. Cash as we know is constantly losing value, and people are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the fiat system. We are all about putting artists first through our platform, we want to give back, give unique access, unique experience, and at the same time a passion investment which as the artists stock grows may increase in value.

Q2: Is the NFT that Commemorates the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in collaboration with West Contemporary, the first ever portrait of the Queen in the form of a NFT? Will the Royal family get an edition? I noticed the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Tindall and her husband Mike Tindall next to the artwork by Carne Griffiths in the news.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10878031/amp/Platinum-Jubilee-Zara-Tindall-attends-Tropping-Colour.html

Ade Smith: I believe there have been other NFTs of her majesty, being such and iconic figure, I believe this to be the only Platinum jubilee release with a hand finished artwork and then hybrid print/NFT model

Zara Phillips, the Queens eldest granddaughter and her husband Mr Mike Tindall are pictured with their edition of the Platinum Queen gifted by West Contemporary and photographed at The Stafford Hotel London they were gifted no 70/70

Q3: Competition in the NFT Marketplace space is starting to get fierce. What do you guys have in the pipeline, especially in terms of partnerships/marketing lined up? How do you plan to compete in such a crowded space?

Ade Smith: Yes you are quite right competition is quite fierce right now, we have some marquee artists signing up to our platform, we have a number of significant partnerships with very large music and art platforms globally, with a cumulative reach in excess of 50million, that coupled with our significant ongoing PR campaigns we feel should have us in a good position to compete. We are also focusing on music, particularly emerging talent and will not only be hosting/showcasing these fantastic NFts but also actively marketing them!

Q4: Why did you create this NFT marketplace? How will it be different from other music and art NFT marketplaces out there?

Ade Smith: We have created this marketplace from our passion of music and to give back to these wonderful creatives, some of the artists you will see showcased are in no way being rewarded as they should be. They have fantastic canvases who have and continue to support their journey, now through our platform they will be able to own a little piece of the journey. We want to Create more immersive, meaningful, direct relationships between fans and artists. We really feel NFTs will change the face of the industry as we know it

Q5: How do you come up with the name Aficionados?

Ade Smith: We chose the name because of its meaning, we have knowledge and are passionate and enthusiastic about this space and want to be a part of the significant change we see ahead

Q6: How is Aficionados related to the Queen Jubilee NFT project? What’s your strategy to promote this project?

Ade Smith: Our platform will showcase music and art! West Contemporary is a close partner of ours and we formed this collaboration as part of our launch. we have a big PR campaign going out as well as digital campaigns to promote this fantastic project

Q7: How much are your NFTs? Which artists will join you?

Ade Smith: Prices will vary Tifa, but unlike most marketplaces we will have a buy now option for NFTs as well as the traditional auction we’re used to! We will be announcing our artists over the next week stay tuned

Thank you Ade for such a great session! We hope it answers all your enquiries!

Darrell Craig’s Session — NFT Artist, Pro Bassist, Music Journalist, Podcast Host

For the next round, let’s welcome Darrell Craig. He is an NFT Artist, Pro Bassist, Music Journalist and a Podcast Host. Darrell has played bass for some of the biggest names in music & is now a sports photographer representing TopRank Boxing and Sports Illustrated. He has recently shot Fury v Wilder, Fury v Whyte, Lomachenko and has been working with Las Vegas Raiders (NFL).

He is releasing his first NFTs with Aficionados.

Q1: When artists display their art, they are able to observe people’s instant reactions to their art pieces through facial expressions, mimics, etc. However, with nft art, this is not possible. What do nft artists feel about it? Because they won’t be able to see these reactions.

Darrell Craig: For me the NFT space is very excreting for us creators.

Offering a way for us to tap into the crypto space and find new means to help support our vision by sorting the funding.

For now my images will be in digital form but with the idea of also being able to offer prints at some point

Long term goal for me is to source funding to be able to expanse on my current projects

The NFT space is still new to me so it’s a learning process but it’s very exciting!

It’s also offers the opportunity to really grow my personal brand as an artist and creator

I think learning the minting process and marketing aspects are also a great avenue for all creators globally

I’m still new to the NFT space, but I have many friends that have encouraged me to mint my content, especially my sports related images!

Currently I’m a freelance photographer shooting TopRank boxing globally and I’m also now a Sports Illustrated/Raider Maven photographer assigned to the Raiders in Las Vegas

Q2: What makes you jump into the NFT spaces? Why do you start your NFT journey with Aficionados and VereNFT?

Darrell Craig: My motivation for the NFT space and aficionados is to really help not only my own business it also to help spread the word about the amazing opportunities

Q3: How will your NFT collection be different from other artists out there? So many people are tapping into this space, how will you compete with them?

Darrell Craig: My personal NFT collection is a combination of photos and music

Q4: When did you know NFT and devote yourself to crypto art creation?

Darrell Craig: I’m still new to the NFT space, but I have many friends that have encouraged me to mint my content, especially my sports related images!

Currently I’m a freelance photographer shooting TopRank boxing globally and I’m also now a Sports Illustrated/Raider Maven photographer assigned to the Raiders in Las Vegas

VereNFT: Thank you Darrell for the wonderful answers. We are glad to see you here!

Darrell Craig: Thanks everyone!

Alan Vey’s Session — VereNFT Founder

For the final round, we have our founder Alan Vey here! Welcome Alan! Please drop all your questions for Alan now! Remember, this AMA is about the VereNFT collaborations, so let’s keep all the questions to this tune!

Q1: Do you plan for VereNFT to have an option of registering an account and setting up a simple market? Something for a general customer. As I understand, now it is available just for big customers who need support by VereNFT staff to set up a market.

Alan Vey: Yes we want to get to the point where you could do like a 3 click marketplace. Come in, select the customized bolt ons and then auto deploy in your AWS. Takes a lot of engineering but we are making the product more and more flexible to ultimately get to this stage

Q2: What new features does VereNFT plan on implementing that you are excited to add to the whitelabel marketplace offering?

Could VereNFT offer something such as earn per stream NFTs, so that content creators can sell content and the holder of the NFT become the new content owner where they earn per stream or download? I.e could apply to music, video or photo based NFTs. Similar to fuitlabs.

Alan Vey: One of our upcoming features will be competitions where sellers compete on selling, social engagement and activity generated and then earn rewards (NFTs mostly) for doing a good job at this.

We are in late stage negotiation with a festival also to look at exactly that tickets for IRL access and streams and cutting up the streams and selling key highlights as NFTs

Q3: VereNFT is built with brands in mind. Have Aventus Network considered the feature of allowing NFTs to own other NFTs? So the main brand image in the form of a NFT, in effect can be its own wallet which can own and display it’s own brand related NFT products, to help amplify the brand image?

Alan Vey: Our preference is to let the market decide and use fair auction mechanics to do so. But this depends per client, we give advice and consult on best practices and market research, it is for the client to decide what best suits the purposes of their drop with pricing strategy as a key element there

Q4: The price of NFT is too costly on the market, which is one of the challenges that NFT enthusiasts experience. So, how does #VereNFT determine NFT market pricing and deal with the issue of overcharging? Have you created your own NFT calculation system?

Q5: The majority of the questions asked during the AMA focused on the Project’s strengths. So, may we chat about your troubles and challenges right now? What challenges did you encounter while working on your project, and how did you overcome them?

Alan Vey: Broadly I would define 2 key areas of challenges.
1) Systematic: this is market wide where we have very bearish conditions at the moment and even before this time, there is always the uncertainty with regulation and how things will play out. This can all make it harder to close corporate deals without der is king things entirely by providing Hugh up front payments.
2) Infrastructure: Because of how new crypto is and a degree of negativity prevailing in the press, our clients often face challenges with which jurisdiction to set up in (which can become costly) and to get bank accounts or similar once the bank knows NFTs are the source of funds. This can slow things down a lot.

Q6: What is the biggest challenge you face currently in terms of becoming a successful project?

Alan Vey: We needed to fundraise to continue the growth and really deliver on some of our biggest deals that are yet to become public. This challenge has now been overcome and we have close the round and are ready to execute.

Q7: How does VereNFT contribute to the Queen Jubilee NFT project and Aficionados? Is VereNFT targeting the music industry now?

Alan Vey: VereNFT provided all technology and maintenance thereof, furthermore we provide consulting on best practices around what the NFTs could be, pricing strategies, marketing and community building (hence us being here today) etc..

VereNFT is general purpose infrastructure, yes we target music and any other application. Our infrastructure remains flexible to allow our clients to come from a diverse set of backgrounds.

Q8: NFT has started its transformation into an art world, but NFT has much more deeper potential and i am sure it will soon influence many markets. Do you share this opinion? How will VereNFT target those markets?

Alan Vey: I completely agree, across entertainment and art (music, sport, film, art) we have seen a lot of applications. Now we are looking wider into video games, ticketing (i.e. venue access or stream access) and even data (NFTs representing queries over data sets)

Q9: Too many projects promise magic but never release any working product or prove any revenue, Within a short/long time of release. Is VereNFT project also like this? If not can u tell us, what makes VereNFT different from projects ?

Alan Vey: You can see we have been involved in dozens of drops on Parity marketplace (female athletes) and now this marketplace and drop. Furthermore by the end of the month we will have announced another large scale use case for the business. We are fundamentals first, we try to create a real business with usage and talk about it once that has been achieved rather than hyping up non existing tech / deals.

Alan Vey: Thank you everyone for the questions, that’s it from me for now!

VereNFT: Thank you very much Alan for taking out time to answer these questions!

VereNFT: Thank you everyone! This is our first AMA with Aficionados and such a great experience with all of you! Don’t forget to pay attention to our 27 June announcements — it will be huge!

If you are interested to create your own branded whitelabel NFT marketplace with VereNFT, like Aficionados does, please contact info@verenft.io

About VereNFT

Powered by the Aventus Network, VereNFT is an enterprise-grade whitelabel NFT platform that supports established businesses in the creation of their own NFT strategies. Its solution is deeply customisable and flexible, enabling businesses to create a completely bespoke marketplace. To date, VereNFTs use cases span art, music, video games, film, sports, horse racing, data and many more.

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