Hiram Vasquez: “My vision is to create a deeper connection between fans and the stories they love.”

Quick take:

• Hiram Vasquez tells us how NFTs can be used to unlock more value in the entertainment industry.
• He also gives his views on the NFT’s royalty fee debate and where his company stands.
• And tells us how he got Reddit co-founders to invest in LALA.

Although many still see NFTs as simply JPEGs and digitized versions of artwork, the industry has evolved over the past eighteen months to be more than that.

Now, companies are focused on offering products that use NFTs to unlock more utility in real-world experiences than NFTs for profile pictures.

Leading brands such as Starbucks have launched loyalty programs built on the blockchain, illustrating one of the most exciting NFT use cases, while others have explored the use of NFTs in ticketing.

LALA uses NFTs to unlock tools in the entertainment industry. The company recently raised $3 million in a seed round led by Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six and has already unveiled its first film collaboration with “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Fans and collectors of the 2013 hit movie who hold LALA NFTs will be able to own a portion of the revenue stream.

TV and movie NFTs allow fans to earn a portion of the revenue generated from streaming platforms. But they can also be used to reward fans with physical and digital goods depending on how many points they collect from streaming their favorite stories.

In December 2021, the NFT project Sneaky Vampire Syndicate partnered with Scream Movies to bring real benefit to the community. Collectors of the collaborative NFTs rewarded fans with free movie tickets and early access to the 2022 Scream movie.

Last October, Warner Bros teamed up with web3 studio Eluvio to bring The Lord of the Rings to web3 with a limited edition of NFTs based on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie.

In January 2023, digital film collectibles platform Movieplex partnered with Cinema Libre to launch a full-length NFT film on OpenSea. At the time, Philippe Diaz, founder and chairman of Cinema Libre Studios, said: “NFTs are the future of movie viewing.”

And in our latest Q&A, LALA’s Hiram Vasquez takes a deep dive into the whole idea of ​​NFTs in the film industry and how they can be used to unlock more value in movies and TV.

Tell us a little about yourself and the story behind LALA.

As an entrepreneur, my vision is to create a deeper connection between fans and the stories they love by giving them new levels of ownership and access to the movies and TV stories we know and love, all unlocked by blockchain technology.

Growing up in Puerto Rico, I was obsessed with movies, TV shows, and video games because access to them helped me learn English. But since I was so geographically far away from Hollywood, most of the promotions, fan contests, or contests that I would learn about from TV commercials or the back of cereal were exciting to kids in the United States, but not eligible to residents of Puerto Rico. Even most of the cool items from those movies or shows weren’t available for purchase on the island.

This experience left a strong impression on me, and has fueled my excitement to democratize access and experiences for fans with LALA, in an age where blockchain technology allows us to do so. This goes hand in hand with the growing desire of fans to become more involved with their favorite movies and TV shows. The Movies subreddit is the sixth largest community on the Reddit platform, with over 31 million members! LALA exists to help fans connect on a deeper level with IP through ownership and exclusive access. We are looking to disrupt an industry that has long anticipated a need for innovation in the fan experience and engagement with the fan community.

What sets LALA apart from other NFT marketplaces?

LALA is more than just a marketplace. Yes – we have a marketplace component, where fans can go and buy digital collectibles (NFTs) that have a portion of the revenue streams or profits from certain movies, but we’re taking it a step further. We also provide collectors with access to limited edition merchandise of these films based on collectible art, a community to connect with other holders, both online and offline, and other rewards such as unreleased footage/scenes and even props or other memorabilia from the movie—reviving and expanding the love of these stories beyond the rolling credits into a massive ecosystem.

What is your view on the NFT royalty fee saga?

I have been following this debate from the sidelines for some time. In short, one of the revolutionary value propositions of blockchain technology is for creators to monetize their work every time someone resells it. It is what attracted so many artists and made the leading marketplaces reach the popularity they have today. As a fan of many of these digital artists, I empathize with them and disagree with marketplaces that bypass fixed royalties that put many people’s livelihoods at risk. I also question the long-term sustainability of this zero-royalty model because that’s how some of these marketplaces make most of their revenue.

That said, as a founder it is my duty to prepare for the worst case scenario and I have been able to adjust my expectations to the projected revenue from secondary sales. We will keep our eyes open for what is happening, will advocate for artists (we want to work with the best artists ourselves and promote them on our platform!) and hope the community as a whole can find a sustainable solution that works for everyone.

Do you see LALA offering more than entertainment (movies and TV shows) NFTs in the future?

Right now we are very focused on delivering a simple and accessible fan experience at LALA, offering connections to IP from movies and TV shows. In the future, if there is demand from our community, we may consider exploring more offerings in the larger entertainment space.

How did you get the Reddit co-founder’s venture fund to lead your seed round?

I worked closely with Alexis Ohanian as an operating partner at his venture capital firm, Seven Seven Six, and we are both REALLY into collectibles. Alexis has been part of the LALA journey from the start, when we started brainstorming together about blockchain tools and use cases for it in more traditional industries. His company leading our funding cements his belief in LALA’s vision for a new fan experience.

How has the crypto winter affected NFT funding? Is it harder now to get venture capital firms to invest?

During this crypto winter, there are still many opportunities for startups to build on top of blockchain technology and NFTs. Yes, there is less speculation and overall less sky-high valuations that are not justifiable (ie startups in the space need to look more like traditional startups than just hyped pfp projects to get VC attention). This, I think, is good for the long-term health of the space, and people, including ourselves, will have to build real businesses to attract future investors.

There are still many opportunities, and we receive many incoming leads from investors who want to invest in the space. It confirms our view that we are going to see a new wave of NFT companies, like LALA, that will focus less on the technology jargon and more on solving a very real problem or creating an incredible customer experience using blockchain technology. This approach helped us secure our recent $3 million in funding led by Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital fund Seven Seven Six, which also shares this view of the space.

What do you think are the main obstacles to mainstream adoption of NFTs?

NFTs have many areas of opportunity, it is still very early in the space. Currently, the tools and capabilities for customer experience related to NFTs are being built, but the reality is that it is intimidating for most people to get on board. The sooner we provide both tools to facilitate with new and interesting use cases, people will start signing up. There are a few opportunities we can start putting into practice today:

1. Stigma around NFTs – unfortunately the NFT space is experiencing a perception problem. Many believe all NFTs are scams due to the bad actors in the space, and in crypto in general. In reality, many people and companies, even Fortune 500 like Nike and Starbucks, invest heavily in building products and experiences around them. This is proof of the potential for NFTs.

2. Too much technical jargon – with the NFT industry still in its infancy, we are introducing a new language that many find unapproachable. The industry needs to focus on simplifying the language used around NFTs and focusing on the problems they solve, making them more relatable to a mass audience.

If we do all these things, we will unlock the real use cases where people will finally own digital assets that are linked to real experiences and benefits.

Imagine hardcore Star Wars fans who have owned a life size R2-D2 sculpture for decades, all the movies, signed memorabilia from the cast, etc. Imagine if Disney (now owner of Star Wars) could very easily get that information when they are getting ready to open a new Star Wars theme park experience. With digital assets, Disney can now see a superfan own 50 of the most valuable Star Wars digital collectibles and have participated in a number of limited physical items that are only available for purchase to the owners of some of these very rare NFTs. And they can trust that the data is real because it is verified by the blockchain. Imagine how valuable that would be to Disney, or even another studio releasing a project aimed at a similar demographic as Star Wars?

Where do you see the NFT industry in five years? Will there still be a major vertical in crypto?

New companies to the space are not going to focus as much on the technology behind NFTs. There will be a wide variety of consumer businesses using NFTs for different purposes such as loyalty programs and gaming, but the focus is on a superior customer experience than is possible today in each of these areas. This is how we approach it with LALA, and the proof of it starts with calling them digital collectibles. NFTs are a great tool to unlock this ownership and new layers of access – but we don’t focus on the technical jargon that can alienate people from trying to use these. Similar to how the average consumer doesn’t talk about HTML, we only talk about websites that solve a problem and/or provide an incredible customer experience.

Anything else related to current events in the NFT world you’d like to add?

Like the previous question, the focus shifts from the novelty aspects of NFTs to using them to solve real problems for people. Even early adopters realize that this is how web3 becomes mainstream, by exploiting its potential and doing something about it. This is what we are doing with the new fan ownership and experiences created at LALA.

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