Mastercard launches Web3 music accelerator by dropping special access NFTs

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(Kitco News) – Mastercard continues to delve deeper into the world of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies with the release of a non-fungible token (NFT) to officially kick off the launch of its Web3 music program for emerging musicians.

The payment provider unveiled its new NFT at NFT.NYC 2023, the largest NFT conference in the world. The limited edition Mastercard Music Pass NFT is the key to unlocking the Mastercard Artist Accelerator program, a Web3 platform first announced in January that provides free access to educational materials, unique AI tools and other resources to help future careers to aspiring musicians.

“Until the end of the month, music and Web3 fans will be able to redeem the Mastercard Music Pass NFT, which leverages Mastercard’s design principles as well as its sonic melody to compose a striking digital collectible,” the press release said. “Through this initiative, created with blockchain developer Polygon, Mastercard seeks to leverage Web3 technologies to educate and engage more people in the digital transformation happening in music.

Mastercard has been one of the most active major companies in the blockchain space, engaging the community across various verticals – from crypto payments to the metaverse. In November, the company hosted ‘Mastercard SONIC Latinoamérica’, the first Latin American music festival in the metaverse.

The Mastercard Artist Accelerator looks to leverage Web3 technologies to help create “exclusive, inclusive and scalable experiences for fans and artists alike.”

“As a company, we hope to help people and partners around the world better understand and trust how blockchain and digital assets are used – and how our technology can support the ecosystem,” said Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer at Mastercard. “We also believe that Web3 can be a powerful tool for connecting people and building communities around shared universal passions.”

As part of the launch of the accelerator, Mastercard has selected five up-and-coming artists to chronicle their journey in the program. “The artists will be mentored by five expert mentors as they experience the AI ​​music studio – powered by Warpsound – to kick-start their content creation, receive mentorship and get tips and tricks for using blockchain to monetize their work and build a community of fans, all in the Web3 environment, the announcement said.

The artists selected for the first round of the accelerator program include Young Athena, Manu Manzu, LeriQ, Emily Vu and Cocoa Sarai.

Education is a key focus of the Mastercard Artist Accelerator as it is key to helping artists build skills, innovate, understand how to build a business and grow their networks. “By investing in education, individuals can increase their chances of success and contribute to the growth of the creative economy as a whole,” Mastercard said.

According to the Artist Accelerator website, the limited edition NFTs are free to craft for the next three weeks only. The AI ​​studio will launch in May, allowing users to “create your very own music tracks using an online AI studio.” Artist and mentor sessions will also launch in May, allowing users to “follow along to gain behind-the-scenes access to mentors and artists as they explore Web3 and learn how to build their brand as an artist.”

In June, the five artists will show their work live.

Interested parties can create NFTs for free now on the Artist Accelerator website. The NFTs are required to access the Mastercard Artist Accelerator program where users can interact with artists and create their Music Pass NFT (MPNFT) and Music NFT (MNFT). Each MNFT created by AI Music Tool consists of a unique combination of generative artwork and a generative music sample.