Musician RAC’s NFT Fan Pass is about belonging

Grammy-winning electronic musician RAC recently teamed up with HIFI Labs to launch CULT Pass, a dynamic, blockchain-enabled membership card for its Web3 supporters.

Instead of a static digital image, the NFT sphere transforms depending on the contents of an owner’s wallet, using special generative seeds based on the artistic mood of digital artist Andres Reisinger plus visual queries from the text-to-image AI model Stable Diffusion – and sound triggers by RAC itself, of course.

“This project tests what’s possible at the intersection of Web3 and AI,” said Joe Barham, co-founder and CEO of HIFI Labs. Decrypt.

CULT Pass was officially announced last week, but RAC (real name André Anjos) started distributing them to his biggest fans several months ago.

“We’re not trying to sell a product with these. It’s more about the concept and building it out, he explains. It’s the latest in a long line of Web3 projects undertaken by RAC in an attempt to bridge the gap between artist and audience , as well as helping to fix what he calls a “broken music industry”.

In 2017, RAC allowed fans to purchase “Ego,” the first full album ever released via the Ethereum blockchain, and then did the same in 2020 with his album “Boy.” About 150 fans took him up on the latter offer, and he said it’s the closest he’s ever felt to the people who truly appreciated his art.

In the years that followed, he experimented with his own ERC-20 token, RACand released several NFTs along with the use of Patreon and Discord in an effort to further build a community around his music.

“I’ve spent so much time networking and trying to connect with the public on social media,” RAC says, “only for these companies to start putting things behind a paywall.”

It has happened on SoundCloud, Facebook and most recently Twitter. Designed to act as a membership token to the RAC Fan Club, these CULT Pass Orbs transform depending on which RAC Tokens you already own.

“It’s a way of taking ownership of our community. It’s a layer above social networking,” he continues, comparing it to wearing a t-shirt from your favorite band. “It’s not always about ‘the thing.’ It’s about belonging to something.”

A look at the CULT Pass orb mutation process. Photo: RAC

The CULT Pass bullet is an early version of the technology, and with four different iterations of visuals available, it’s currently very much “on the rails” according to RAC – but he and HIFI Labs have big plans for where it goes next.

In addition to images, RAC wants to include generative music and video in future versions of the sphere, while off-chain activities such as streaming music on Spotify, buying concert tickets and watching live streams will also influence how the sphere evolves.

“The system is built in a way that recognizes and supports organic, authentic engagement,” explains Barham.

In addition to expanding the sphere, this data can also be used by the artist to reward fans with things like pre-sale access or unreleased music. As the orb evolves, so will the access and tools it unlocks. Heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold recently pursued a similar initiative with their TicketPass NFT and an integration with Ticketmaster.

“It’s transactional but not exploitative,” RAC says of his approach. “Even within our ecosystem, I think some people get caught up in the commerce aspect of these things. I wanted to move away from that and create a membership that allows you to build on that.”

Right now the ball is centered around the RAC and his career, but he is very much the test case. “Now we’ve built the infrastructure and the framework, we’re able to iterate pretty quickly,” he explains. “We can apply this technology to anyone.”

“Each artist has their own version of sound and visual DNA, their own style of engagement and unique community,” adds Barham. “The framework we rolled out with CULT Pass—while replicable and broad—is intended to reflect the unique expression of each artist and their community.”

In the future, this framework can also be applied to the clutches of like-minded Discord communities or subreddits. There’s no firm release date for future versions of the bullet because, as RAC explains, they’re still “figuring this out as we go.”

“My approach to this has always been ‘come and be a part of it.’ because it’s about building a fairer system for all of us, RAC continues, adding that he wants to make sure both the arts and the public are valued.

“We’re very early, but I really believe in what we’re doing,” he adds. “When else do we actually have the opportunity to shape the future like this?”