[Short #25] Who are the early adopters?
Taking the road less traveled
Having lurked in the NFT space for almost a year and a half at this point, I’ve enjoyed observing happenings and trends in the space. If you’ve read this newsletter, you could probably…tell…heh.
I’ve written about who’s been entering this space particularly from a money flow standpoint. However, I haven’t written as much regarding what niches have been leaning into this space more and earlier in the adoption curve. I’m not talking about tech entrepreneurs or VCs. We know that individuals like a16z and Kevin Rose have been involved in this space early on.
So who are these people you’re talking about TPan? Here’s a small sample of the spaces I’m noticing.
Content Creators
FaZe Banks: Part-owner of FaZe Clan, a powerhouse in the gaming scene and rapidly expanding into other verticals. Actively tweets and posts IG Stories about NFTs.
Just Maiko: 51 million followers on Tiktok, he dances with his Bored Ape and has a NFT project in the works.
Jimmy Fallon: One of America’s favorite show hosts. He recently changed his Twitter display name to a .eth address 🤔
Art
Damian Hirst: Renowned British artist entered the digital art world in 2021 with “The Currency” collection. Holders of the NFT collection have a 1 year window to either keep the digital NFT or burn it to receive a physical print of the NFT.
Drift: An urban photographer with an amazing story combating the injustices of the justice system. His ‘Where My Vans Go’ 1/1 photo NFTs are going for over $90,000.
Takashi Murakami: This world famous artist has already collaborated with RTFKT in the digital world and now through physical world through the new Gagosian art exhibit: An Arrow Through History. He has also his NFT project, Murakami Flowers.
Sports
Dapper: The company that started the NFT craze for many in 2021, they have licensed partnerships with the NBA, NFL, UFC, and many more in the pipeline.
F1: Formula 1 is making the most of the spotlight by incorporating NFTs to increase engagement and enrich its fan ecosystem. Mercedes, Aston Martin, McLaren are jumping into the space on top of being sponsored by crypto companies.
Athletes: Dez Bryant, Ros-Gold Onwude, Neymar Jr., Tom Brady and countless more players across all sports are involved in the space.
Music
Royal: Founded by DJ and crypto enthusiast 3LAU, Royal is creating a shared ownership model in music where fans can earn royalties of songs from their favorite music artists like Nas, Diplo and The Chainsmokers.
Labels: The biggest music labels know they have to adapt or die, as their reputation isn’t the most positive from the music artist POV. As a result, they’re creating a multi-pronged approach to get involved with Web3. For example Warner Music Group has invested in Dapper and partnered with Genies. Universal Music Group has partnered with Genies as well and created a Bored Ape music group.
Artists: Kygo, Justin Bieber, YG, the list goes on.
Not quite fitting any of these categories, but supermodel Bella Hadid even came out of a 2 year Twitter hiatus to mention Web3. What is going on?!
Now, is everyone doing it right? Absolutelyyy not. The list of companies and individuals I’ve listed generally are though. After all, with great (social) power comes great responsibility.
Great, I get it TPan. NFTs are taking over every nook and cranny of society. What’s the point?
Yea yea, getting to it.
Common Themes
They’re new. In the grand scheme of things, these spaces are quite young.
eSports? Literally laughed at 10 years ago.
Digital content creator? Didn’t flourish until the proliferation of social media platforms in the past 15 years.
These are nontraditional spaces. The categories above are not one that you would typically tell your parents and they’d be delighted about. This isn’t a lawyer or doctor type of profession that results in stable paycheck, whatever definition of that might be. Times are clearly changing though.
Pro sports? The NCAA publishes reports around the probability to go pro, and they’re…low. The probability for a men’s high school basketball player to go from high school to the NBA is 0.04% (yes, that’s 4 hundredths of a percent).
Artist? Regardless of the medium, it’s a grind to build an audience that is willing to consume your work, much less pay for it.
People in these spaces know what it’s like to go against the grain, be ridiculed for their profession or what they believe in, and be ahead of the adoption curve. NFTs are no different. Who knows if they go mainstream (they will), but they sure aren’t afraid to explore the space.
Creators, Community and Culture (CCC for short): I’ll elaborate on this concept in a separate post in the future 😉.
All the industries above are closely tied with CCC. They might not incorporate equal parts of CCC, but they lean heavily on at least one or multiple pillars of this model. For example, artists and influencers lean heavily on creating content and fostering a community, sometime to a point of influencing culture.
This may the modern day equivalent of the high school bully laughing at the nerd, only to find out the nerd is their boss years later. See what these people and companies are getting into. They might on the cusp of something huge :)