The rapid growth in awareness of all things Web3: from blockchain technology to crypto and NFTs, has propelled the new creator economy dramatically forward, sparking new innovation and influence in a diverse number of industries including gaming, finance, fashion, and art. While still in its early stages of development, there are some key trends in the Web3 space that are evidently starting to emerge.
The power of DAOs
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are something we will increasingly see more of. DAOs are a form of organizational structure built through blockchain technology. Commonplace in crypto and NFT ecosystems, DAOs have no central leadership, and provide significant benefits to those involved, as these decentralized systems focus on community involvement, co-creation, verified ownership, and security. Providing a new, more equilibrial type of governance, their popularity will likely expand into new sectors.
The rise of SocialFi
We will certainly see more interest in SocialFi: a concept that combines the principles of social media and decentralized finance (DeFi), with decentralized social applications set to increase dramatically. SocialFi’s foundations focus on decentralizing social media platforms, enabling participants to create, manage and own the content they generate. Ownership and management is driven by NFTs, while the payment is in cryptocurrency.
As people’s awareness of Web3 grows, more people (especially Gen Z and millennials) are keen to move away from the centralized power found on Web2 social media platforms and are eager for more control over their content and data. We can already see that legacy social media is taking action on this shift. For example, Instagram is now enabling users to integrate NFTs into their posts and connect their digital wallets.
Fashion is booming
The merging of physical and digital worlds that Web3 represents has been a perfect match for the fashion industry, playing an integral role in furthering the verification and branding of physical assets.
We’ve seen many fashion houses embrace blockchain technology. Take prominent luxury brands like Jimmy Choo who did a sold-out collection and collaboration with artist Eric Haze, creating a real-life limited edition heel, alongside releasing 8,888 NFT mystery boxes containing virtual versions. Burberry also notably collaborated with Mythical Games to release a striking, one-of-a-kind NFT collection.
We’ve seen the huge rise of fashion metaverses too, enabling Web3 adoption to a diverse range of people. Our Fashion League game offers not only a completely unique RPG experience but new, exciting ways for fashion brands to display their digitized products. It is not purely a metaverse, but a game that also integrates a brand’s assets directly into the gameplay.
Our play-and-earn model enables players to build and expand their own clothing stores, become virtual designers, as well as sell, trade, and rent out their items. But most importantly, we inherently focus on playability: it’s an entertaining mobile fashion metaverse with low entry barriers. Players are also part of a welcoming community with governing power, which gives them the collective ability not only to shape the game’s future but to earn profits too, radically changing the gaming model that has reigned supreme for years where only corporations reaped the benefits.
Shaking up the music industry
I anticipate the music industry will undergo a radical reform through the use of NFTs. The proliferation of non-fungible tokens could facilitate a profound change in the way in which artists produce music, how they engage with fans, what they can offer as experiences, and ultimately better democratize the sector.
For example, the issue of unfair distribution of revenues in the music industry has been the subject of much discussion — artists receive just 50%, with the rest split between lawyers, agents, and so forth. This percentage gets worse for artists when it comes to streaming. But NFTs could change this, eliminating the need for distributors. NFTs could also be used for concert tickets, merchandise, and much more, as all of these can be tokenized.
NFTs will stabilize
The last 12 months for the NFT space have been intense. NFTs have experienced a stratospheric rise in popularity and a significant amount of hype, but also a huge downturn thanks to the bear market. Nevertheless, I expect we will begin entering a phase in the coming months where NFT’s fads begin to fade away and start to take on real-life everyday use, such as this through in-game assets, loyalty rewards, or tickets. As a result, NFTs will become commonplace and this will lead to more widespread adoption.
The world is speedily accelerating towards a Web3 creator economy making widespread adoption not only likely but inevitable. It really is just a matter of when — and what an exciting time it is as a Web3 leader to watch that unfold.