Ashanti aims to bring women to Web3, says ‘owning matters’ at NFT music meetup

The multi-billion dollar music industry is going through a major shift as artists begin to understand the potential of owning their own work. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Ashanti, the multi-platinum-selling singer, actress and co-founder of EQ Exchange, a female-led Web3 platform, recently made this point at the Marshmallow Records meetup in New York on June 20.

Ashanti details the importance of ownership for today’s creators in a panel discussion with Janice Taylor, founder and CEO of EQ Exchange. From personal experience, Ashanti says:

“It’s so important to keep telling the story that owning is the way to go. Who wants to wake up and pour their blood, sweat and tears into a project where everyone else next to you gets all the benefits while you do all the work? That’s how my contract was made a few years ago, but now I have the right to re-record 20 years later and have a new owner of my first album.”

Why Owning Matters to Creators

Ashanti told Cointelegraph that the process of creating an album before Web3 and Launch Music NFT Very “frustrating”, pointing out that the artist would sign a record deal and create an album, which would then sell for about $15. “On that amount, an artist would only get about $0.38, which is on the high end,” says the R&B legend. Once Ashanti started realizing it was a common process, she started looking for other ways to have own intellectual property.

March 25, 2022 Almost 20 years after the release of her debut album, Ashanti form Working with EQ Exchange made her the first black female artist to co-found Web3. Ashanti has since released a collection of NFTs with EQ Exchange on April 6, 2022, which was launched on the 20th anniversary of the artist’s first album. Ashanti. According to Taylor, Ashanti sold her first five NFTs within minutes. While impressive, Ashanti notes that the basic message behind music NFTs is that “owning your work is important.”

Ownership aside, Ashanti explained that her NFT collection is designed to benefit her fans in a number of ways. “Fans will get exclusive rights to hear my music first, which means they can own the music too. They will also receive royalties on new records, as well as access to show tickets, holidays and limited merchandise,” she said. .

Women in Web3 aim to inspire

Ashanti further stated that her goal is her NFT collection and role in the Web3 space to inspire more female participation.This is important because media companies EWG Unlimited and The Female Quotient recently established Men continue to dominate Web3. According to the report, only 16% of creators in Web3 identify as women, leading to an inherent male bias. With this in mind, Ashanti said:

“I never thought I would be in the Web3 space in a million years. However, it is necessary to enter the field as an independent artist. The Cotton Candy Records meetup was the first crypto-focused event I published, and I hope Do more of this to continue to inspire other female creators and women of color to get involved.”

Taylor added that education and events are critical to bringing more women into the Web3 space, noting that she was initially told to hire a crypto-native male co-founder for EQ Exchange in order to appear “legitimate.” “Some of my first investors told me this because they thought it would make me seem like I know the crypto industry better, even though I’m a three-time tech founder.”

Fortunately, Taylor ignored this comment and made Ashanti co-founder of EQ Exchnage. “I especially want a woman and a woman of color to be my partner because that’s the message that needs to be heard here,” she said.

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Responding to Taylor, Sarah Omolewu, founder of Access Abu Dhabi, a project aimed at encouraging women and minorities to enter the UAE’s business ecosystem, told Cointelegraph that joining the crypto community offers women the opportunity to build new career paths, regardless of age or age. How is the financial situation. She said:

“Women in America were not able to access credit from banks until the passage of the Equal Credit Act of 1974. Fast forward to 2022, and less than 2% of venture capital is going to women-led businesses. Web3 could be the game changer Equalizer, to get women involved at the very beginning of blockchain technology, where 93-95% of cryptocurrency users are now male.”

Although women still make up a minority of Web3 users, Omolewu explained that a recent visit to Abu Dhabi cooperating Unstoppable Domains – a platform that grants ownership of NFT domain names – offers free blockchain domain names to women of all nationalities living in Abu Dhabi. “Partnering with Unstoppable Domains to offer free blockchain domain names to all women in the country for the first time is the first step in our long-term goal of breaking the space for women in the region,” she said.

Sandy Carter, senior vice president of Unstoppable Domains, added that Unstoppable Domains represents a user’s digital identity, making it easy for non-encrypted natives to enter Web3. “For example, users don’t have to enter complex wallet addresses to send and receive crypto transactions because they can use their NFT domains.”

According to the Unstoppable Domains website, Coinbase Wallet, ShapeShift, and other crypto wallets are supported apps. “We have over 300 partners. In fact, Paris Hilton recently changed her Twitter account to ParisHilton.NFT,” Carter added.

It’s time for women to enter Web3

Even with the benefits of musical NFTs and the encouragement of influencers, women may still find it challenging or intimidating, Enter the Web3 realm. However, Carter suggested that women should start early, noting that the space is still early. “I would say that we’re in the dial-up phase of Web3 — we’re reshaping the very nature of the internet, and we need a different voice now.”

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In terms of financial inclusion, Taylor added that EQ Exchange is helping to provide a sustainable financial system that allows artists — especially women — to thrive. Although the platform was launched in March of this year, Taylor shared that other female creators are already planning to launch NFT collections.For example, recording artist, actress and producer Monifah told Cointelegraph that she will launch an NFT series with EQ Exchange in July 2023 to mark the 25th anniversary of her single touch it.

Monifah also mentioned that she sees music NFTs as the future of the industry, noting that artists should do their own research and get involved right away.

“I think it would be crazy if I did something the traditional way at this point. I would tell artists to focus more on Web3 and figure out how to control the space,” she said. However, Monifah also shared that she still finds Web3 challenging. “I’m still navigating the Web3 space, but it’s exciting. I want to help introduce the younger generation to Web3.”