Proposal title: Sónar +D DAO by Polkadot: How blockchain can revolutionize the music industry.
Proponents:
Members of the Polkadot community (Ursula O'Kuinghttons and Mario Maldonado aka Maarmapa)
Requested allocation: 298,600€
See the detailed budget here.
To read the proposal with further detail head to the following link.
46.583,46 DOT | € 298,600 EUR
DOT calculated via Coinbase, Dec 9 2023, at 00:42:00 (CET) - 1 DOT ~ 6,41 €.
Conversion: 298,600 EUR ~ 46.583,46 DOT
Unleashing Cultural Innovation: How blockchain can revolutionize the music industry.
Polkadot stands out as the most decentralized blockchain in the web3 ecosystem, and we admire this innovation and the project's forward-thinking approach, both in technology and concept.
With that in mind, we propose to establish a game-changing collaboration between the Polkadot community and the renowned Sónar festival and its Sónar +D conference that explores technology, creativity, and innovation.
Here are the key points of the proposal:
Collaboration between Polkadot and the world-renowned and top class music industry player, Sónar Festival.
Polkadot to fund and spearhead the creation of the Sónar +D DAO, a community accessible through NFTs.
The DAO's mission is to gather and amplify the Sónar tech community (artists, creators, entrepreneurs, developers, producers, etc) allowing them to collectively share, propose, fund, govern, and co-own projects at the intersection of music, technology, and creativity.
Position Polkadot at the forefront of this cultural revolution, directly linked to the world of music and entertainment.
This marketing initiative will be a prominent use case for blockchain and web3 technologies for the mainstream and will create reach and exposure for Polkadot blockchain.
Marketing outcomes will be: DAO community projects, world-class content, events, paid and earned media, influencers, word of mouth, and blockchain transactions. And most importantly: an engaged community of highly influential people in the global cultural & tech scene.
Polkadot Embracing the World of Music
We want to collaborate with the Polkadot community to make it the leading blockchain in music & entertainment. Music is a key strategic pillar to creating mainstream use cases and it has the power to emotionally connect with new generations; and most importantly, to generate awareness of Polkadot through the collaboration with a global & influential Sónar brand. We're ready to take action, and we've already taken some steps:
Polkadot collaborated with Sónar in last year’s festival edition (30th anniversary). Here´s a video summary of last year's edition about Sonar´s collaborators (See at minute 9:49 Úrsula O'Kuinghttons from Polkadot speaking about the collaboration between Sónar and Polkadot).
The Sónar +D DAO project was presented in a 2-hour masterclass attended by 100+ people, 30% of them signed up to become beta testers of this digital community made by tech connoisseurs and music lovers. The masterclass was done by the GUZZU team, Ursula O'Kuinghttons, former director of communications and partnerships at the Web3 Foundation and Filippo Franchini, tech educator at the W3F/Polkadot.
More info here
Watch the VIDEO here
Polkadot and GUZZU collaborated with the prestigious Primavera Sound festival to host and curate the inaugural Web3 Music Summit during Primavera Sound Madrid in 2023. The event brought together over 300 music industry professionals and featured engaging sessions, including keynotes, roundtable discussions, and workshops. Prominent figures from both the Polkadot community and the music industry participated, including representatives from Warner Music, Zora, Water & Music, Friend with Benefits, The Orchard (Sony Music), OpenSea, Foundation (NFT marketplace), Web3 Foundation, Colors Studios, Public Pressure, Wasserman, and more. Additionally, participants from various parachain teams, such as Ingo Rube from Kilt, Robin Vey from Aventus, Finn Martin from BeatPort.io, Alberto Viera (Developer Relations Manager) from Moonbeam, and Tanssi, were also in attendance, making it a significant and collaborative event in the music and blockchain space.
More about Sónar
For three decades, Sónar Festival in Barcelona has captivated global audiences with its diverse music lineup. Beyond music, Sónar +D, its innovative conference, explores the intersection of technology, creativity, and innovation. Recognized globally, Sónar +D is a platform for cutting-edge discussions, embracing new technologies like blockchain and web3.
This proposal offers Polkadot a chance to collaborate with this renowned brand, engaging a passionate fan base and creating a credible web3 project with global impact. The growing festival and conference present an opportunity for a lasting, mutually beneficial collaboration.
The project will be led by a team with world-class experience in music, culture, advertising, blockchain and business development.
GUZZU: Leading Music Web3 Ecosystem To Empower Artists With Digital Merch And Other Creative Economy Tools In LATAM
Arnau Sabaté: Entrepreneur and music industry executive with an extensive background and global network of artists’ managers and agencies. His background is in the fields of business development, strategy and marketing. He has worked for Primavera Sound, Jägermusic and Discogs among others.
Frankie Pizá: Forward-thinking creative director with 15+ experience working as creative director for music projects (Red Bull Music Academy, Primavera Sound, etc)
Alvaro Delgado: Creative Strategist and Community Lead with a profound understanding of internet culture, music, and web3. His expertise extends to prominent on-chain music initiatives, including contributions to projects such as Songcamp's C4.
Alex Puig: Tech lead and developer and GUZZU’s senior tech advisor. He is a blockchain pioneer in Spain and in Europe's web3 ecosystem.
Alexandra Cavero: experienced entrepreneur and project manager with plenty of years of experience in the field of blockchain. She's very business-oriented and straightforward and specialized in tech.
VITAMIN 3: Web3 & New Technologies Creative Studio
Will Acha: Business and strategy director with 15+ years of global experience in advertising. Ex Wieden+Kennedy, Y&R, DDB, 14, DRAFTFCB & Rebel Media. He’s led big global brands accounts across many disciplines: Coca-Cola, Nestea, Arla Foods, Beiersdorf, SEAT, CUPRA or Oreo.
SONAR +D
Antonia Folguera: Curator at Sónar+D · Content and Communication at Sónar+D · Jury Member and Tutor at Barcelona Producció Grants · Researcher & radio host at XRCB.
Andrea Faroppa: Head at Sónar+D. Graduate in communication and cultural industries from the University of Barcelona and in Cultural Management and Creative Economics from CLAEH University in Uruguay. She started working in the cultural sector in 2010 in Montevideo..
Since 2016 she has worked at Advanced Music, the company that organizes Sónar Festival and Sónar+D in Barcelona.
KEY PLAYERS FROM THE POLKADOT COMMUNITY
Mario Maldonado: Maarmapa has always been in love with free speech and decentralization. He is an artist, graffiti writer, creative director, and a music addict. After collaborating over the years in the local scene in Chile, he co-founded an streetwear brand called Most Wanted Wear in 2011. Mario also created his own store, Boykot.cl in 2010, a disruptive business that has become a favorite spot for new generations of artists, designers, custom/DIY innovators, illustrators, and more. In the midst of the Covid pandemic, he discovered Polkadot, and he is currently serving as a Polkadot Head Ambassador, Polkadot and Kusama Community Moderator, Polkadot Anti-Scam team Senior Member, ChaosDAO DAO Contributor, and actively promotes Polkadot across the Latin American region through various events while assisting online community members worldwide.
Ursula O'Kuinghttons is a seasoned journalist deeply immersed in the blockchain ecosystem. Until recently, she was the Director of Communications and Partnerships at the Web3 Foundation. Her rich background spans journalism and technology, highlighted by her roles at El País Newspaper, Prisa Media, and as a founding member of Civil Media Company (part of ConsenSys) in NYC. Since 2012, Ursula's been captivated by blockchain's power to revolutionize media, moving away from big tech control. She co-organized the Web3 Music Summit with the GUZZU team. Ursula is truly passionate about the ever-changing tech landscape and its profound impact on us all.
“Who had a website in 1996? Only the pioneers. Well, the same thing is happening nowadays with DAOs. We had a website in the first edition of Sónar, and 30 years later, we want to anticipate what will eventually become widespread and adopted by everyone.” Antonia Folguera, Sonar +D curator.
This project is fully aligned with Sonar’s ethos of innovation and will attract the “die-hard” Sonar +D community: pioneers, web3 and disruptive technologies early adopters.
The vision is to become a real next-generation social network, without the outdated limitations of the current big players and generate strong content. A collaborative community impulsed by new technologies like web3 & AI that will be curated by a specially selected board.
What is it?
The DAO will be a NFT-gated community bringing together artists and creators to collectively share, propose, fund, govern and co-own projects in the intersection of the fields of music, technology and creativity.
Community
The community will consist of industry professionals: tech experts, artists, producers, curators, entrepreneurs, producers, AIs, Journalists, etc. Entry by application only and purchase of the NFT.
Framework
Here are the main outcomes of the DAO:
Project development: nurturing artistic growth and talent by empowering artists to explore their creative potential.
Digital Products: strategy and releases by allowing industry tools to create and distribute products
Academy and knowledge: enriching creative skills and knowledge via collaboration and networking.
Grants: some funds of the central treasury will be dedicated to fund projects submitted by the members.
Web3
Blockchain allows this to become a decentralized community, using the power of web3 to build a brand new generation community of artists and creators: NFT-gated, NFT collections, decentralized management and treasury.
DAO Ecosystem
The Sónar +D DAO ecosystem will consist of a website for info, a Discord channel for community interaction and a bot based mechanic to submit and vote proposals within Discord. We love what ChaosDAO has done for its community :)
Examples of projects
The first 2 projects of the DAO will be:
Open call Sonar+D: The Genesis DAO community will curate and vote for the finalists of the open call for 2024. This will be the first time that Sónar allows its community to curate part of their programme.
Virtual camp: a virtual creative camp where artists co-create over a limited period of time with digital collectables as an outcome.
Future projects should come from the community.
Roadmap - key milestones
Dec 2023/January 2024: funds approval by OpenGov.
Jan/Feb 2024 - DAO MVP live with genesis members.
Jun 2024 - Sonar+D live event activation, marketing push to gather users.
DAO’s goals
Invite artists from the Sonar community to curate projects that are voted on in the DAO.
Select and invite the core Sonar +D community (music producers, journalists, entrepreneurs, visual artists, and technologists) to form the genesis membership.
Eventually, the genesis group members will start inviting other friends to join the DAO.
Create an exclusive society with a DAO badge to share on social media.
Audience Overview:
Age Range: 24 to 36 years old
Educational Background: 73% possess a college or master's degree
Event Loyalty: 64% have attended Sónar more than once.
Audience Retention: Remarkably, 80% express the desire to return
Tech Industry Presence: A significant portion of Sónar's audience hails from the tech industry
Audience Profile: seasoned developers, music enthusiasts, and tech lovers
Sónar +D Digital Community Statistics:
Newsletter Subscribers: Over 10,000 subscribers
Active App Users: A dedicated user base of 3,700+
App Interactions: A community with over 19,500 interactions
Website Engagement: The Sónar +D website receives 122,000+ page views
This collaboration will be a whole year collaboration with special emphasis at the festival dates in June but the DAO will be active during the whole of 2024 with different key moments in the year.
Polkadot will raise brand awareness with this collaboration and will establish itself as the official Blockchain of Sónar creating valuable content and a real case of success.
The main pillars of the proposal are:
Project booth at the project area of the physical edition of the Sonar Festival in June in Barcelona for 3 days (120k+ attendees)
Sónar +D DAO development and 2024 management.
Be part of the Sónar content on Social Media, which is key as Sónar is an important opinion leader.
PR impact and logos in Sónar comms, general media and social media of the festival with an approx reach of +60M on digital campaigns, +817K on Social Media videos, 21k impressions on IG posts, 4k impressions on Twitter, and ads in more than 23 specialized national and international magazines.
Here you can read the details of the collaborator’s proposal.
Booth at Sónar+D Project Area by Polkadot
Polkadot will have a space in the Sonar +D Project Area to feature information about the Sónar +DAO and Polkadot projects.
Costs of decoration, assembly, disassembly, personnel and similars will be assumed by Polkadot and are included in the budget proposal.
Each stand is made up of 3 individual wooden structures of 1.80 mt. wide.
These structures can be added or removed as desired. Together, the 3 structures form a 6x3 mt. stand. (reference render attached). Full design to be developed.
See a mock-up of the booth at this link.
Materials & Merch
We will produce different kinds of informative materials about the Sónar+D DAO to inform about the project and to engage festival attendees. Those materials will both be digital and physical including:
POAP
NFTs
Stickers
Flyers
Tote bags
Premium merch (t-shirts, caps, etc)
Side Event
A Side event to happen in Barcelona prior to the main Sónar festival event will be organized and curated together by Sónar and GUZZU.
This 3-hour event will take place in the Estrella Damm old brewery in the city centre of Barcelona (TBC).
The event will have a capacity of 500 participants and we are aiming to invite the Sónar community, journalists, and music industry professionals (record labels, management companies, festivals, etc) alongside influencers and active members of the tech, creative and music scene.
The event will be promoted with a PR and influencer campaign.
MK Strategy: Content Plan, Influencer Strategy, PR Media Strategy
Polkadot Presence In Sonar’s Channels
Official Collaborator's page: The Polkadot logo will appear under the claim of official collaborator or similar.
Dedicated page to Polkadot and its activation in Sónar’s website, redirecting to this section by clicking on its logo in the partners section.
Collaborator's dedicated news piece on the Sónar’s website with a mention of Polkadot and its brand activation during Sónar.
Newsletter: Polkadot and its activation will be mentioned in a newsletter in the Brand activations section, together with the rest of the partners.
Sónar Social Media channels: Polkadot logo will be included in all line-up announcement posts + 1 IG story during the event + 1 recognition tweet.
AFTERMOVIE & Video Content For Social Media
GUZZU will develop a content plan _Polkadot will be able to make a video of its activities at Sónar Barcelona 2023 and publish it on its Social Networks.
_Sónar must validate the promotional mechanics, copies, video and graphic pieces with enough time to be able to make modifications
Influencers Campaign To Generate Buzz About The Sónar +D DAO by Polkadot
We will be working on a detailed content plan with Influencers and KOL specialized in culture/music/tech and web3 to speak about how this groundbreaking project will break the barriers of mass adoption of web3 by such a well-respected and worldwide acclaimed music festival like Sónar thanks to Polkadot.
There will be a budget dedicated to the influencers to generate content about Polkadot and the Sónar+D DAO. This will be split by influencer with a specific proposal to create content about the DAO and share it in their channels.
Examples of influencers both local and international:
Dan Runcie: Founder of TRAPITAL, a North American based journalist and KOL specialising in music and tech. He has over 20,000 email subscribers and a reach of nearly 100k followers including all his network.
Rob Abelow: Journalist and KOL whose speciality is the future of the music industry. 10k email subscribers in his newsletter; 15k followers on X and 7k on Linkedin.
William M Peaster: Writer and editor of Metaversal, the Bankless NFT newsletter with 100k+ subscribers. Specialities: NFTs, Culture, DeFI, ETH. 14k followers on X.
Coopahtroopah: The biggest and most influential person in music onchain. He has 100k followers on X, is an active investor in the space and runs a record label called Coop Records. Active member of DAOs and founder of Invest in Music (5k subscribers).
Ben Ziggy Ziggy: Specialist journalist in Music & Web3. 4k subscribers.
Taramona: Spanish-speaker KOL in tech, culture and entertainment. Over 1M followers including all his network.
Ted Gioia is author of 12 books, including The History of Jazz and Music: A Subversive History. His newsletter is The Honest Broker (20k+ subscribers). 85k followers on Twitter.
Shawn Reynaldo: Electronic music journalist writing for several music focused websites and managing his medium with 10k subscribers
Philip Sherburne: One of the most well-respected journalists worldwide. Pitchfork contributor and electronic music label owner. He has recently started his own substack with 3k+ followers.
Cherie Hu: an award-winning journalist, researcher and entrepreneur who has been covering the nexus of music, technology and business for over five years. She founded Water & Music.
Polkadot’s Activation Coverage: General & Specialized Media
Editorial coverage agreed by Polkadot with some general media, prior to the festival.
We will be arranging paid editorial coverage related to the Sónar+D DAO in selected general media to explain what the project consists of and also to talk about Polkadot and its involvement in the project. All the contents will help the mainstream audience understand the power of decentralization in the entertainment industry, especially in music thanks to this innovative project made together with one of the most well-known electronic music festivals in the world. That would really help to generate awareness of the Polkadot brand and to make people understand how web3 will help to solve basic problems driven by music which is one of the pillars that will embrace mass adoption of the Blockchain technology.
Local General Media reach: 2.5M readers
International General Media reach: 7M readers
International Specialized Media: 3M readers.
Examples of each of the above:
LOCAL GENERAL MEDIA
La Vanguardia: 1M readers
El País: 3M readers
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
The Economist: 6.5M readers
The Guardian: 20M readers
SPECIALIZED MEDIA
Pitchfork: 7M unique visitors monthly
Resident Advisor: 4M unique visitors monthly
Music Business Worldwide: 500k unique visitors monthly
We are aiming to collaborate with the following existing DAOs to foster collaboration between communities and the multichain activity. Most of the DAOs below have a proven track record in the culture and music industry and would be kind to collaborate. Either because they have collaborated with the Sónar Festival in the past (Water & Music) or because some of the proponents are members of the existing DAOs mentioned below (Friends With Benefits or ChaosDAO)
Friends With Benefits: World's biggest decentralized community of people into creativity, music and culture.
Water & Music: DAO of music industry professionals to research and intelligence for a new music business.
Sónar collaborates with Nielsen to assess the ROI of their partners. Polkadot's 1-year collaborator fee of €60,000 is expected to yield an estimated ROI of €192,000. Click here to see a breakdown of how this calculation is made:
Budget HERE