Mastercard said on Friday (6 January 2023) at CES 2023 that, in collaboration with blockchain company Polygon ($MATIC), it would open a Web3 incubator to assist artists.
According to a story published by TechCrunch earlier today, Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s top marketing and communications officer told TechCrunch:
“The artists will be coached on how to utilize web3 technology into their work during the duration of the program and beyond… Web3 provides enormous potential for artists and creators to develop, control, and sell their material, but only if they know how to harness it… The last year was monumental for us, as we implemented experimental web3 activations throughout the globe.”
According to the Polygon website, it is “a decentralised Ethereum scaling platform that allows developers to construct scalable user-friendly dApps with minimal transaction costs without ever compromising on security.” The Polygon Lightpaper defines Polygon as a “protocol and platform for constructing and interconnecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks.”
Anthony Sassano, an independent Ethereum instructor, investor, and adviser, went to Twitter on 18 May 2021 to clarify some of the misconceptions about Polygon (e.g. some people refer to Polygon as a sidechain to Ethereum, while others call it an L2 blockchain).
According to Rajamannar, “after joining the incubator, participating artists should be able to mint NFTs, represent themselves in virtual worlds, and form a community,” according to the TechCrunch story.
In a blog post about this partnership, the Polygon team stated that the Mastercard Artist Accelerator program, which will launch in the spring of 2023, will “provide five emerging artists, such as musicians, DJs, and producers, with the tools, skills, and access to forge their own musical paths in the digital economy” and that “the artists will receive exclusive access to special events, music releases, and more.” Evidently, “a first-of-its-kind curriculum will educate artists how to construct (and control) their brand using Web3 activities such as minting NFTs, representing themselves in virtual worlds, and building an active community.”
The CEO of Polygon Studios, Ryan Wyatt, stated: “Web3 has the potential to enable a new sort of artist to build a fan following, earn a livelihood, and create innovative media for self-expression and interaction on their own terms. The Mastercard Artist Accelerator not only demonstrates the strength of companies adopting this new environment, but it also equips customers with the knowledge necessary to engage. This is a significant step forward in expanding access to Web3’s advantages.”
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