PSV BOOTCAMP MARCH 2023:

BLOCKCHAIN/WEB3 for musicians and journalists

MARCH 6-17 2023

ZERO CODING KNOWLEDGE OR EXPERTISE IS ASSUMED

Explain this Course to Me in Twenty Words or Less

Learn about web3 and blockchains.

Develop a possible web3 music concept.

Learn how to pitch to web3 investors and donors.

WHAT IS WEB3 and WHY DO I NEED IT?

  1. Core Concepts of Web3

Although it's challenging to provide a rigid definition of what Web3 is, a few core principles guide its creation.

Web3 is decentralized: instead of large swathes of the internet controlled and owned by centralized entities, ownership gets distributed amongst its builders and users.

Web3 is permissionless: everyone has equal access to participate in Web3, and no one gets excluded.

Web3 has native payments: it uses cryptocurrency for spending and sending money online instead of relying on the outdated infrastructure of banks and payment processors.

Web3 is trustless: it operates using incentives and economic mechanisms instead of relying on trusted third-parties.


2. Benefits for Independent Musicians

Streaming payments occur in real time

Access to (and use of) an audio file can be automatically monitored , which means accurate and fair payments

Web3 works without intermediaries, so there are no commissions

Banks can be removed from business transactions and approval-processes

Web3 works without censorship

Booking agents become obsolete (together with their fees)

Fake/duplicate concerts tickets become an impossibility

Music, once again, becomes a rarity and piracy is significantly reduced. The duplication of a file can be controlled, leading to better prices and income

Artists can earn on the resale value of their music, using NFT technology

All legal information about copyright owners is built into the files, resolving payment and ownerships issues without the need for a lawyer


hosted From UCLA together with blockchain at berkeley

This bootcamp will provide an overview of blockchain technologies and their potential applications in the music and media industries. We will begin by discussing traditional music royalties and copyright structures, with an emphasis on their historical development.

From there, we turn to effective blockchain use-cases in music and media production, including the creation of immutable record-keeping systems, enabling peer-to-peer transactions, and automating royalty payments through a listen-to-earn model. We will also explore the potential for blockchain in facilitating the licensing and distribution of creative works. 

Students will have an opportunity to apply their understanding of these issues through a presentation or proof-of-concept final project. This will allow them to demonstrate understanding of the material and explore potentials for using blockchain in their own future work.

By the end of this course, students will have a solid understanding of blockchain technologies and how they can revolutionize the music and media industries. They will be able to critically evaluate the potential benefits and limitations of blockchain in various industry contexts and career settings. 

ABOUT BLOCKCHAIN AT BERKELEY

In October 2016, the Berkeley Bitcoin Association, a group of about a dozen members, founded Blockchain at Berkeley, an organization dedicated to becoming the blockchain hub of the East Bay. They also debuted the world’s first undergraduate university-accredited blockchain course, Blockchain Fundamentals, taught to about 50 students.

Alongside Blockchain at Berkeley’s education team grew a consultancy that aimed to bridge the gap between geeky bitcoin enthusiasts and technovative early-adopters in the industry to develop Proof-of-Concepts for disruptive blockchain use cases. Since then, as a result of other ambitious B@B members, Research and Governance teams have also emerged.

MISSION

Blockchain at Berkeley drives innovation in the blockchain industry by building an ecosystem that empowers students to make an impact through practical education, consulting for enterprise companies, and conducting open source research. Our vision is to build tomorrow's technology, today. We educate and empower the next generation of Blockchain users and developers. Our members are encouraged to experiment with new ideas and build powerful tools that push the technology's limits.

General COURSE Information

David MacFadyen is a professor at UCLA in three programs: Comparative Literature, Musicology, and Digital Humanities. He is the author of eleven books on the culture of modern Russia and surrounding nations, with a primary focus on the history of popular song and music. Two more books are under consideration with publishers. Over the course of two decades, he has amassed the largest collection of Russian popular (and unpopular!) recordings from Russia – approximately two million compositions that were recently donated to the Wende Museum of Cold War History in Los Angeles. He is now finishing a web3/blockchain app to promote decentralized journalism and music-making with fairer payments and superior copyright protection.

Mohammed Alobaidi studies Cognitive Science, Computer Science, and Design Innovation at UC Berkeley. He founded muusic.xyz, a blockchain platform for owning and investing in one’s favorite music and later joined Catalog as a Core Engineer. He teaches the Blockchain for Developers course, while serving as a full-stack developer and product designer on the Aleo project. Mohammed is very enthusiastic about leveraging blockchain to change the value of creative work and remains an active contributor in web3 music.

Nate Pola studies Economics and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at UC Berkeley. He has been with Blockchain at Berkeley for over three years, currently serving as the Head of Education. In this role, he leads all externally facing courses – including Blockchain Fundamentals, Blockchain for Developers, and two online EdX courses (with a global enrollment of ~300k students). He connects the organization with the broader blockchain community. Nate also teaches two other classes for Berkeley's Haas School of Business: Personal Financial Management and Decentralized Finance.

GUEST SPEAKERS INCLUDE

TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT

Azeem Khan is a New York entrepreneur with substantial experience in biotech, tech, entertainment, esports/gaming, and blockchain. He is currently the Fundraising & Partnerships Lead at Gitcoin, a DAO with over $72 million in grants to open-source software developers. Azeem has raised tens of millions of dollars, distributed to thousands of projects. He is part of the World Economic Forum’s Crypto Sustainability Coalition. 

Natalie Crue currently spearheads Web3 Uncut, an experimental creative lab and contributes to a long list of DAOs and creative communities in the Web3 ecosystem.

Natalie especially values arts and culture as a vehicle for social change - spearheading several such initiatives around the globe that aim to foster civic engagement, spark dialogue, and amplify young communities. 

Jonathan Larr is an entertainment lawyer, based in Los Angeles. He began his career by founding a company to manage artists in the US, UK, Europe, and Australia. He then formed Icarus Law, where he now negotiates major-label record and publishing deals.

Jonathan is currently a leading figure at the non-profit web3 organization, "Water and Music.” "Our mission is to make the music industry more innovative, cooperative, and transparent. We accomplish this through a social approach to knowledge exchange, building collaborative systems for music professionals to distribute and discuss actionable and industry-leading insights."

Stephanie Guerrero is a music industry expert with over ten years of experience, serving as an advisor and CMO at Legato, a web3 licensing-as-a-service platform for a wide range of creatives––and marketplaces. She is also the founder of Goat for Mars, a web3 music consulting firm empowering artists with the creative, financial, and legal opportunities of NFTs.

BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT

Andres Botero "Colombo." Music executive and creative technologist with over with over seventeen years of experience in the music business and now specializing in Web3. Has established track record managing artistic projects, including music and audiovisual production, A&R, artist development, various media platforms, and product strategies for web3 music technology. Blockchain technology researcher.

Black Dave (Dave Curry) is a multidisciplinary artist from Charleston, South Carolina, known primarily for his musical endeavors in web3. Since first minting NFTs in late 2020, he has been working full time in the web3 ecosystem. Among others, he has collaborated with Snoop Dogg, while garnering awards such as placement on the NFT100 list for 2022. Through journalistic projects in the same sphere of decentralized creativity, he has become a recognized thought leader, speaking frequently on panels and podcasts, while presenting at a wide range of industry conferences.

Kas Vegas. In the rapidly-emerging digital collectible space, Kas bridges the gap between art, tech, and culture––bringing an enthusiastic voice to new projects, ventures, and creators alike. Kas has worked with Netflix (“Love, Death, and Robots”), Coinbase (“The Degen Trilogy”), BRON Studios (“Gossamer”), Ben Mauro (“Huxley”) and more. Kas is the Head of Community for Feature.io. 

TOPICS/DATES/TIMES

Note: All of the course times are scheduled in PST (Pacific Standard Time)

Moscow is 11 hours ahead of Pacific Time

WEEK ONE

Session 01 / MONDAY 6 March: Introduction to Blockchain & Web 3 (7-9AM PST)

Bootcamp Introduction (10 min.)

Blockchain at Web 3.0 Overview (90 min.)

Q&A (20 min.)

GUEST SPEAKER 1 / TUESDAY 7 MARCH (8AM PST)

Andres Botero "Colombo"

GUEST SPEAKER 2 / TUESDAY 7 MARCH (9AM PST)

Jonathan Larr

Session 02 / WEDNESDAY 8 March: Music Industry Deep Dive (7-9AM PST)

Music Industry Landscape Overview & Applications (90 min.)

Q&A (30 min.)

GUEST SPEAKER 3 / THURSDAY 9 MARCH (9AM PST)

Stephanie Guerrero

Session 03 / FRIDAY 10 March: Web 3.0 Applications in Media (7-9AM PST)

Current Web 3.0 Use Cases (90 min.) 

Final Project Overview & Next Steps (~15 min.)

Q&A (~15 min.)

Daril Fannin, founder of Kinoapp.xyz. Executive producer, writer, and army veteran. Created, sold, and produced multiple multi-million-dollar film and TV projects with A-list talent such as Matt Damon, Peter Berg, and Jimmy Kimmel.

WEEK TWO

Session 04 / MONDAY 13 March: Technical Dive into Music + Web 3.0 (7-9AM PST)

Demo: Etherscan & Minting an NFT (20 min.)

Demo: ZORA (20 min.)

Demo: IPFS (20 min.)

Q&A (30 min.)

GUEST SPEAKER 4 / TUESDAY 14 MARCH (8AM PST)

Black Dave

GUEST SPEAKER 5 / TUESDAY 14 MARCH (9AM PST)

Natalie Crue

Session 05 / WEDNESDAY 15 march:  Industry Speaker (TBD) (7-9AM PST)

Daril Fannin, founder of Kinoapp.xyz (45 min.)

Q&A (15 min.)

Project Support (60 min.)

GUEST SPEAKER 6 / THURSDAY 16 MARCH (8AM PST)

Kas Vegas

GUEST SPEAKER 7 / THURSDAY 16 MARCH (9AM PST)

Azim Khan

Session 06 / FRIDAY 17 march: Final Project Showcase & Elevator Pitches (7-9AM PST)

Special guests: Pear VC (San-Francisco)

FINAL PROJECT

Students will be assigned to teams of four, in order to prepare a hypothetical business pitch. The plan will include a feasible Web 3.0 use-case or application. Also included is a one minute elevator pitch (delivered on the last day of the course) and a written summary (three-five pages).