GRAMATIK, the World’s First “Crypto-Artist”… by SingularDTV
Zach LeBeau, CEO of SingularDTV
“Blockchain technology is pretty much the only thing that gives me hope for the future.” — Gramatik
When David Bowie launched “Bowie Bonds” in 1997, I thought it was the most awesome thing I’d ever heard — aside from his music — monetizing his future royalties and sharing them with the public! He raised $55 million dollars doing it.
The fact that those people purchasing Bowie’s future royalties were primarily from the financial services industry was slightly off-putting. It was an “insider thing”. I doubt many diehard Bowie fans outside of Wall Street participated in buying his bonds. I wanted to but I didn’t know the first thing about Wall Street!
It’s no surprise SingularDTV is getting together with Gramatik, the internationally groundbreaking, genre-fusing, electronic dance musician, DJ and indie producer. He’s picking up where David Bowie left off, and together he can do with SingularDTV what David Bowie probably always intended, to share his creations with the world — his fans — in a much more meaningful way than was ever possible before.
I’ve been a big fan of Gramatik for years. I discovered his music at about the same time I discovered Bitcoin. For anyone that knows him understands the movement of decentralization and the ethos behind his music go hand-in-hand. If you’re a fan, then you may have heard him speaking passionately in interviews about how he catapulted to international stardom through peer-to-peer file sharing — bittorrent — or heard him preach about all the things that are wrong with the music industry… the gatekeepers… the intermediaries... I’ve never met an artist with such a “decentralizing” mindset. He gets it, so much so I didn’t really need to explain the concept of SingularDTV to him. His was already there. And his management team at C3 were right behind him. I told them about the applications we’re building, they asked a few questions about how it all worked, synergy abounded, and the rest is about to be crypto-history…
Gramatik is the first “Crypto-Artist” to launch with SingularDTV in the coming weeks along with our first apps, artists and projects. We‘ve seen a lot of proclaimed “firsts” in the blockchain world regarding entertainment, but none of them have materialized. But with Gramatik it’s not hype, it’s real, he’ll be utilizing several SingularDTV apps, from generating the GRMTK token with Tokit and administering his token launch with LaunchPad, to putting his content on his own channel with our peer-to-peer distribution portal, EtherVision. All throughout, he’ll have complete control over his expression and his rights, royalties and revenue.
“I’ve been waiting for a platform like SingularDTV to come out that utilizes blockchain technology to cut out the gatekeepers and middlemen. I just want to release my own music whenever I want, on my own terms. I want to get rid of all that bureaucracy. I just want to make music. Living in a world that’s owned by banks and corporations, blockchain technology is pretty much the only thing that gives me hope for the future.”
How & Why SingularDTV Ventured Into Music
SingularDTV was founded to disrupt the film and television industry. But day after day I received emails from musicians — artists of all mediums contacted us — looking for solutions. There’s so much pain out there for those trying to make a living off of their expression and creativity. The further along we climbed our dev ladder, the more we were convinced that SingularDTV needed to service any and all forms of digital entertainment and art. Specializing in only one medium is such a centralized way of thinking. Platforms developing on the blockchain that decide to go the route of specialization will inevitably find themselves rendered obsolete by those that accommodate the various forms of art and entertainment that can be digitized and distributed electronically. Over and over again, I heard from musicians who not only wanted a place to showcase their music, but also their tour films, short films, feature films, ebooks, whatever they were creating. Of course! SingularDTV listened to those artists and we’re customizing our applications and platform around their needs.
I strongly urge blockchain entertainment startups to not see things in the decentralization paradigm as they are in the centralized legacy world. Don’t specialize. Diversify and expand. This is what the blockchain is all about, consolidating everything that is separated into one. It gives us new and innovative ways to interact with the world. You can’t take the same bloated, inefficient and obsolete models that have been birthed in centralization and that are now dying there and save them on the blockchain. The blockchain has so much more potential than that. It demands a new approach… the blockchain demands a decentralized approach.
SingularDTV CMO — Bill Richards — Formally of Universal Music Group and Sony Music
The synergy between SingularDTV and music continues with the conclusion of a lengthy search for a new Chief Marketing Officer — Bill Richards. We’re so excited to have him aboard and will be announcing more about Bill soon. He joins the SingularDTV team with more than two decades of experience in the music industry. He was the VP of Marketing, Sales and Business Development at Sony Music as well as it’s indie label affiliate Wind Up Records. At Wind Up, he oversaw all departments including marketing, digital and social media, sales, creative and public relations. Under his leadership, Wind Up achieved National Billboard number one debuts for rock bands Creed and Evanescence and the company attained one billion views across artists’ youtube channels.
At Universal Music Group, Bill served as the Senior Director of Marketing, leading promotional strategies and worked directly with a number of high profile artists, including Elton John, The Who, Prince and Amy Winehouse. We’re looking forward to the energy and experience Bill brings to SingularDTV and his mission of taking us from the cryptosphere into the mainstream.
The GRMTK Token Launch
I’m on a plane to Paris as I write this piece, the day after we began shooting the documentary of Gramatik’s journey to tokenization. We’re here to establish SingularDTV Paris and there’s some prep work needed for Gramatik’s arrival. His European tour begins in Luxembourg on Oct. 13. We’re shooting the documentary with a specific focus to bringing blockchain down-to-earth, away from the heady technical aspects of it and into real-life. By filming Gramatik’s journey, we hope to inspire other musicians — all artists — to start seeing the world through “eyes of decentralization”.
We’ll be talking more about Gramatik in the coming weeks. SingularDTV is not only in Europe to launch the GRMTK token during his tour, we’re also administering the launch of several apps, artists and projects from here. And for those of you who don’t know Gramatik but are into crypto, get to know him, he’s the “real deal”. He embodies everything the decentralization movement stands for, and SingularDTV urges the cryptosphere to show him their support. Finally something’s happening that’s not just about big ideas yet to materialize, or just about speculation. Now decentralized applications are launching with real artists using them that solve real problems in the world. Gramatik’s been peer-to-peer and decentralized since his career began, which makes him the perfect artist to help jump start what we believe will become a truly decentralized and sustainable entertainment economy — the evolution of the entertainment industry.
Zach LeBeau, CEO SingularDTV
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