Ant veteran turns to NFT verification for SXSW festival VIP feastAs funding into web3 projects cool down during the crypto winter, startups in the space are increasingly focused on building bridges for mass adoption and exploring revenue opportunities to stay afloat. The key to driving mass adoption? Offer experiences that are so seamless that users don’t realize blockchain is involved.
One company that is demonstrating how blockchain can come in handy in real life is Kansas-based Redeem, which allows users to claim non-fungible tokens using phone numbers rather than having to set up crypto wallets. Off the back of its recent $2.5 million pre-seed funding round led by Kenetic Capital, the startup is deploying its NFT solution to manage a VIP dinner at the tech festival SXSW this week.
The co-founder and CEO Toby Rush is a third-time entrepreneur who, in 2016, sold his biometric company EyeVerify to Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba, for $100 million. Few other companies in the world are as adroit as Ant in building intuitive fintech products. Together with its nemesis Tencent, Ant popularized the use of scan-to-pay to over one billion people in China.
Rush subsequently got acqui-hired by Ant’s corporate venture team, focusing on blockchain deals. It was an experience that paved the way to find practical use cases for blockchain.
“As you know, cryptocurrencies aren’t allowed in China. NFTs that we have over here aren’t really a thing in China. But hardcore business use cases are. How can blockchain make businesses better? That was my investment focus,” Rush told TechCrunch in an interview.
“So as I started to learn about blockchain, it was very much practical, realistic. It’s not that how do we go trade in NFTs, how do we create a new token, it was really much more what I would call hardcore business cases,” he added.
Rush eventually identified a use case for NFTs and started Redeem early last year. He was fascinated by the technology “not as pictures, but as a digital asset that can live outside the walled gardens of Apple, or Google or Facebook, Ticketmaster, or Visa,” he admitted.
“When I can own a little piece of data outside of their walled gardens, lots of other people can engage and collaborate with me in an open ecosystem.”
The challenge of utilizing NFTs, he reckoned, is that the onboarding process and even using them after onboarding is really hard. Instead of building an NFT infrastructure from scratch, Toby looked to an established, ubiquitous global directory system — phone numbers.
“Carriers have spent billions of dollars making sure there’s only one device in the world that can use my phone number right now. There are 6.8 billion smartphones already deployed, so leverage that — if you have your phone, you have a wallet,” he explained.
This is how Redeem helps bring users into web3 by opening their first wallets, the gateway into all things crypto. Say they are attending an event that distributes NFTs as swag, they will first scan a QR code with their phones. Two links will pop up — onboard via SMS or WhatsApp. Say the users pick WhatsApp, Redeem will then automatically create wallets for them in the backend, put NFTs into their wallets, and send them a message on WhatsApp linking to their newly created wallets.
Basically, Redeem is using users’ phone numbers to authenticate who they are and create unique wallets. Rather than having them go through the process of signing up for a wallet and noting down the 16-word recovery phrase, it leverages the popular methods of QR code scanning and text messaging.
“When you send a message, there’s only one device in the world that can send a message from your phone, and that’s you. When you get to choose your preferences, it’s creating a message, so it’s pre-populating who it’s sending it to, and this is the NFT you want to claim. When you hit send, your phone number is claiming this NFT. So we create a wallet and send you a response back, and you are onboarded.”
The system can similarly be used to authenticate people’s access to events. At the VIP dinner at SXSW hosted by Arkive, a company that is building a decentralized museum, Redeem’s solution is helping to verify the identity of 200-something attendees. Once they scan the QR code at the gate, Redeem’s backend will check whether they have the required NFT ticket in their wallets that are linked to their phone numbers.
Redeem isn’t trying to be a wallet itself but more a connectivity layer through a B2B2C strategy. Users can bind their wallets, be it Metamask or Phantom, to Redeem as their default solution.
And why should event organizers use NFTs rather than the traditional ticketing system? The differences lie in control. In existing practices, centralized ticketing enablers like Ticketmaster control users’ data. In web3, any group can engage with an audience through NFTs without having to ask permission from Ticketmaster.
Redeem is already getting traction from event organizers. While Rush declined to disclose who his company is talking to, he hinted that these are “brands that do lots of sponsorship and marketing and live events.”
“So they want to do activations on-site, but they don’t want activations to stop on-site. If they get NFTs, there’s a way for them to do lots of post-event engagement,” Rush said.

Arkive is building the world’s first decentralized museum

Ant veteran turns to NFT verification for SXSW festival VIP feast by Rita Liao originally published on TechCrunch

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Japan generated over half a billion dollars from subscription music streaming in 2022New stats published by local trade body RIAJ
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Reid Signs Publishing Deal with Chester Music LimitedWise Music Group is pleased to announce a global exclusive publishing deal between American composer and sound artist Ellen Reid and Chester Music Limited. A composer and sound artist whose breadth of work spans opera, sound design, film scoring, ensemble and choral writing, she was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her opera, p r i s m. Reid is currently working on a work for string orchestra commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with generous support from the Esa-Pekka Salonen Commissions Fund. West Coast Sky Eternal will be premiered in May 2023. Other projects include a stage work for Dutch National Opera.

In collaboration with composer Missy Mazzoli, Ellen co-founded the Luna Composition Lab. Luna Lab is a mentorship program for young female, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming composers. During the 2022-2023 season, Reid serves as Composer-in-Residence with New Mexico Philharmonic and is Contemporary Music Chair for Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

In 2020, she created Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK, an ongoing work of public art that reimagines city parks as interactive soundscapes. SOUNDWALK premiered in New York’s Central Park, featuring the New York Philharmonic, and continues to expand to parks around the world, fostering collaborations with ensembles such as Kronos Quartet and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

"I am honored to join Chester Music's phenomenal line-up of composers — these are artists whose work I deeply respect and admire”, says Ellen Reid. “And I couldn’t ask for a more talented and passionate team than those at Chester and Wise Music Group to help guide me through the next chapter of my career."

Managing Director of Chester Music Limited, Wiebke Busch, comments: “The team at Chester Music is honoured to welcome Ellen Reid, composer and sound artist of a unique dimension! We are inspired by her creative energy and honoured to be part of her creative journey.”

Gill Graham, Group Head of Promotion and Creative Director UK Rights Companies, comments: “I heard SOUNDWALK quite by chance in Central Park and since then it’s been both inspiring and rewarding getting to know Ellen and her catalogue. We look forward to collaborating with Ellen and her team on exciting musical adventures.”

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Blast Delay Is FREE With Any Purchase @ ADSR Sounds
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Jazz Tutorial: Creating an Artistic Interpretation of a Song with Piano. Someday My Prince Will Come – Pro LevelYou can check level 3 (Advanced level) in this post here: Jazz Tutorial: Advanced Arrangement of Someday My Prince Will Come

Jazz music is known for its improvisational nature and artistic interpretation of songs. In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to create an artistic interpretation of a song on the piano, using the example of a dreamy and impressionistic version of a jazz standard.

First, it’s important to adopt the perspective of an artist. Think of yourself as a painter, using colors and textures to create a unique version of the song. The piano has a wide range of dynamics and articulations that can be used to create a broad spectrum of sound.

In this version of the song, the intro is a departure from the original arrangement, but it still has elements of the original melody and harmony. The intro showcases the versatility of the piano, using sudden moments of loud and soft, and gradual crescendos and diminuendos.

To create an artistic interpretation of the song, it’s important to keep in mind the tools available to us, including the piano’s range and articulations. In the intro, we see a nice long legato run in measure 6, followed by a nice implementation of separated and detached staccato notes. There’s also a good illustration of subtle dynamics in the B/D7 chord in the second measure, which pops out of nowhere and fades into a softer dynamic in the Ebmaj7#11 chord.

Throughout the intro, we see examples of how the melody is present, even if it’s not super obvious. For example, the F note is the 5th of the F chord, and then it jumps up to an A# (Bb), the #11 of the F#/E7#11 chord. Then it jumps down to be the F#, the 3rd of the D7 chord. The melody is also present in the voicings of the chords, sometimes as the highest note and other times as an interior note.

One way to create an artistic interpretation of a song is to re-harmonize it. In this version, the only reharmonized chord is the F#/E7#11. One way to approach re-harmonization is to consider what chord tone the melody note could be, and plug that chord in.

Upper structures are also a great tool for creating new colors and textures in jazz music. In this version, we see examples of upper structure triads, upper structure quartals, and upper structure pentatonic voicings.

To create your own artistic interpretation of a song, experiment with different chords, voicings, dynamics, and articulations. Remember that the piano is a versatile instrument, and there are countless ways to paint your picture with sound.

In conclusion, creating an artistic interpretation of a song on the piano requires a perspective of an artist, a deep understanding of the piano’s range and articulations, and a willingness to experiment with different chords and voicings. Keep the melody in mind, even if it’s not super obvious, and use tools like reharmonization and upper structures to create new colors and textures. With these tools and techniques, you can create a unique and beautiful version of any song.

If you want access to all of these arrangements (Beginner’s • Intermediate • Advanced • Pro) you can download them here: Someday My Prince Will Come in 4 levels