Phlote is a music discovery label that I’ve been working on since March 2020. For the past two years, I worked to learn how to find our business model and frame it in a way that didn’t require me to say “NFTs”. The reality is, most people are not in Web3 and don’t care about the blockchain. They also don’t understand the opportunity that we all have to curation, so starting off a conversation with blockchain x curation is an easy way to turn 99% of people off immediately.
People primarily care about things that help them survive and thrive. I’m not mad at it.
Figuring out how to communicate the idea clearly, has taken time. Below is the history of how I’ve workshopped communicating the mission and identity of Phlote.
Monetizing curation has been a core focus. The thesis is that a conviction market disguised as a music curation site is an extremely valuable asset that helps solves a problem for both talented unknown artists and the collectors who want to find them. Both groups are growing and more and more, those two groups will be meeting in Web3. Why? Because NFTs allow for discovery to be monetized.
The trick is to set a simple and understandable opener that everyone can approach. Below is the history of messaging from my personal notes as I was working to find the right language to describe Phlote clearly. All of these progressions have truth, but many lacked clarity. In the end, I should have just stayed where I started.
Shows the strength of the initial intuition.
Phlote messaging history:
October 18, 2020: Phlote is the world's #1 new music discovery platform.
December 18, 2020: PHLOTE is a community of music enthusiasts (DJs, songwriters, producers, engineers, artists, content creators etc) who work to identify talented emerging artists to invest in, using an investment model that uses traditional and new forms of capital to maximize the value of our partners content, brand, and business. Our objective is to provide a fair and transparent way for the creative ecosystem around music to grow sustainably without the need for traditional music labels. The end goal is to provide trusted business partnership for artists and an exciting new way for fans to discover and invest in music.
January 11, 2021: PHLOTE IS CREATIVE VENTURE CAPITAL
January 14, 2021: PHLOTE IS AN ARTIST DEVELOPMENT PLATFORM
January 19, 2021: PHLOTE IS A DIGITAL ASSET PLATFORM
May 7, 2021: PHLOTE is a decentralized music platform owned by a community of music tastemakers. Our platform exists to identify and invest in the next generation of independent recording artists and help accelerate their path to sustainability.
May 7, 2021: PHLOTE is a tech platform built for a community of music tastemakers. Our platform exists to identify and invest in the next generation of independent recording artists and help accelerate their path to sustainability.
June 1, 2021: Phlote is a user-owned new music platform powered by a community of DJs and tastemakers.
July 2, 2021: PHLOTE is community of artists, technologists, and collectors formed to invest in talented artists and make NFT’s that don’t suck.
July 7, 2021: PHLOTE is a music crypto incubator.
August 10, 2021: PHLOTE is being built to exist as a public utility for the expansion of culture and a multi-generational wealth engine for artists and collectors.
August 19, 2021: Phlote is a community of dedicated curators who exist to elevate quality art and the artist who make it. Our first mission is to redesign music discovery so that we can identify and amplify great artists.
August 25, 2021: Phlote is a community that exists to invest inO quality art and the artists who make it. We’re building an alternative path to financial freedom for independent artists. Our first mission is to re-design music discovery.
October 4, 2021: Phlote is a gathering place for creators on the cutting edge of art, new media, philanthropy, technology. To defend against a generational trend of social isolation caused by technology, we deviously use technology to bring the people closer together. At it's core, Phlote is a diverse biosphere of collaborators who demonstrate what human potential can achieve when unleashed by the power of cooperation. More simply, Phlote has built an arena where the players are reminded how fun it is to play and win together as a team.
Phlote is a digitally native community at the forefront of aligning its members with their true passions in life.
PHLOTE is a tight community of innovators who democratized innovation by remixing old ideas to create new "things" that are exciting, new, and fresh. The best ideas are elevated and shared with the world through charismatic media and art. Over time, PHLOTE will separate from its contemporaries by redefining a luxury brand as one that represents generosity, integrity, and truth. Phlote is the best party with the best music and helps its members live better and more fulfilling lives.
Phlote is a gathering place for creators on the cutting edge of art, new media, and technology.
October 31, 2021: Phlote is a venture media company optimized for Web3.
November 11, 2021: Phlote is redesigning music discovery to create a better future for independent artists.
Phlote is creating new media infrastructure that creates new pathways for artists, curators, and consumers to capture the value they bring to the music industry.
Phlote is a music media DAO purpose built to bridge culture into Web3. Our first mission is to redesign music discovery by designing a playlisting protocol that allows anyone to build a great music collection and monetize it.
November 21, 2021: Phlote IS NOT a music label and WE DO NOT sign artists.
December 12, 2021: Phlote is a black venture DAO focusing on decentralized curation of music, culture, NFTs. We're on a mission to build an alternative path to stardom for independent artists alongside a community of dedicated musicians, curators, collectors, and other pioneers.
See this link: https://phlote.medium.com/who-is-phlote-8b01268f86f3
February 12, 2022: Phlote is a clear vision of a better future.
March 24, 2022: Phlote is a composable curation protocol that does 3 things:
Decentralizes curations by enabling anyone to make money by curation music on the internet.
Adds transparency to the process of curation, something thats a huge value to artists.
Allows curators to build a track record on chain.
April 5, 2022: PHLOTE is a curation DAO. Our mission is to find the best music on the internet and bridge it to Web3. We work to amplify talented emerging artists and help them maximize the value of their work using crypto. Our objective is to bridge a new generation to crypto.
April 6, 2022: Phlote is a curation DAO on a mission to decentralize curation as the first step towards building an open, transparent, and fair music industry. We've built a user-owned curation protocol designed to bridge the best musicians on the internet to Web3. Launching on Polygon soon.
Phlote is an internet music startup. We're on a mission to build an open, transparent, and fair music industry and have built a user-owned music discovery platform designed to bridge the best musicians on the internet to Web3. Launching on Polygon soon.
April 10, 2022: Phlote is an internet music company.
April 25, 2022: Phlote is a passionate community of artists, fans, and collectors who seek to directly support the artists they love.
May 1, 2022: Phlote is a community-owned and operated music discovery platform. We are tied together by our own unique social token, $PV1, which gives every member of Team Phlote an economic stake in Phlote.
May 18, 2022: Phlote is an evolving art piece built upon a foundational culture.
May 26, 2022: Phlote is a user-owned music platform where anyone can vote on the music we release and share in proceeds from music sales.
June 21, 2022: Phlote (pronounced "float") is a MUSIC INVESTMENT FUND BUILT TO BREAK EMERGING ARTISTS.
July 28, 2022: Phlote is a decentralized music label that publishes music based on community feedback.
August 11, 2022: I’m thinking Phlote is going to specialize in NFTs with unlockable content and encourage others to create around that content. The music be NFT’d first. And invite others to remix. Then we’ll buy them and flip them with other artists. Artists flip will include the files used. First the MP3, then the PNGs, documents, and files. Phlote earns royalty on the content so is invented to find better collaborators for each piece of content to make the files included more valuable and the NFT’s more valuable as a result. Phlote also receives a royalty. We have keep improving the content until it starts to trade on it’s own and phlotes. All we need to do is select the content we want to do this with and then remix it with the best artists we can find.
September 3, 2022: We do not sign artists. We cosign them. We do not acquire artist's rights. We aim to maximize their value. We do not gatekeep. We curate. We work to benefit artists, not shareholders. We've removed the barriers that prevent anyone from participating in the business of music. We're expanding music industry profits and directing them to the artists, tastemakers, and early fans who are the backbone of global music. We're leveling the playing field and inviting a new class of participants to financially benefit from the creation and distribution of good music. Phlote is pioneering a business model for music that's fair, transparent, and globally scalable. Join the movement by visiting Phlote.xyz.
Phlote is the anti-establishment music platform being built by music lovers to amplify art.
Phlote is a community-owned music discovery platform that helps talented artists maximize the value and visibility of their work.
September 12, 2022: Phlote is a proof-of-work protocol
November 3, 2022: Phlote is a tech enabled music curation and discovery platform. "MCAD"
November 19, 2022: Phlote is a music discovery platform run by a community of music enthusiasts (DJs, producers, engineers, artists, content creators). We identify talented emerging artists and help them maximize the reach and value of their music. Our objective is to help artists achieve creative freedom, create a trusted media brand, and deliver exciting new ways for fans to discover new music.
Be exciting and memorable.
Introduce the conflict/challenge you are overcoming. People are inspired by the challenges that people overcome more than the accomplishment itself.
The energy of the organization will equal the energy resisting you. If you do not name the resisting force, you will not summon/channel the same energy.
Determine a destination
Where are we going?
What will the world look like if we follow you and you accomplish your mission?
Defining a destination give your story and organization a direction.
Helpful references
Here’s YC’s advice on pitch decks, which is helpful in getting concise on the idea, but doesn’t leave investors with enough detail. That said, this is a great starting point for me.
YouTube’s Pitch Deck - Simple and direct to the point.
Harlem Capital has a nice framework as well.