On January 22nd, 2022 SoundMint released an official treasury spending plan that would give stakeholders & community members insight into where funds of the initial genesis drop would be spent. The overall reaction from the community was highly positive. We believe that in order to continue a transparent approach to spending and involving the community in financial decisions, quarterly reports are required.

If you have not read SoundMint’s initial treasury plan, feel free to check it out here: SoundMint Treasury: Spending Plan & Vision

Before we dive in, we’ll recap the previously proposed budgets👇

Previously Proposed Budgets

The initial budgets proposed were segmented into 2 timeframes, short-term versus long-term. The short-term timeframe is based on deliverables that we believe are achievable in the desired timeframe, and the same goes for the long-term timeframe.

Short Term (1-12 Months)

• 👥 Hire & Scale ($500k - $600k)
• ✨ Platform Development ($600k - $800k)
• 🌐 Metaverse Investments ($300k - $400k)
• 🎫 Live Shows & Events ($200k - $300k)

Long Term (12-24 Months)

• 🎧 Brick & Mortar Studios (TBD)
• 🤝 Community Giveback Program (TBD)
• 🎼 Artist Grant & Charity Program (TBD)

1-12 Month Plan | Q1 Progress & Updates

Hire & Scale (JANUARY, PAST)

• Creative Director, Brand Strategist
• Operations Manager
• Community Manager
• Community Marketing Manager

Hire & Scale (MARCH, NOW)

• Creative Director, Brand Strategist
• Operations Manager
• Community Manager
• Community Marketing Manager
• ✅ Chief Technology Officer
• ✅ Artist Partnerships Manager
• ✅ Events Coordinator
• ✅ Public Relations Firm
• ✅ UI/UX Designer
• ✅ Marketing Manager
• ✅ Senior / Lead UI/UX Designer

✅ = New Hires or Onboards

COST: $750,000~ per year, which is roughly a $150,000 difference from the high-budget proposed in the previous treasury budgeting plan for hiring.

Platform Development

So far we’ve come to near completion on the new website and are beginning the development of new features, new products, design wireframes, and much more.

Burn & Remix (UPDATE): The team has pushed back this feature as we came to a conclusion that this was introduced too early and should only be integrated once there is a high quantity or volume of varying collections on SoundMint. No collections, no use case for Burn & Remix. We believe it’s best to invest time & resources on more immediate features that SoundMint’s platform relies on.

DIY Tooling + Marketplace + Social (UPDATE): Design wireframes are in the beginning phase. DIY tooling will come first before the marketplace or social integration.

COST (so far): $40,000. Primarily spent on website revamp design.

Metaverse Investments

No purchases of metaverse plots have been made except a large apartment in Worldwide Webbland. SoundMint is actively looking

Live Shows & Events

• 📌 June 2022: NFT NYC, SoundMint Activation

We’re working with a venue in NYC to lock in SoundMint’s first official event. This is not a 100% confirmed event or activation yet, but once there are more details on this we will be announcing them directly via our weekly town halls, Discord, and Twitter.

COST: $30,000 - $40,000

Community Giveback Program

Previously, Community Giveback Program was placed in the 12-24 month plan category. We have actively decided to move this up into a 1-12 month plan timeframe as it’s something that provides instant value back to the community. So far we’ve started to allocate funds via our Community Leader Program described below.

• Community Leader Program (NEW)
  • A closed group of community members that are a part of a program that rewards participation & value provided to the community. The group consists of 50 members, all of which are the most dedicated and high-value to the SoundMint Community, and are rewarded on a weekly basis.
    • Rewards for the Community Leader Program include:
      • Allowlist for each SoundMint drop (provided to all leaders)
      • NFTs from each SoundMint collection
      • USDC / Stable Coin
      • ETH

The Community Leader Program has been a resounding success, but still needs improvements. So far we’ve invested almost 3 ETH, which is put directly into the wallets of the members participating in the program. This does not include private allowlist opportunities that are given to Community Leaders, or any other variable cost.

COST: $8,500

12-24 Month Plan | Q1 Progress

We have actively altered some of the 12-24 month plans, below is a list of changes that have been made:

PREVIOUS: Community GiveBack Program (12-24 Month Plan) ❌

PRESENT: Community GiveBack Program (12-24 1-12 Month Plan) ✅

PREVIOUS: Artist Grant Program (12-24 Month Plan) ❌

PRESENT: Artist Grant Program (12-24 1-12 Month Plan) ✅

Moving Community Giveback & Artist Grant Program

Initially, SoundMint proposed a 12-24 month time frame for integrations of the Community Giveback and Artist Grant Program. These have been moved to a more present time frame as they require less internal resources, improve & build the community, and continue to value early NFT holders more as the pool of individuals who are holders in the Discord will be much lower now than in a year from now.

New Developments

Ah, the fun & exciting part. Let’s get into it! 👇

Community Giveback Program: Added Features + Utility

As we continue to develop the Community Giveback Program we have begun to explore options that would utilize funds in ways that would be on-brand with SoundMint as a music NFT platform, but also provide physical benefits & utility for the community. Below is a list of features that we are adding to the program:

• 🎫 Tickets + Passes to Global Music Festivals.
• 🎧 Access to Music Production Software.

Passes to festivals and production software will be rewarded on a weekly basis.

COST: ~ $3,000 - $5,000/m

Artist Grant Program: It’s Coming

SoundMint will be launching an Artist Grant Program. This will be an exciting integration for the Web3 Music community as funds will be going directly to artists and musicians to help facilitate the growth and progress of musicians & visual artists diving into Web3.

This program will be funded initially with a beginning allocation between $7,000 and $10,000. The SoundMint team will select 5 artists on a recurring basis that falls in line with a similar time schedule of the curated collections we put out. Meaning if we do 1 curated drop every month, we will select 5 new artists once a month.

The grant program will be built in a way that is similar to an incubator but on a shorter time cycle per artist. We believe that this will be an effective way to:

1. Encourage artists to create and explore opportunities in Web3.
2. Put money back into the creator economy.
3. Build awareness for SoundMint in the Web3 artist/music community.
4. Create new forms of music NFT collectibles & art.

COST: TBD, but initially between $7,000 - $10,000 USD. Funding will increase as the program grows and demands it.

SoundMint Curated: Content Strategy

We pride ourselves as a curator-focused brand and believe that in order for SoundMint to succeed - it needs to be an A-Level tastemaker, while also putting on and highlighting the artists we release with by telling their stories.

That is why we are excited to be launching an original content strategy directed by Mitchell Mullins, founder of Bluehour.

This will play heavily into SoundMint’s YouTube strategy which will bring in a new and untraditional audience to SoundMint that most platforms, artists, and brands are not considering.

COST: ~ $100,000 for year of 2022.

Concluding Q1 Treasury Report

So…there’s been a few changes, some added features, and lots of developments. We have spent a good amount of time and energy building what we’d like to call the ‘foundation’ so the pillars we stand on will be ready for what’s to come.

There’s so much more in development that we are not at liberty to discuss yet until we have worked on the hammering in final details to the ideas, but a lot of positive change and progress is coming to SoundMint which we believe will be our moats as the ecosystem continues to build.

Until Q2 - speak soon Minters.