Summary:
Dreams Never Die is an independent record label preparing to convert into a DAO, and we’re looking for early builders to join the team—especially those with experience in tokenomics and the broader Web3 space, but also artists, aspiring and established music professionals, fans, and anyone who resonates with our mission.
In this post, we’ll explain who we are, what we’re building, why we’re building it, and how to get involved.
If you would like to get involved, join our Discord Server here.
What is a DAO?
A DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) is “an internet community with a shared bank account and cap table,” as put by Cooper Turley. It’s a place where like-minded individuals can come together, pool resources, talent, and relationships to build a sustainable community where token holders can participate in the DAO’s cultural and financial growth.
Learn more about DAOs here.
Who are we?
We’re a team of music lovers with a lifelong passion for unearthing the world’s best new talent.
Since 2007, we’ve been finding, sharing, and working alongside many of music’s best new artists, whether it be through our record label (Dreams Never Die), our curation platform (Before The Data, FKA Hillydilly), or other outlets.
We earned our reputation in the industry by discovering and helping break some enormously influential artists (Billie Eilish, LANY, Lorde, Two Feet, Yellow Days, Kygo, Chelsea Cutler, Tom Misch, healy, joan, VÉRTIÉ + many more). Despite our successes, we learned that pure music discovery wasn’t sustainable; in the process, though, we had unintentionally put ourselves in the perfect position to form a record label.
In our first two years, Dreams Never Die has signed over 23 new acts, and through our daily practice of sifting through hundreds of songs in every corner of the web, we intend to continue finding and developing the world’s best new talent.
You can read more about the label here.
What are we building?
Since its inception, Dreams Never Die’s mission has been to position artists for success by providing resources and guidance in the very early stages, while concurrently amassing a diverse catalog of forward-thinking songs from potential stars.
Now, DAOs are expanding our scope.
We intend for Dreams Never Die to become an incubator for brand-new artists and aspiring music business talent alike, built around an incentivized and aligned community that participates in discovering, developing, distributing, and promoting the roster.
Similarly to the existing label, the music will be the backbone of the DAO.
Why are we building it?
The music industry’s current, data-driven structure makes it incredibly difficult for even the very best new artists to get heard and begin making money, especially without signing an often-exploitative deal with a big company. Not only are great new artists suffering from the current paradigm, but many passionate, talented minds wanting to work on the industry side are finding it equally difficult, especially without compromising their passion for great music itself.
Web3 presents new opportunities and solutions to these problems.
We want the Dreams Never Die Records DAO to form the building blocks of a Web3 community that can become sustainable around artist discovery, early-stage development, and making sure the best music gets heard.
We envision many of the world’s best new artists and aspiring music professionals aligning to explore new routes toward sustainability; we hope the DAO allows people who are great at what they do to make a living doing what they love.
Team:
Chad Hillard (Project Co-lead)
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Founded Dreams Never Die Records, Before The Data, and Hillydilly.
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14+ years of additional industry experience as manager, A&R, promoter, and label owner.
Cole Ryan (Project Co-lead)
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VP of A&R, Creative Director at Dreams Never Die Records.
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Co-Founder, Editor, Creative Director at Before The Data (former Senior Writer at Hillydilly).
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Artist Manager, DJ, Graphic Designer.
Ben Frigeri (Project Co-lead)
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Senior Writer and Curator at Before The Data.
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A&R, Manager.
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Macro music trend analyst.
Chris Anokute (advisor)
Chris is a veteran music industry executive and founder of artist development company Young Forever. He’s held key A&R roles at Virgin/Capitol Records, Universal Motown Records, Island Def Jam, and Epic/Sony, as well as being Katy Perry’s A&R for the past decade. In addition to having one of the best radars for new talent in the business, Chris is one of the loudest advocates for justice across the industry—needless to say, we’re honoured to have him on board.
David Greenstein
David is the co-founder of sound.xyz, a suite of web3-native music and economic tools powering the next generation of artists and their communities, starting with listening parties for new releases. David grew up in the music industry; he started working at Atlantic Records at 13-years-old, and more recently at Pandora working on recommendation systems. His mission is to restore the true value of music and create a more sustainable middle class for artists.
Who should get involved?
Web3 Specialists: People who can help properly launch a token and DAO, and are specifically well-versed in:
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Tokenomics
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Governance & Operations
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Community Building
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General Advising
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Utilizing specific off and on-chain tools for DAOs
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!vibes
Artists, Music Professionals, Fans, and More: We anticipate needing a diverse, passionate team as we grow, and we encourage anyone aligned with our mission to tap in.
Roadmap
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Open up private discord channel, recruit initial team members
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Town Hall Meetings to discuss plans, next roadmap, and fundraising ideas
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Launch fundraiser on Mirror
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Build infrastructure and longterm roadmap for the DAO, begin early stages
How to get involved?
Join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/9eUtUmdkrr
Introduce yourself, let us know what you're interested in, or just come and hang.
Alternatively, you can DM Chad (Twitter) and Cole (Twitter), or email us (chad@dndmg.com, cole@dndmg.com)
We look forward to hearing from you. 🤝