In the time since our last mirror update we’ve released the entire second album on web2 across platforms e.g. spotify and soundcloud!

Our mission to release art across blockchains got underway with a custom visual series on tezos called narcissus (collectors received a poetry book airdrop), however got shortly put on hiatus given:

• The complexities of trustlessly enforcing splits

• A seeming marketwide backtrack on NFT royalties: respected by some marketplaces but not others - to the benefit of traders, at the artist expense.

• Gas fees got ridiculous again on ETH

In the time since, things are better.

The tech stack provided by layer two scaling networks like Optimism have enabled platforms, projects and individuals to significantly reduce gas fees for themselves and collectors. Artists started blacklisting marketplaces that didn’t honour royalties, and splits became a key feature across entities like Catalog and Decentxyz.

So we’ve been releasing.

Catalog was the first web3 platform we heard of that was shaking things up in the space. So it was an immense honour and privilege to be invited to participate as an artist. So far we have released Fed Up [non-fungible edit] with plans to expand this universe of edits, remixes, and videos…MORE ON THAT LATER. They were one of the first to integrate splits, gas fees are still high without a layer two integration -- this feels intentional however. given the high quality bar set by the music you listen to there. A luxury on chain music experience. Royalties are respected here.

Doin Fine was released as a result of a hackathon at NFT NYC organised by HER DAO. After setting up a NEAR account and funding it with some NEAR the process of uploading the art and music onto Mintbase was simple, with splits functionality and low gas fees. They honour royalties across marketplaces also.

Royalties on NEAR follow the NFTs in perpetuity, allowing for royalty enforcement across different marketplaces and into secondary sales. With the royalties embedded in the NFT token, they must be respected to complete the transfer of the NFT.

Vibe Brighter was released on Decentxyz who facilitated excellent splits functionality (trustlessly enforced) and did a bunch to help raise awareness for participants in a competition they were running at the time. It was actually very expensive from a gas fee perspective, and the song is available on platforms that do not honour royalties. The ability to easily blacklist such marketplaces as an artist would be meaningful.

We experimented with Chupacabra on Audius. No splits. No royalties. No gas fees. It’s a streaming platform where the top tracks each week receive the native token $AUDIO. Their app is innovative, with features embracing AI and actively updated playlists

Releasing Afterlife on Soundxyz was exceptionally smooth. This has been one of the most impactful platforms driving adoption of digital collectible music. There is an incredibly well thought out process that incentivises engagement and appreciation of both the music as well as the excitement of participating in such events. Splits are honoured, as are royalties, and through their optimism integration gas fees are low.

Finally, Fed Up [Zorb Edit]

We end as we began. This song has many identities and interpretations, as all songs do, particularly given the iterations we went through to realise its intention. Whether its the Fed Up [non-fungible edit] on Catalog. Or the Krinks remix on web2, we’re excited to celebrate the launch of Zora’s own L2 blockchain blockchain ZoraNetwork secured by Ethereum and built on Optimism’s tech stack that makes minting faster & cheaper with a focus on gas efficiency and scalability. We minted this on optimism just to be sure the splits would work.

• Edition ERC 1155 format (all NFTs share same media asset), read more.

• Splits enabled by 0xsplits, zora has a helpful page to set that up.

• Zorbified using the free mac version of CapCut (owned by TikTok) Fisheye effect.

Bless you.

Papa & anatu