I’m writing this article in addition to my published video that explains, in-depth what my current music NFT project is about. You can view the video below and catch my music playing in the background.
If you don’t know me, my name is Noxis. I’m a metal guitarist, producer, composer, & sound designer. All around audiophile. I did ~10eth in primary sales volume in 9 months last year. Nothing but myself, my community, & my art improving along the way. In this article I want to explain what I’m doing with this project, how I’m doing it, and why.
The Genesis Module is a 200 edition drop priced at 0.03ether/per. It lays the groundwork for my sovereign creator universe. It’s my vision of what web3 x music can be.
Innovation through artistry, powered by technology.
The 3D artwork was completed by my good friend Wiv & I did all the music/engineering.
This mint is LIVE on a gas optimized contract (~$10/tx):
The Genesis Module is my current project & is currently ~35% minted. The artwork is a full 25-second 3D animation complete with music & sound.
This project is all about the exploring the potential of sound & music in web3.
Rather than than just create a mintpage - I went ahead and built my entire website from codebase. This type of ‘core’ is the main way creators will sever platform dependence.
My website is deployed and can be viewed here:
I never asked the community or had a ‘funding’ release for this website. I put my own time and money in and just started building.
It’s about how creators can create a core to achieve sustainability with their art.
First, I am using a section on the noxis.io website to be a token-gated experience that will provide all collectors access to my platform-less benefit system. These will rollout in phases and be a mix of varying claims, discounts, giveaways, special accesses, & more. Any way my collectors would feel they are being given value, that’s what I want to deliver and make sure that benefit is built and made available.
Moving forward, I will likely be releasing a majority of my music NFTs directly minted from my website. Slated for release will be my next season of audio-visual collaborations (I’ve been talking to some amazing artists in the space for this too).
Something to note is that my website is already built, it’s not a promise, it’s deployed & live. The mintpage above is just a section of my website.
At the same time, I will continue to use platforms for specific drops & cases, but this project is all bout forming the core of what it means to be an independent creator and what exactly is a potential blueprint from a fundamentals perspective.
The last point to touch on is how I plan on bridging the gap between these two contrasting worlds. Although, at first glance they seem as counterparts in nature, however, they both play a vital role in how the world consumes and participates in art/music experiences.
I believe digital and physical elements should mutually enhance each other, not take take away. Web3 allows creators to build online universes with provenance, something that wasn’t able to be done before.
NFTs also allow for the integration of unique experiences while attending an experience physically or via VR headset. Certain mechanics like on-site minting, easter egg discovery within the artworks themselves, making the event a 1/1 piece of art, using time-lock smart contract functions, & giving the public a free NFT if they buy a standard ticket etc. all of these leave an impression on people and give them a memory that they participated in rather than just sat through.
Digitally scalable experiences that also take place physically will morph into full-on multimedia events.
I have a vision of creating immersive sound/music exhibitions starting in Chicago, but building a VR version in parallel. Meaning if you can’t be where the event is, a top of the line VR art experience will still be ready for you.
Digital scarcity through events is something that will revolutionize performing arts and displaying art to the public in unique ways.
The VR experiences will be built with either unity or unreal engine in which the goal is to work with skilled artists every step of the way to make sure the quality of the VR environment is realistic upon entry.
How far can I take my digital and physical universes and create a symbiotic relationship to a point where they both blossom beyond their individual potentials?
The answer is simple. I’m on a quest. In my own artistic quest, it’s a responsibility for me to blueprint a creator model moving forward as a case for artist sovereignty. It’s about building a framework.
Deploying my website codebase on github is the first thing I plan to do in the near future. I will make it public for all to view and to use for their own context. Even going as far as educating folks around how to use the code is in my plans as well, this will likely be done via a series of twitter spaces.
Taking away the ability for a creator to have art minted from their own contract is a handicap in web3. Minting directly from a website is least amount friction from a buyer’s perspective.
Connect wallet. Enter quantity. Mint. Pay tx fee. Done.
You can also gas-optimize your contract, so your collectors aren’t paying $70 in gas fees to buy something from Opensea.
This isn’t a zero-sum game anymore. We can teach others about this space because we don’t go through the same gatekeepers as we do in web2. In that way, it opens the floodgates for artists to innovate at a grassroots level. Figuring out what works from a principles and fundamentals standpoint is critical to this early-stage adoption and artist use-cases.
I believe the future is sovereign for creators, musicians, and artists. There’s a lot to be done. A lot to build. A lot to give back. And…a lot to create.
This is only yet the beginning.