Creator Spotlight: GodCloud

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Who the heck is GodCloud?

👋 Welcome back Vibers!

🧑‍💻 We covered a lot of ground on our last newsletter so we’re going to keep it brief this time around. This edition we’ll focus on artist, entrepreneur, and elite finger-drummer, GodCloud. With the landscape constantly changing, its difficult to stay up-to-date with what is happening in Web3 Music. Unfortunately, we can’t uncover all the intricacies and moving pieces in one-go, but we can turn some stones and show some specific examples to give a glimpse at how some creatives are approaching rebuilding this industry.

🪨 Vibe Stream Network came across GodCloud in 2021 when Tre and Journey were both booked for a virtual performance in a Mozilla Hubs early metaverse experiment. Since then, GodCloud has joined us for livestream shows and we’ve collaborated on multiple tracks over the years. He even participated in our on-chain media contest ETU in partnership with Eluvio during SXSW last year.

🔍️ Today, we have the privilege of giving GodCloud’s perspective and experience from his own words. We’ll be reviewing his path, his thoughts on the industry as a whole, and highlighting his newest endeavor with George Lopez’s label, Malaspalabras Records.

🚀 Let’s Grow!

Straight from the Source

⛓️ GodCloud has been a musician and artist far longer than he’s been a “Web3” persona, however most would consider him an OG in the space as “the first finger drummer on blockchain”. As we mentioned before, we met GodCloud doing virtual performances before any of the known Metaverses were popularized and he has been discussing the viability of blockchain and NFT’s for creators since the Clubhouse app was the hub for these conversations (if you know you know).

💰️ Alright — so he’s been around a while. Got it. Well, GodCloud has released multiple pieces of music across platforms and is still experimenting and sharpening the tools — “As an artist I’ve done some cool projects and collaborations. Although my behind the scenes work on projects and managing artists has been more lucrative.” Recently, GodCloud has joined forces with Malaspalabras Records, a label founded by George Lopez, to help guide their team into creating impactful offerings for the MPR creative roster and their fans. “I joined the Malaspalabras Records family after I helped put together George Lopez’s genesis project. George then introduced me to Andy Vargas of Santana and we did a dropped a joint with Dark Mythst. They had a label already and wanted to incorporate web3 and brought me in to handle it.” Now, they are on a mission together to build an all-encompassing platform that is built with all musicians in mind.

🕴️With new tools and platforms launching seemingly every week, we had to ask what separates MPR from its competition, “What separates MPR Live from other platforms is that there is no separation. Aight that was corny but seriously... MPR Live has everything you need in one spot.” Inside their platform you will find an MP3/MP4 player, a social media component built into tokens, and a fully functional ticketing system… “One thing I’ve always hated about Web3 is how compartmentalized things are, with this we aim to change that.” They are definitely on the right track by incorporating those tools. If you’re a musician, what features would you want to see included?

📚️ GodCloud isn’t just helping shape the features though, he recently released his debut single on the MPR Live platform, “Wanton”. He describes the track as a “really visceral song about sex, drugs, and toxic relationships”. GodCloud tells us that he made the beat during a finger drumming video and it was calling for something wild that he had “to wait until his wife and child went to sleep before recording.” We love to see raw artistry strike while handling the business end simultaneously. It’s time to celebrate the duality of being a modern creative! GodCloud went on to explain that “Wanton” is the “first [single released] on the platform accepting fiat. We did another one with our artist Krystal Ortega but we used our token for that one.” Being able to pay with what you own is a huge step towards lowering the barrier to participation.

🎞️ There is a lot of controversy around the term NFT and we wanted to find out how this blockchain builder tackles the conversation. “If I could explain NFTs in a way to people with out diving deep into the tech side,” GodCloud begins, “I’d say we found a way to buy/sell, and more importantly, own digital assets. I tell people imagine soundcloud but you can start a secondary trading environment with your music and everything is tracked on a database. It’s really simple if you look at it that way.” Basically, taking control of our releases by offering limited edition digital copies to a select group, rather than pushing a button and it is infinitely everywhere for everyone, all the time. Make sense?

🤖 Now that it’s established what an NFT is and why it would be useful to independent creatives, we asked GodCloud’s opinion about what this niche ecosystem is like for those that are already pushing their own Music NFTs. “Its a lot of dope artists that use web3 and congregate around the tech, some people are kinda corny though hahaha.” He went on to explain that he meant too many were focused on quick cash with a follower mindset. “Its a lot of ‘so and so did this and made money? IM GONNA DO THAT TOO!’ That comes from a distorted perception of the space.” He’s referring to the often ugly hyper-financialized sector speculating on crypto and NFT prices. We’re at an interesting point where true artists’ creations are intermingling with memes and cartoon pictures causing some toxicity when evaluating media on-chain.

😁 The last question we had was about the biggest hurdle that Web3 Music faces at the moment. “If web1 is read (email), web2 is write (social media), and web3 is own…. WHY DO WE MAKE OWNING SO COMPLICATED?!” GodCloud is talking about the onboarding process on how to acquire one of these NFTs. Despite millions, potentially billions, of dollars being spent on this new infrastructure, it is still too confusing to support your local artist trying to leverage this tech. He continues, “Its easy to pander to the crypto natives but good luck bringing on your existing listeners. So ultimately we need to get back to reality and use the RIGHT tools.” This is a sentiment that we can’t echo hard enough at Vibe Stream Network. To break free from the toxicity intertwined in some of the aspects of blockchain, we’ll need to build new tools that are separate from it. Don’t abandon your people in Web2 and think you can score from a bunch of crypto holders looking to flip your album for higher… it may work short term, but it isn’t sustainable.

🥳 We thank GodCloud for taking the time to give some knowledge to our readers and wish him and Malaspalabras Records luck with all that they are building. Follow along with GodCloud and MPR on X.

Pop Up Record Shop - Burner of the Week

🏆️ The Pop-Up Record Shop continues to be the premiere spot for Web3 Musicians to share their art, get down and dirty with the tech, and make some like-minded friends. This week, PuRS community manager, Luna wanted to highlight the recent release by artist Paul Point.

🌙 Based out of London UK, Paul Point brings forward a special version of his track “Gotta VIP” available to be minted on SoundXYZ. Written and recorded in his studio, Paul created a “lounge-style break out” track to his original ‘Gotta’; which is said to be released in the forthcoming EP. This laid back style locks you in with a relaxing, yet energetic style of production. Keep your eye on him this 2024!

🎧️ Stay tuned for more shoutouts to creatives who share their art with the shop! To hear more tracks like Paul’s and some great discussion from Luna and the PuRS Gang, tune in every Friday at 11am PST/2pm EST.

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Journey Meta Tool of the Week
- Audiobox by Meta -

🚀 Greetings, Ai enthusiast! This week I’ll be covering an interesting tool that can take your audio recording efficiency to the next level.

🤖 Meta Platforms has unveiled Audiobox, a free voice cloning program that replicates vocal stylings like pitch and pronunciation. The technology comes from Meta's Facebook AI Research lab, building on its earlier voice generation model, Voicebox. Voice cloning is an emerging field in AI, with startups like ElevenLabs attracting major investments.

✍️ For now, there is a constraint on the amount characters, but I’m sure that will grow to a paid version at a later time. Here’s a demo of how I used Audiobox. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0-tSeXrBwr/?igshid=ZDBjMWI0ZjMxOQ==

🛞 Give it a try yourself here: https://audiobox.metademolab.com

Tre Rail’s Word of the Week

12 Letters: -uln--a-i--t-
Definition - Letting your guard down

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