Coachella 2024: NFTs, Fortnite, and More!

Web3, AI and the creator economy in under 3 minutes per week!

Author

Shira Lazar
April 14, 2024

Happy Sunday! I hope you’ve all had a great week! Let’s dive into this week’s biggest headlines. 👇

What You Need to Know: 

Coachella, the iconic music and arts festival, is making a notable comeback in the tech arena, especially in the realm of NFTs, after a rocky initial encounter. 

The festival first ventured into NFTs in partnership with FTX, launching digital tokens that included perks like lifetime festival passes in 2022. However, following FTX's dramatic collapse, these NFTs lost their functionality, leading to a significant setback for Coachella's digital ambitions.

Despite these challenges, Coachella has not shied away from the digital asset space. This year, the festival has teamed up with OpenSea to give NFTs another go. This new partnership focuses on creating NFTs that not only retain value but also enhance the festival experience by offering VIP access and exclusive merchandise.

Coachella and Avalanche have teamed up to launch "Coachella Quests," a blockchain loyalty game that rewards fans with exclusive festival perks through NFTs for completing quests. This digital innovation, powered by Avalanche's efficient blockchain, blends real and virtual festival experiences to foster deeper fan engagement.

They’re also expanding their tech footprint by diving into the virtual world with Fortnite. This collaboration allows attendees and fans to engage with the festival in a dynamic and immersive virtual environment, signaling a shift in how live events can integrate digital interactions to enhance user experience.

Coachella has a long relationship experimenting with emerging tech, including their infamous Tupac hologram using Pepper's Ghost technology in 2012, Here Active Listening earbuds in 2016 for audio customization, smart wristbands and apps for navigation and payments, 360-degree live streaming since 2016, and virtual reality tours introduced in 2016.

In the news:

I’ll be at Outer Edge, Riyadh, the first VIP web3 event taking place in Saudi Arabia on April 23rd!

For more information, click here.

On My Radar:

Airchat

Airchat and its launch have taken center stage this past week. The new app has been described as a blend of Twitter/X and Clubhouse, focusing on voice-based interactions. Users post via voice recordings that appear as text but are played as audio, creating a unique, voice-based timeline. The app also allows for video and image posts and lets users start "channels" on specific topics, although voice posts are the primary mode of communication.

Led by AngelList founder Naval Ravikant and former Tinder product executive Brian Norgard, the app is currently in a closed beta to select users.

🔥My hot take:
- I love voice notes/texting, so I am enjoying this.
- This could address our fears around AI and automation as they relate to social media community building. The value here is the individual and the intimacy and authenticity of their voice... literally.

Shira Lazar

Other headlines to check out:

Web3

AI

Creator Economy 

Gentle reminder:

If you want to be taken seriously, don't just point out problems; point out solutions.

Remember, I'm Bullish on you!

With gratitude,