Use Case: Richie Hawtin & Proof-of-Attendance NFTs
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For techno icon Richie Hawtin, drops are about more than just bass.
As one of the most acclaimed artists in electronic music history, the Ontario, Canada-bred musician has long had an affinity for leveraging futuristic technologies to make processes more efficient and engaging.
“Music and technology have absolutely always been intertwined for me,” Hawtin said in a 2022 interview.
From soundtracking Prada fashion shows with mind-bending audio-visuals to creating his own mixer (and tech-indebted sake brand), Hawtin has always pushed the bar.
Since 2022, his journey as a musical technologist has included a growing affinity for web3 — more specifically, Proof-of-Attendance NFTs.
What are Proof-of-Attendance NFTs?
Proof of Attendance NFTs allow you to mint memories — attending a concert, a sporting event, a party, or a panel — as a digital, onchain token.
Whether delivered through an airdrop, download link, email or by scanning a QR code at an event, Proof of Attendance tokens are essentially NFTs that are linked to specific experiences. You can think of them as a digital ticket stub or physical memento, but instead of putting it in a scrapbook, you store it in your web3 wallet — forever.
As time goes on, you can collect more and more tokens as a way to trace your personal journey.
From Adidas to the US Open, conferences like NFT.NYC, artists like Richie Hawtin, and even platforms that want to recognize in-game activities, Proof of Attendance NFTs have become a beloved use case of the web3 consumer engagement stack.
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While Proof of Attendance NFTs are often linked to attendance as a way to prove and celebrate you did something IRL, they can also be used to recognize and reward contributions and loyalty, such as creating user-generated content (UGC), reading blogs, singing up via your email, and referring peers, across online communities and platforms, including in the metaverse.
Mr. Hawtin, however, has been using these kinds of tokenss as a way to recognize his fans who attend his IRL gigs all around the world. With over 162 drops in his Proof-of-Attendance collection, the DJ has dropped tokens to his fans everywhere from New York to Argentina and Detroit.
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Why does Richie Hawtin drop Proof of Attendance NFTs?
In the crowded live music industry, attending events can sometimes feel cold and non-personal.
Even when the music is loud, and the lights are bright, it’s not uncommon to feel like little more than a customer in a sea of ticket prices. Proof of Attendance NFTs change that. Utilizing peer-to-peer blockchain technology, these NFTs enable artists (or anyone) to recognize their fans and supporters through a unique digital memento that can’t be lost, changed, or taken away.
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Proof of Attendance NFTs also help artists like Richie Hawtin recognize his super fans, those who attend multiple gigs in different cities regularly over time, and offer them exclusive perks and experiences.
Case in point: using Proof of Attendance NFTs to offer a 25% merch discount to fans who have a Hawtin token in their wallet. This hits on a crucial element and opportunity of dropping NFTs overall—the power of leveraging onchain data.
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By having visibility into wallet activity for his growing token holders, Hawtin can see who attended what show and where, all while protecting the privacy of his fans. And offering them something cool and unique, of course.
Whether attendees from a specific gig mint 10 tokens or 10,000, Hawtin still gains a valuable, evolving dataset with a value that extends far past the last drop of the night. That's something you can only find in web3.
If you’re an artist, brand leader, event organizer, online community, or beyond, take note.
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How Mojito is Powering the Toledo Museum of Art’s Second NFT Drop
We caught up again with the museum's CEO to hear how they're leveraging Mojito's tech stack to engage new audiences.
This past spring, we had the honor of collaborating with the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) on the Sankofa Carnival: a digital art experience that showcased a three-part collection of digital works from artists Osinachi and Yusuf Lateef.
This Mojito-powered activation marked TMA’s triumphant first foray into NFTs, where the institution seamlessly adapted to web3 technology, engaging its audience in a narrative about how art can connect people across cultures.
Now, on the heels of the Sankofa Carnival success, we’ve partnered with TMA once again, this time to present House of Yatreda: an immersive, multi-sensory exhibition by Yatreda ያጥሬዳ, the digital artist collective based between Ethiopia, Kenya, and the United States.
House of Yatreda — which will also spotlight Ohio-based painter Jordan Buschur — will be open to the public at TMA through November 10. As another exhibition that features a limited-time open edition minted on-demand exclusively at TMA, House of Yatreda is a testament to the melding of physical and digital art, and traditional art institutions adopting cutting-edge initiatives powered by Mojito's invisible web3 technology.
To check in on how TMA is feeling about the burgeoning new paradigm they've entered into, we spoke with Sophie Ong, the Assistant Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Toledo Museum of Art, and Adam Levine, the President of Edward Drummond and Florence Scott Libbey and Director and CEO of Toledo Museum of Art.
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How Web3 can Boost Luxury Fashion Sales
Three ways web3 help ease the mid-year woes of some of the world's largest luxury brands — LVMH, Prada, Gucci, and more.
From CNBC to Vogue Business to Reuters, the expert analysts have spoken: luxury sales are down.
Hugo Boss reported a second-quarter sales slump of 1% (a cool billion euros), with brick-and-mortar retail revenue down another 3%.
Kering, Gucci's parent company, reported a 50% drop in net profits, while sales have slumped 11% to €9 billion. Gucci, Kerring's star child, dropped 19% in Q2.
The LVMH side of the jewel-encrusted collar is also feeling the squeeze, with slower sales due to decreased Q2 spending among Chinese consumers.
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Who’s hungry for zero-party cookies?
Welcome to the future of personalized consumer data.
Camilla McFarland isn't just a crypto OG who's been making moves onchain since 2013; she's also an advisor and member of Mojito's founding team, who's long been at the forefront of brand innovation in web3.
What better person to wax onchain poetic on the future of brands in web3 at one of the industry's largest global gatherings: EthCC?
Following her talk last year on Big Brands & Web3: NFTs and the consumer brand revolution, Camilla took the stage this week in Brussels to drop some more alpha on brands making moves onchain in a new talk, Zero-Party Cookies: the future of personalized consumer data.