Another busy week here. Doctors appointments. Back to School. Life.

Also work.

More on that soon…

No new subscribers this week. But we did get a share.

I want to officially thank Jim MacCleod for sharing this newsletter on his Twitter. Jim creates an info-graphic that summarizes the content from one of many marketing podcasts each week. It’s called The Marketing Podcast Recap and you should go subscribe.

Hey Jim! I hope it’s ok that I outed you as a subscriber. You shared publicly, so I just assumed it was ok. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’ve got a Kudo waiting for you.

Was that my first ad?

“Will write for shares”…?

You could share this newsletter. Maybe you’ll get a mention and your very own Kudo too. Why don’t you try it and find out.

I’m not that smart…

…or original.

I know this. But maybe you didn't. You’ll learn.

Case in point… This week I discovered that animoca Brands (I know… the ‘a’ should be capitalized, but this is how they do it on their site), has already built, and shut down, an NFT-driven car racing game. F1© Delta Time was killed by that little ‘copyright’ symbol when they couldn’t renew their license with Formula One.

So I’ve fallen down that rabbit hole…

Building an entire franchise on the back of a license they couldn’t control might have been a bad idea. But animoca pivoted easily. They built a collection of other racing titles inside the REVV Motorsports ecosystem. Now that the Formula One version is dead, owners can trade their cars and other assets for replacements. The new NFTs have the same rarity and can be used in the other racing titles animoca owns. And the in-game token, REVV, has always been valid in the other games.

I’m still working on the final installment covering the monetization of our little racing game. But now I’ve got to compare my ideas to what REVV is already doing.

• Add crypto payments to your existing site with their widget

• Scheduled payment management (subcriptions)

• Instant settlement - No chargebacks - This is important when selling items on a block-chain because NFTs cannot be clawed back - Returns have to be agreed upon mutually.

• Supports free trials for your customers

• Supports “Pausable” subscriptions

• No gas fees on subscription payments

  Customers deposit funds into a smart contract. An agreed upon amount (less protocol fees) is transferred to the creator at regular intervals. Soon, customers will be able to earn interest while their money is locked in the contract.

• Creators will eventually be able to reduce their fee rates by buying and staking* (locking up) the CASK governance token.

  *Staking is a mechanism used to make a token more scarce and, therefore, more expensive.

Earning interest on money that is set aside to pay for subscriptions sounds like a good deal. But the interest has to come from somewhere, which means there’s a risk loss. Since that deposit is your future earnings, they will be at risk as well.

And they’re planning on taking plenty of risk.

The example they gave in their docs uses a “Vault Reserve Factor” of 0.8. This means they’re going to expose 80% of customer and creator deposits to some sort of risk by way of other interest bearing protocols. The recent collapse of Terra, and the chain reaction of failures that followed, should remind us that the risk of loss is VERY real.

We’re creating a decentralized community that invests in creators and gives them the tools and operational support they need to accelerate their careers.

• Recently completed a $20m seed funding round

• Building a Community of “Top” Creators

• Apply to join. But there’s a token, so do I have to buy it to get in?

members that join all contribute something to the DAO - be it capital, collabs, mentorship, etc. and the entire community benefits from those contributions

They’re currently recruiting for a 6 week YouTube excelerator program called Creator Launchpad. If you get in, your membership is paid…. But 15% of your future revenue goes into the community treasury.

15%… Of all revenue… Forever?

Secret Walls began with a mission to get local graffiti mural artists off of the streets and onto a stage. Their live illustration battles turn street art into competitive performances.

They have recently expanded their competitive categories beyond only black and white, physical murals. They now include full color and digital creations. To promote the new mediums and their new tour, they’ve created a block-chain driven NFT loyalty program.

As we build the Secret Walls Universe for the years to come, it's important we put our community at the core of everything we do, aligning our goals as a brand with the dreams of our fans. We truly believe to be a fan powered company that fuels live arts entertainment to new levels.

The psychology of this rewards program fascinates me.

First you can mint a free NFT and get some free SYLA (Support Your Local Artist) tokens. The NFT can be upgraded by attending a live Art Battle.

You can earn more SYLA tokens by following and promoting the project. Coin holder benefits start at 10% off in the merch store and escalate to free merch->studio tours->artist access - Benefits are gated by the quantity of SYLA tokens you hold.

I minted one one of their free NFTs and immediately found myself checking on battle dates near me. Then I linked my twitter account and picked up some more SYLA.

BTW - I’m considering the September 13th show in St. Louis if anyone else is interested in attending.

Subscriber Count: 69

Total Alpha Claims: 20

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