28 Oct DJenerates Connects EDM to NFTs [Exclusive Interview]
DJenerates founder Tim Meyer, known in the NFT and art communities as Hipworth, has discovered a way to connect the world of EDM with the NFT industry. For those of you unfamiliar with NFTs, the acronym stands for non-fungible token.
They are unique and non-interchangeable units of data stored on a digital ledger, such as the Ethereum blockchain. These unique items often take the form of artistic photos, videos, and audio. The art uses blockchain technology to establish verified and public proof of ownership.
Hipworth’s DJenerates invites EDM fans to get involved in the NFT community. This groundbreaking NFT collection is made up of 10,000 unique characters. Find out the highlights of the DJenerates platform and what it brings to the electronic music society.
What inspired you to create the DJenerates NFT collection and why?
DJenerates primarily comes from the name “degens”, which is slang to describe an active member in the crypto space. Through my experience in the electronic music industry, I thought the concept was great wordplay. It was a combination of everything I was working on at the time: music, NFT art, and crypto.
What is your favorite benefit that DJenerates offers to music fans and why?
A lot of our DJenerates owners are first-time NFT owners. I think we created a really cool environment for music fans to participate in the NFT world. We are music-focused and allow owners to stream our music-related events in the metaverse.
What was the hardest challenge when creating the DJenerates collection and why?
The hardest challenge was producing all the different traits for our collection. DJenerates have over 400 potential traits, which means there are around 3,000,000,000 unique character possibilities, yet we only released 10,000.
There was a lot of programming and scripting necessary to guarantee that the traits did not conflict with each other.
What was the play-by-play behind how you were able to team up with Decentral Games and why the partnership is advantageous to your NFT owners?
This partnership was formed through our partnerships with Clubbing TV and Amnesia Ibiza. Amnesia is a club in Ibiza with a virtual club in Decentral Games. We had our opening launch party on the DG platform, with big-name DJs such as Benny Benassi and Paul van Dyk; the event streamed music for 24 hours straight.
This is an extremely important partnership for us because we now have a venue in the biggest and most happening metaverse out there. Through the partnership, we can develop special utilities for DJenerates holders. What this looked like in our last event was our VIP balcony for rare DJenerate owners to claim a special edition NFT, made specifically for the event.
A promotion for the DJenerates virtual launch party
Why are the bouncers the rarest group in the DJenerates collection? Why were the groups not divided equally?
The bouncers are rare because they are the only ones with their specific body mod. The bouncer body type cannot be found in any of the other DJenerates groups. The rest of the collection has the same body type.
The reason behind the groups having varying numbers is that we really wanted to mimic an actual clubbing environment. In a real music event, there are different amounts of roles there.
For example, there are a few DJs while clubbers make up the majority of the population at a venue. We tried to replicate the event experience and the demographic within it.
How did your visual arts team decide what colors, items, and appearances would be used for the DJenerates collection?
This was a very collaborative process that started with me creating spreadsheets with items, clothing, objects, and symbols. The artists then interpreted how these would look using references I had given or their own creativity.
The next step was to workshop with the ones that looked aesthetic, simultaneously brainstorming what might have been missing.
How do you select each famous DJ and other notable figures in the EDM industry for your NFT collection?
In the beginning, it was an organic process. I had done NFT projects with producer and disc jockey Carl Cox earlier this year. As a result, he was a natural selection for our collection. Once Carl Cox was on board, we started to reach out to other DJs that we wanted to see represented in the collection.
Eventually, we grew enough of backing for interested DJs to contact us for a DJenerates NFT of them. Finally, we accumulated the 30 DJs that can be seen in our collection.
What does it mean for the DJs you have collaborated with to be “immortalized” on the blockchain?
Ethereum and the blockchain are undoubtedly here to stay. It has become one of the biggest supercomputers in the world. Whatever NFTs are created using the platform are set in stone through the blockchain.
For our DJs, this compares to a Hall of Fame for electronic music. It is an opportunity for them to stamp their place in history.
Can you describe the LAZR DAO application that comes in the package of purchasing a DJenerates NFT?
The LAZR application funds a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). In our community of DJenerates owners, some artists are looking for funding for an NFT project.
Maybe they need mentorship for making their NFT. Maybe they want to set up a proposal for funding. This is a space where our DJenerates owners can do this.
What is the IRL Events application of the DJenerates collection? What type of promotions and giveaways do you offer the community and what do you have planned next?
IRL Events is a platform that enables our owners to collect DJenerates-related merchandise and other bonus gifts. Already, we have given away some merchandise: a designer Amnesia pack that all VIP trait holders received.
We are working on a “White Label” program; particular DJenerates will have a “White Label” record trait. We have communicated with venues and global clubbing organizations and have invited them to this program. The outcome of this is that we have formed a global clubbing pass experience.
What is the goal for your collection in regards to popularity and trading volume on OpenSea?
Our goal is to be recognized as the most significant clubbing NFT drop on the OpenSea platform. Our collection offers people an end-to-end experience, from owning an NFT to becoming part of the electronic music community in the NFT space.
Is there anything that you would like future DJenerates owners and your current owners to know about the DJenerates collection?
The best thing to inform people about is that we have a lot going on in the background right now. We will be an NFT marketplace for music as well as a mobile app. Additionally, we have another drop coming which is an extension of our first drop.
We also have many new and upcoming partnerships with other blockchains and clubbing brands. There is a ton to look forward to; to find out more about it join our Discord.
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