Mastercard Starts New Partnership with Polygon
Polygon and Mastercard have made an announcement together that they will be partnering up to provide a new service that promotes musicians on the Polygon blockchain with their Mastercard Artist Accelerator.
The project aims to bridge the gap between web3 and musicians so that they can find new avenues to support themselves in order to create new music and art.
Accelerator program
The accelerator program will work in a variety of ways to support artists by establishing a community of musicians. These musicians will be given exclusive access to a variety of services and resources to help them build out their brands and art including special events and access to music releases.
The accelerator will also focus on educating musicians so that they will understand how to generate a profit and operate a business using their music using web3. This type of education has a lot of potentials because it helps artists understand a new environment created by blockchains that are known to have a steep learning curve for new users.
Corporate adoption
The collaboration between Polygon and Mastercard hints at a much larger development in web3 that suggests a brighter future for blockchain-based business-corporate adoption.
While bitcoin was first presented as an alternative to fiat and trusted third-parties financial models, the influence of corporations and their ability to implement blockchains into their businesses cannot be overstated.
By doing so, they are helping to push cryptocurrencies towards more legitimate business practices that stray away from the scams and frauds which dominated headlines in 2022.
Another win for Polygon
Mastercard’s decision to choose Polygon is another major catalyst for web3 as the blockchain continues to pull in major investors and business partners from around web2 and web3.
The platform created by the team at Polygon is making massive improvements and has already become a widely used blockchain because of Reddit and its popular NFTs on the Polygon blockchain that were given out to most users for free.
Polygon also became the new home for y00ts, one of Solana’s most popular NFT collections after Frank decided to move both DeGods and y00ts off of the Solana platform. Despite the controversy, the decision leaves the door open for many more to follow because of Polygon's steady success and sound business partnerships.
Music NFTs
Even more interesting is the renewed focus we’re seeing on music NFTs. While less lucrative than their PFP-style counterparts, musical NFTs are still considered an untapped market on web3 with massive potential for future indie artists and that’s exactly what Mastercard is trying to capitalize on.
NFT royalties and the ability to self-publish are two aspects of blockchain technology that make web3 an exciting area for musicians who want to find new ways to market their work.
Even more speculative, the possibility of generative music is also one that could lead to a lot of interesting developments and could be achievable with the growing usage of artificial intelligence on blockchain platforms.
