MasterCard, one of the largest issuers of financial payments in the world, announced on Friday at CES 2023 that it will be opening a web3-focused incubator to assist artists in connecting with fans through a new medium.
“The core of this program is providing emerging artists with the web3 tools and skills they need to excel and advance their music careers in this digital economy,” Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing, and communications officer at Mastercard said in an interview with TechCrunch. “The core of this program is providing emerging artists with the web3 tools and skills they need to excel and advance their music careers in this digital economy.”
“The artists will be advised on how to incorporate web3 into their work over the entirety of the program and then beyond,” which will be made possible by providing access to industry professionals and innovators in the sector.
Polygon is a scaling blockchain built on top of Ethereum, which has been making significant progress in the Web 2.0 ecosystem as of late. Mastercard has formed a partnership with Polygon.
Polygon has formed strategic alliances with a number of other major brands over the course of the past year. These alliances include Starbucks for its Odyssey digital collectable rewards program and Disney for its accelerator program. In addition, major apparel companies such as Prada and Adidas have launched NFT projects by utilizing Polygon’s blockchain.
According to Rajamannar, after participating in the incubator, the artists should be familiar with how to mint NFTs, how to represent themselves in virtual worlds, and how to form communities.
“We see that web3 has tremendous promise for artists and creators to create, own, and monetize their content,” but only if they know how to use it. “We feel that web3 holds huge promise for artists and creators to create, own, and monetize their material.”
This statement indicates the company’s growth further into the world of digital assets, as it has teamed forces with a number of crypto-focused companies to issue credit cards and has collaborated with Coinbase to help build the ecosystem for non-fungible tokens, among other things.
“With experimental web3 activations taking place all around the world, this past year was a major one for us,” Rajamannar added.
For instance, Mastercard collaborated with Roblox to hold the first Grammy week in the metaverse. During this event, Mastercard offered immersive activations, in-game branding, artist meet-and-greets, red-carpet photo opportunities, and a variety of other activities.
Mastercard executives and other high-level workers have made public statements in the past expressing their favourable thoughts regarding the cryptocurrency market.
Grace Berkery, director of startup engagement at Mastercard, stated in December at Benzinga’s Future of Crypto event that “I feel like once you get the momentum for an institution up and going, it’s hard to persuade them to turn their head and pivot.” Therefore, “institutions” are going to remain in the area if they do decide to enter it.
