Visions of a new and freer internet, driven by blockchain transactions that aren't dominated by just a few organizations are coalescing around the word "Web3."
Jack Dorsey, CEO of digital payments provider Block (SQ) , recently tweeted that Web3 is a new word and it can be whatever you want it to be.
Dorsey sounds fuzzy, but he is not.
Web3 is still largely conceptual in mainstream consciousness and is vaguely being touted as a new vision of the internet, one that's not dominated by the likes of Meta Platforms (FB), Google (GOOGL) or Amazon (AMZN) among others and is more democratic in nature.
"At the most basic level, Web3 refers to a decentralized online ecosystem based on the blockchain," according to Wired.
Coined by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood in 2014, the term Web3 is being viewed by some as the pipe dream to save democracy through its use of blockchain technology.
At the other extreme are the naysayers or the right-clickers (people who don't like concepts like Web3 and NFTs and who see Web3 as a scam or a shady scheme to woo you in exchange for money.
Dorsey, last year, also offered a cryptic critique about the ownership of Web3.
Making Money by Making Music on Web3
While the debate rages, the concept has already begun to change the fortunes of the music industry expanding revenue options to help artists make more money and not end up being cheated by record labels and streaming platforms.
"The revenue [artists] they’re earning from selling their songs and music as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, is significantly larger," Bloomberg reported compared to what they make on music streaming services like Spotify (SPOT) or Apple Music.
Sometimes to the tune of $60,000 from selling five singles and a music video as compared to $300 a month from streaming with over 4 million streams, according to the report.
It's not surprising that Spotify also wants to get into this space. The online music service is looking for talent that has expertise in Web3 for two positions.
A week ago, Spotify posted two positions both of which needed Web3 prowess as part of hiring criteria.
The first is a job for a full time: Senior Manager, Innovation and Market Intelligence on LinkedIn to join Spotify's team of "futurists providing leadership and strategic oversight in the areas of long-term strategy, industry and competitive analysis, business intelligence."
The candidate for this New York-based position should basically have Web3 expertise among other qualifications.
The company's listing criteria was: "expert familiarity with emerging trends, technologies, platforms and ecosystems, especially as it relates to the content, creator, media, web3, and emerging technology industries."
Spotify said it was looking for an “ambidextrous” individual who can move fluidly between their left and right brain to balance user and market research, creative thinking, technical familiarity, product design, and analytical rigor (aka a “unicorn”).
Spotify is also hiring a senior backend engineer to join its small and full-stack team that is responsible for driving growth through new technologies, like Web3.
The job description added, "You will... facilitate collaboration with product, insights, and design to uncover the next growth opportunity leveraging new technologies, like Web3."
Spotify's job listings come at a time when metaverse-obsessed Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that NFTs will be coming to Instagram, Meta's picture and video sharing app.
Investment firm Wedbush told investors last November that the metaverse will allow users to create digital assets like NFTs with added financial incentives.
It is, however, important to note that the craze for metaverse and NFTs is slowing down, at least according to Google search trends, which have seen a steep drop in search traffic for both terms.
