Introducing the HUSL
Does your NFT give you access, or does it give you backstage access?
We are, all of us, hustling.
Baristas and bus drivers, actresses and actuaries. The hustle is non-stop, and we are all on our own paths, creating our own value. Sometimes the paths cross, and at the crossing points we stop to share our value.
Except now those crossing points have become barred by gatekeepers. Gatekeepers who charge for the privilege of sharing. In the music industry, as new stars rise and cross the paths of millions, their gateways become ever more barred, and the gatekeepers siphon ever more value. Those who create the most value have become the most disconnected.
If cryptocurrencies created anything, it is the chance for individuals to connect and share their value, from person to person, peer to peer. No middlemen. Cryptocurrencies are a battering ram that beats down the gates and lets value flow through whichever path it wishes.
Industry by industry the cryptocurrency revolution has smashed through middlemen. There is now no need to give others custody of our value or trust a third party while giving them a cut.
At HUSL, we believe music is the most connecting industry of all. It is what accompanies us on our daily hustle. Music connects us through gifts to partners, on the dancefloor with friends and strangers, and in memories with loved ones. Yet the connection between creator and consumer has been lost. Intermediaries take up to 80% of the value from those who create it. If any industry needed to connect creator with consumer and remove its own bloated middle, it is the music industry.
There is a slew of pain points in the industry that are all connected to the problem of middlemen. Stars need to reclaim their distribution and ownership, fans should share in the stars’ success and talent should rise based on the value they bring to the culture, not to the bottom line of the label. Commercial interested have long been a cold death blow to the creativity. So now HUSL is bringing a new generation of peer-to-peer value to the music industry, through value driven NFTs. It is a platform for creatives, by creatives.
In the 90s, MP3s were decried by industry insiders as a death blow to the music industry, the end of studio albums and a bane for any developing talent. But they were wrong. Instead, music has thrived on sharing. New artists can create whatever they like and distribute their work anywhere. But one thing is true — their value needs protecting. As impressionable new talent seeks larger audiences, they give away more and more of their value to middlemen and distributors. Developing artists need a way to create value, protect it, and for those that share it to share in the value.
Until the birth of NFTs and the blockchain that records them, there has been no way of protecting ownership and uniqueness in the digital world. One mp3 could be shared amongst untold numbers, but none of that received value was reciprocated. This peer-to-peer sharing laid the foundations for blockchain technology, but it was not until now, until NFTs and until HUSL, that the value could also be protected and shared. Shared from consumer to creator and back to consumers again.
Both artists and their fans have been robbed through the old paradigm. Artists have been shut out or shaken out, and fans have only been seen as receipts, not as creators of value in their own right. What of the person who discovered a band, who shared their tracks with friends or lent them their garage to practice in? The music industry is littered with the livelihoods of those who were on the fringes. Always supporting and sharing, creating and cheering, but never recognised, nor valued.
HUSL was born out of this injustice. Named to recognise the hustle we all share and built to reward us for it. It is not a fanclub. It is the creation of a new music economy, without middlemen, where artists and their fans grow together.
HUSL is a way for fans to buy into the careers of their favourite artists — from the most famous to the yet-to-be. Fans can engage, receive exclusive content, digital art, tickets, licensed collectibles, fractional record ownership, VIP memberships and more. The HUSL platform empowers musicians to create, curate and grow, while their loyal fanbase grows with them.
Imagine being able to invest in the early careers of the world’s best talent. Now with HUSL you can. Music is art and now it can be owned like art. The first produced track from tomorrow’s star will grow in value with the artist and can be owned by the fan who started the journey with them. Think of the power of the new generation of groupies when they share not only in the joy of music, but its value too. Record labels were built to support and cheer for their artists, and they failed. Now fans can take up the mantle.
And this is no vaporware. The HUSL platform is already replete with big names. Just by owning the $HUSL token you can stake it and farm NFT rewards from:
- Busta Rhymes
- Michael Jackson Visual Artwork
- Yung Bleu
- PVLACE X GUNBOI
- SPIFFTV
- Mike and Keyz (Nipsey Hustle)
- Sapphire Adizes
- Steve Rifkind (Executive)
- Alex Rifkind (Executive)
And more.
This is just the start. HUSL will grow by allowing through the talent-spotting skills of its community, as $HUSL holders recognise talent in others, they can effectively sign them by investing in their careers. Fans are the new record labels — a true appreciation of their power in forming a successful career. Artists and creativity can flourish like never before.
Be more than a fan. Be part of the HUSL.
