Hi everyone,

So that was May … lots of news and updates to share with you all, I’m pretty certain that you’d like me to save ‘the fluff’, so let’s just get into it …

Format (proposed for quarterly update, but have decided that it can work for a monthly one as well!):

Back — what happened in May
Beats — what’s coming in June
Beyond — what we’re tackling further out

BACK

Mayhem? A little … May brought with it our ‘activation’ at VeeCon, important for many reasons, with a key one being the ability to see/test our power of ‘attraction’.

The team and I have made no secret that the platform you have today (our/your MVP) has been built with our ‘OG’ owners and operators in mind — and to ensure we are able to successfully calibrate the ecosystem’s economy and technology ahead of scale.

However our ‘OGs’, while critical to the foundation of what we’re building, are not the ultimate force behind the platform’s needed growth — they cannot generate the engagement and interaction at the level that Gala Music is building for, not alone.

Currently there are 3 groups of initial ‘target users’ that we believe will be key, as we begin the process of scaling-up:

1. The wider Gala community
2. Connected Web3 communities
3. Fan/Artist communities

While we will continue to ‘lean-in’ to our vast Gala user base (earning-enabled music tracks in games will help here), VeeCon was a critical activation for us to see how the proposition was likely to land among our proposed ‘second wave’ of users — ‘connected web3 communities’.

The good news is that Gala Music landed incredibly well.

The small number of us on the ground were able to witness first hand a truly passionate reaction to what we’re taking on, and our approach to it. I have included some stats below but in addition to the ‘scores on the doors’, more than 18 emerging artists were able to record their tracks professionally in our mobile studio, and 3 as many of you will know, got to perform on the VeeCon main stage, opening for Jordin Sparks (now also signed to Gala Music).

I would like to take a moment to reflect on that part- thanks to your support, and this technology — we were able to take talented singer/songwriters from a microphone stand and a tiny audience, to a stadium stage and a VeeCon crowd — with all their music rights, creative control and authenticity intact … If you have yet to vote for Raging Casuals, Emily Faye or Just Shockey to record a version of their track with Jordin, please do — you have the power.

Along with VeeCon, the Gala Music team also rolled out ‘Listen and Earn’, introducing new users to the concept of earning rewards through participation. I am excited for us to build on this, but am encouraged to see the levels of engagement and keen to use the data we’re jumping into to continue to improve the impact of incentives, and increase the appeal/value associated with our ecosystem as a whole.

Speaking of our ecosystem … here are some key stats for you:

• 280% growth in new account creation in May
• Over 100k visits since March 28 deployment
• More than 70,000 music tracks have now been bridged over to Gala’s L1
• Over 13k users, from 129 countries, are now holding BEAMS
• We saw our first artist ‘level-up’ from Bronze to Silver
• We introduced 4 new artists and welcomed the return of 19 emerging artists
• This month 5 artists received more unique monthly listens on Gala Music than Spotify (meaning we’re starting to be a place for discovery as well as rewards)
• 17 tracks also had higher daily unique plays on Gala Music than on Spotify …

BEATS

Let’s start with BEAM rewards …

June will see us roll-out an updated algorithm. With two large label deals expected to close in June, we are keen, especially with bigger artists coming onboard, to ensure that we are reflecting track/artist performance beyond that in our small (… albeit growing) ecosystem.

Our update will seek to create an improved balance between rewarding emerging artist discovery and delivering a better experience for those holding higher tier tracks from more established artists.

The updated ‘popularity metric’ will take both Gala Music, as well as other major DSP data (Spotify, SoundCloud and YouTube) to ensure we’re being as fair and representative as possible. We will roll this out across all tiers, starting with Silver, then Gold, Platinum and Bronze.

To note, Gala Music plays will have the greatest weighting when it comes to popularity, meaning that while breakout Bronze tracks can still be exactly that, Gold tracks (for example) getting more plays ‘off platform’ will be better recognised within the ecosystem.

Recognition — StashBox Holders

While those that chose to purchase a StashBox received tracks, collectibles, game items and access opportunities, I have been open in acknowledging that there was more that could (and should) be provided in terms of value for those that exchanged.

3931 people exchanged in total, and 41 individuals also qualified for a Gold Chain.

Today, the last day in May, I can share that:

1. Qualifying StashBox Holders (not those who purchased open boxes on secondary market) will receive an earning enabled NFT for the upcoming film production ‘Snoop’s House’. Snoop’s House is a reality show being filmed this summer, it follows the challenges of upcoming musicians who want to show Snoop exactly what they’re capable of. Living together under one roof and undertaking various challenges set by the man himself — those who make it through to meet Snoop in LA will also be able to release music as a Death Row x Gala Music artist. The production will be streamed on Gala Film in September— and the earning-enabled NFTs will be sent exclusively to qualifying StashBox holders. We will be sending out the token you will need for this exchange shortly. The number of StashBoxes you exchanged will be reflected in the level of your NFT/number of frames received.
2. The Making of the Chronic. Snoop mentioned exclusive content from this would be given to holders previously, to confirm, each StashBox Holder will receive an exclusive collectible that is connected to the short film, these will not be made available via public sale. We will confirm shortly whether these will also include earning-enabled Film NFTs also (these will also be sent to holders at no cost)
3. Gold Chain Holders, this small and select group will also be offered the opportunity of a meet and greet with Snoop (UK and US) and will receive additional earning capabilities (this is in reference to Film NFTs) and an additional exclusive personalised collectible.
4. StashBox holders will also have early access to music associated with Snoop, including tracks related to film projects, on an ongoing basis.

ALL ACCESS

The store is still not ready to release … the delay is associated, in part with the fulfilment flow, our current estimation for deployment is 3 weeks.

I appreciate that for those receiving BEAMS, with no update on our exchange listing, that this will be frustrating, but like our approach to the exchange listing, we have decided to do it the best way we can, rather than as fast as we can. While I respect that ‘done’ is often better than ‘perfect’, I can only say that the team and I will continue to assess, work and strive to keep that dynamic in check — the health of our ecosystem is dependent on it.

As the All Access store is such an important part of Gala Music’s proposition there will be a dedicated write up around it, although I would like to make clear that what the store offers is not ‘perk’ based. By that, I mean that the items you will find in store are exclusive, usually inaccessible and/or directly related to Gala Music, our artists and/or brand partners and relationships.

BEYOND

Looking back to move forward, I wanted to mention David Bowie. The (attempted) giveaway in late April, created incredible press and reach for us. It only highlighted further that big names and big fan bases will be critical to our scale, as will be the experience those fans can have with us — without perhaps needing to jump into hosting and ownership.

Two words come to my mind: gamification and ‘stickiness’.

Connected to ‘stickiness’, I would like to flag the focus we have on improved fan experience and by extension the development of our app. The app is underway and while we will be updating you guys likely in my next post, if not before, just to let you know, we are aiming to have it live to support the festivals that we’re a part of later this summer.

Festivals? Yes.

More details will be released soon on a two year partnership that will not only see us associate with big brands but also provide our artists with a bigger stage to perform from … exciting (and hopefully fun) times ahead.

Finally, I know there are always a huge amount of questions that you guys feel are left unanswered, sometimes we just can’t answer but other times we do miss or neglect to come back to them, despite good intentions. We are as a squad looking at how to improve the communication flow and to gather and prioritise FAQs through customer support. Please bear with us, I am very aware of requests around the value of historic track plays, future node uptime rewards and the distribution %s, these are all being discussed internally (there is a great number of moving/connected parts and implications come with every decision), so I will provide an answer as soon as we are able.

I think that’s likely it for now, although before I sign off, I would just like to say a big thank you as always for your tenacity and your trust, it’s appreciated,

Here’s to more from music,

Bux