DYOR 🔬

Web3 was meant to solve the right-click-save problems of the internet where most people expect most content to be free (or ad-subsidized) and it can be duplicated and distributed in an instant, creator be damned.

Despite ongoing issues around royalties, Web3’s partially succeeded thanks to the power of smart contracts (and the loyalty of some collectors), but its done so in very limited ways and only with a fairly narrow selection of intellectual property (IP) categories — art, and to a lesser extent, music. Story Protocol wants to change that.

Story Protocol is billing itself as “the Github of IP,” and wants to offer a Lego-block-like structure for IP, where people can remix and rework each other’s work while maintaining provenance… because remixing is inevitable, but paying creators for their efforts isn’t.

To get to this goal, Story Protocol says two things are needed. First, a new standard — or protocol — is necessary that will enable creators to be compensated for the use of their work, and (even more ambitiously) which will be able to contend with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and the way it puts replicating and remixing into overdrive.

The second is a “seamless and scalable licensing regime” where “ IP owners can set the parameters for their licensing rights, resulting in scalable one-to-many licensing.”

It’s a bold mission, because as we’ve seen with the very slow and often delayed rollout of the Matter smart home protocol, or OpenSea’s failed Seaport protocol, getting people to buy into new standards is hard. It’s also tough because the licensing regime is labyrinthine and deeply entrenched, and because by and large, AI providers are opting for the forgiveness-not-permission approach to purloining IP.

But two things suggest Story Protocol has a fighting chance. First, there’s its founding team of S.Y. Lee (formerly of Radish), Jason Levy (Episode), and Jason Zhao (Google DeepMind) Second, it has the support of a16zcrypto which lead the company’s $54 million raise. That’s sure to help, not only in terms of funding, but in terms of the Rolodex a16z brings to the table.

We agree how IP works needs a shakeup. We’re looking forward to the next chapter in Story Protocols tale.

ExtraOrdinally 🔏

• On Wednesday, “Ordfluencer” Leonidas announced the addition to the Ordinals Protocol of “parent-child” inscriptions, allowing for on-chain provenance, the use cases for which Ordinals fans are only just beginning to explore:

• Which explains why, on Thursday, Ord.io introduced “Recursive Modules,” which make it incredibly easy to explore Ordinals with recursive inscriptions:

• Meanwhile, Beeple’s told Ordinals enthusiast @nonfungible_jan the reason he hasn’t yet embraced Bitcoin and Ordinals “is because the infrastructure is still in its infancy and the UX has to improve.” In other words, build it and he will come:

If someone sent you this issue, consider thanking them — and supporting our work — by subscribing and joining 7,250+ Metaversalists embracing the possibilities of decentralized ownership each week.

Headliners 🤘

• Cozomo de’Medici is partnering with The Hug and choosing six emerging digital artists whose work will be displayed alongside work from the likes of XCOPY, Beeple, Grant Yun, and Sam Spratt on the billboards of Tokyo’s iconic Shibuya Crossing. Click here to apply.

• If you’re going to be in Singapore next week for TOKEN2049, generative art platform fxhash is hosting what looks set to be an unmissable event:

• Music NFT platform sound.xyz is releasing a new model for drops soon that’ll offer a combination of limited editions (for core collectors) and open editions (for reach), which could go a long way to solving one of the sector’s biggest challenges: balancing scarcity with scale.

• Artist 0xDEAFBEEF has announced a new collection of 100 “unique hand forged iron scuptures” linked to NFTs and requiring a trip to an event hosted in Patagonia in November by Bright Moments. Tickets for the collection will be sold between September 18-20:

• VeVe is dropping a collection of 5,800 Pink Panther-themed digital collectibles on Sunday, September 10, priced at $30 each and available in three rarities.

• Zygna-powered Web3 gaming project Sugartown is offering a free mint of 9,999 NFTs (6,000 public supply) dubbed the “Oras collection” on September 13.

• Tech reviewer Marques Brownlee does not like the Solana Saga phone:

• Justin Bieber sold 2,000 NFTs tied to his new single “Company” priced at $28 each, each promising holders 0.0005% of the royalties from the track’s streaming revenue. You couldn’t buy them in the US, because they look a whole lot like unregistered securities, but don’t feel hard done by, the track will need to reach 1.4 billion streams for holders to break even.

Metaversalism 🔥 

• Can you tell AI-generated images from genuine ones? It’s tough, as we learned in this week’s installment of Metaversal IRL:

• Lars Wander would like you to buy his art, please, so he doesn’t have to defend his decision to quit his job at Google to his parents:

It’s after Labor Day, so the white wardrobe items have been packed away and we’ve already seen our first 12-foot Home Depot skeleton in the wild. Bring on the spooky season! 💀

Connect for more 🔌

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Until next time, see you in the metaverse… or at the US Open, sipping a Honey Deuce, depending on your location and proclivities. 🍹