From Niche to Mainstream: The NFT Evolution with Matt Medved, Co-Founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of nft now

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Stay open and don't force things. Pretty simple. But it's like most of the time you're either doing one or the other. You're either not being open minded enough or you're forcing something that you've given a thought. And so like that's something I think is really important. It's important to be flexible.

To thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, brands must move at an ever increasing pace. I'm Matt Britton, founder and CEO of Suzy. Join me and key industry leaders as we dive deep into the shifting consumer trends within their industry, why it matters now and how you can keep up. Welcome to the Speed of Culture Today we're going to be speaking with Matt Medved, CEO at NFT now, who Yahoo Finance recently ranked as one of the top 10 most influential figures in the NFT space. Matt, so great to see you. Thanks so much for joining today.

Great to see you too Matt. I'm really happy to be here. This is going to be great.

Absolutely. This should be an interesting one and definitely a little bit different than some of the other guests we've had in the past. And before we dive into all things nft, we'd love to hear a little bit about your background and the road you took to get you to where you are today.

Yeah, absolutely. So come from 15 years the intersection of media culture specifically in Music Prior to Web3 in 2015 I founded Billboard Dance. Billboard's dance electronic music brand at Billboard grew that into the leader in North America. After that ran Spin magazine as editor in chief, exited with the sale of that in 2020 and then was actually running content at Modern Luxury, the lifestyle publisher. Before I was pulled down the NFT rabbit hole by my good friend Blau, who's a DJ producer and a kind of a pioneer in the music NFT space. And for me, I'd always been dabbling. I started dabbling crypto back in 2013. During the 16 to 18 I was really focused on, like, how does this technology empower musicians and like, create a better, like, music industry model? So NFTs for me were that missing puzzle piece where it was technology I'd believed in for a long time, finally disrupting fields I'm actually passionate about and in a way that has the potential to empower creators. And so went full headlong into it and co founded NFT now January 2021. And it's been an amazing ride since.

Yeah, and we're going to dive into NFT now. Before we do, though, quickly, a big point that you didn't bring up is you're also a DJ as well.

Oh, yeah.

You spun big festivals and clubs. So talk to us about how you got started being a DJ and, and how that intersects with what you've been able to do on the professional side to date.

Yeah, it's a great question. So, you know, growing up, I was always writing creatively and I was also making music. I was in bands growing up, some probably a lackluster punk bands and the like. And, you know, it was always fun and College. I started DJing because one of the things I loved about DJing was I've always said DJing is an exercise in empathy. Like the best DJs think about their audience first, and that's not about what I want to play. It's about the intersection of the music I like and have at my disposal and the experience that's going on around me and making it a great experience for those people. And I just found that, like, really amazing to think about and also found it like the independence of it versus being in a band, not having to be reliant on like four other people and their schedules and was really, really inspiring for me. And one of the reasons why I think that we were able to build Billboard Dance the way we did so quickly and gain the trust and the credibility with the artist community was the fact that I spoke artist languages, which when I met Martin Garrix for the first time, it wasn't like a Q and A. It was us nerding out about synthesizers, you know what I mean? And things like that. And So I think that that also extends into the NFT space as well, is like, you know, understanding the artist experience and being able to speak to that from a genuine and authentic place. I think that that's really powerful. One of the things I found in dance music is that it's largely covered by people who have no idea how it's made or how it's performed. And so being able to bring that kind of knowledge to the table because able to build those much deeper connections with artists. And also like I've always said from Billboard dance to Spin to NFT now, I've always like been a curator first and foremost, you know, always having that ear to the ground, like wanting to be what, what's on the next big thing. And I think part of being able to identify talent early is understanding the media and being like, wait, how did they produce that? You know, being able to like dig into that. And so that has served me well in the NFT space as well. And it's something that, that is a real passion point for me.

It's funny you say that Matt, because there are a lot of parallels behind both EDM and the NFT space. Electron dance music, NFT space. A lot of haters kind of say, oh dj, just press a button on stage, you're not really doing anything. And a lot of haters in NFT say, well, you can just screenshot it, it's very similar. It's like not understanding everything that kind of goes into it and just kind of shrugging it off because it's new. Yet you have this entire generation that are fascinated by both of these tracks. And I can definitely see the parallels.

Totally. I mean, going into like a legacy institution like Billboard and being the champion for dance music at a time when the editorial leadership there was pretty old school rock. I was definitely swimming against, against the current and you know, definitely had to rely on data to make my points and be a champion of it, be an evangelist for something that, that people didn't believe in at the time but ended up being the fastest growing thing. And so I do see some parallels here with this as well. So I'm comfortable in that role. I like the underdog. I like being. Yeah, exactly. And like when you have conviction in something and you feel it the way that I feel it, around the future of Web3, around the future of this technology and its ability to empower creators, it's the same thing I felt about dance music. It was inevitable to me. It was just a matter of like how it would play out and when, not if. And so it's a role I actually really embrace because I think people always fear what they don't understand. That's why we've always been really at the forefront of like welcoming new people into the space, arming them with the tools and, and the education they need to understand it and succeed and yeah, being like being, being evangelist for, for something we really believe in.

So in 2021 you were the, became the founder and CEO of NFT now. Maybe we should start first by hearing a little bit about what NFT now is and what the thesis behind you starting that company was.

Yeah. Thank you. Nftnow. We are the number one trusted source in the Web three space Omnichannel media company. We are also, we're at, really at the forefront of the intersection of, of content and culture and like, and bringing the creatives into the space. I think that our mission from day one has always been to empower the creators of culture and to bring this technology from niche to mainstream. There are a lot of outlets out there that are very content to preach to the crypto native choir that is not us. We want to help convert the masses. We want to bring new people in and we want to make sure that when we do so they're getting good information, that they're being set up for success that they're not taken advantage of and, and that, and that ultimately they're able to understand like the power and potential of this technology beyond simply like speculation and the markets. And so we are also building what we like to call the future of tokenized media, which is really exciting and part of. I'll dive into that a bit deeper. But one of the things I think is important to understand is that from day one at NFT now, we always wanted to do things differently with regards to the media model. Like I saw from my time at legacy Media brands just, just how broken the Web2Media model is. And from day one on nftnow.com, we have not had programmatic ads. We believe programmatic ads misalign incentives and actually like incentivize this sort of like perverse, like clickbait race to the bottom. Yeah, we have not had a one programmatic ad. And we also, we believe in privacy. We don't track our users, we don't have pixels, we don't have cookies. We really stand by those principles and yet we've been able to still thrive as a modern media brand. And for us it's really about pioneering a community centric media model. And in March with the launch of the NOW Pass, which is the, our NFT membership pass that gets you access to the NOW network, that's the foundation for everything we're building for the future of tokenized media. We really believe that this technology has the power to incentivize, like kind of realign incentives, reward participation and really create deeper relationships, not only between a audience and publishers, but really on like predicated on the idea of community where our community members actually share in the value that they're creating, that they can actually contribute to co creating the content that we're making. And it becomes this really amazing kind of symbiotic relationship. And we've seen the power, the transformative power of Web3 in other industries. So we've been really focused on how can we build a better media model through this. And we're well on that path.

So if somebody was kind of dropped into right in front of you from outer space, right. And they missed the last three or four years and they asked you, the person who, you know is at the forefront of this, why are NFTs so important? What are they?

Yeah.

And where are they going? What would you say?

Yeah, I could give them the very long version, I give them the very quick version. I think we want the quicker version.

Here to answer that question. How would you answer it?

So what I would say is this obviously could get into like, you know, the technology, the immutable ledger transactions. But ultimately I think that's important thing to understand really is just at the end of the day, NFTs allow a level of digital ownership over content that has not existed before. And that is really powerful because it unlocks a lot of different things that were just never possible. All of a sudden digital artists can build collector bases because you can actually prove digital ownership of a digital artwork.

Or even a physical item.

Correct. And a physical item. Exactly. Like you said, you can have tokens that are NFTs can be assigned to physical items as well. And you now have a transparent, immutable record of their movements. And one of the things I think is really important to understand about this technology is it allows you to bypass the centralized platforms and everything that comes along with them in a really powerful way.

So, so it's peer to peer, truly.

Right. And so it's decentralized. And so like for example, we came up in, in this, you know, like in the Web2 era where all these big centralized tech companies and platforms have access to all your, all the data. They're not sharing that data. They're. They're selling that data.

Facebook, Google.

Exactly. You're at, you're at the behest of their ads and their, of their algorithms, of their ad models and the like. Whereas with this technology you can circumvent them. And it enables what I would tell this, this, this alien, as I say, it enables far more equitable economic models, especially for creators in Web2. Web2 is all about building audience as a means to an end, to indirectly monetize as a middleman for brands. That's the programmatic ad model for media. That's the, you know, the influencer model for individual creators, you know, brand partnerships and the like. Ultimately you're in a likes and comments economy, right? And you're using it to try and build enough an audience to be able to monetize that by getting big brands involved. Cool. But with Web3, there's something a lot more powerful at play because something that's more powerful than just audience is community. Audience is aware that you exist, audience may see you in the feeds, they may click your things, they may buy your products, they may even attend your events. But ultimately it's a one way street of a relationship. There's. Whereas with community they actually want to see you win. And part of the reason is, is that they actually have a stake in that all of a sudden. By owning, for example, your favorite musicians, nft or by owning, for example, you know, an NFT that offers you membership to an organization or a group that you really believe in, you can actually share in the value that's created by their development. And what's amazing is that it has a transformative effect because what it can do is it can unlock a different level of, of loyalty. I always say in 2023, every single company is a media company and every single company is a loyalty company, whether they know it or not. And so what's amazing is this technology is transformative on that front because now instead of just being a fan, you feel like a shareholder. Instead of just being like an advocate, you can be an ambassador. And what's amazing is it enables what I think was the original promise of the Internet. We all know, you know, Kevin Kelly's, you know, 1,000 true fans. The idea that like you don't actually need millions of fans to have a sustainable career as a creative. All you need really is 1000 true, true die hard fans who are going to pick up what you put down, who are going to buy the ticket, take the ride, buy the merch, buy the album, stream the, you know, drive to the show, all that the issue is that in Web2, with all of these centralized platforms who didn't have an incentive in allowing creatives to reach their full audiences, you know, they gate kept it and they actually were like, hey guess what? You have to pay us to reach even a fraction of your organic audience and you have to like fit into this whole like algorithmic ad based like race to the bottom.

You put like Ticketmaster as part of that as well when it comes.

Right, exactly. And so what it did was it created an unsustainable climate which is why you see, it's like they often say, for example, I come from the music industry, there's no middle class in music because you either either you're Drake or Justin Bieber or like you're kind of struggling, you know what I mean? And like, and part of that is because of that scale. But for example, what I think is really powerful about NFTs and Web3 is they allow you to directly monetize with your community and they allow you to build community as a, not as a means to an end, but as an end in itself. And they have really powerful mechanisms to allow you to share in the value that you create over the long term.

Right. Cause there's models where you sell an, an NFT and then you get a royalty every time it's sold in the future too.

Right? That's possible depending on the platform as well. Yeah. And that's really powerful and amazing thing is like you can take what's called a snapshot and by taking a snapshot you can immediately see and get access to all of the wallets that carry that are holding your NFT at that time and you can directly reach them. You could send them another nft, you could send them something that's hey, guess what? I want you backstage at my show. I want you to have the meet and greet, I want you to have just like the fan club membership. And that creates this incredibly powerful level of connection where you're not reliant on the algorithms and the like of centralized players. And so there's an incredible potential with these at play. And one of the things that I would also say to you know, this alien who, you know, eyes may be glazing over at this point but you know, hopefully has figured out that this is important and they need to learn more about it is that while we have seen certain use cases take off and command the headlines like digital art, digital collectibles. Yeah, cool eye popping sales. I know, those are the ones that get the headlines. Those are just still scratching the surface of the potential for this technology. We are big believers that NFTs Web3, this, this technology is going to fundamentally redefine how creators in their communities create and share the value, value together. And what'll be amazing is right now we talk about it as NFTs, we talking about it as Web3. All this, it's just gonna be the next, it's the next evolution of the Internet and people are gonna be using it whether they know it or not. I would tell that alien as a closing point. I would be like, look, one thing that's important to understand is that we are all part of the last generations to grow up without digital ownership from day one. So future generations are going to grow up owning things digitally, they're going to own things physically and they're going to have none of the hang ups that our generations have about that. They're not going to be like how do I hang it on my wall? They're not going to be like right click, save. They are going to own these things and they're going to appreciate them for their own unique strengths and appeals. We're already seeing this with Gen Z and Fortnite and Roblox and the like. And you know, it's like they get it more than we do.

And before that we saw it with farmville. Right. Like ultimately there was digital currency as long as the Internet really existed, 100%.

And so NFTs are that critical component for like, for ownership of unique items. Whether that's a piece of art, whether that's a piece of music, whether that's a deed to a house, whether that's a deed to a car, whether that's a membership. Television, film, a membership. Exactly. And the use cases are going to like what's amazing is like one of the reasons I know we're still early is that people still speak about NFTs like a category instead of a new medium that transcends every category.

Yeah. It used to be like the same way with digital or social used to be its own category. Now it's sort of part of the way we communicate. It's dial tone. Right. And that had to jump across the chasm to get there.

Exactly. And each of these categories is different use cases. As the markets mature. Right. Going to see they all, they all have different creative and consumer priorities at play, just like they do prior to Web3. And we're going to start to see, I think people are going to gain a much more holistic understanding of this technology's potential that when things aren't all being lumped under one category and like monkey JPEGs and like, you know, things like that are commanding the spotlight.

So often when you have, you know, something new that gets introduced to culture and society, you kind of have this adoption curve where very early on it becomes a frenzy and everyone's talking about it, then it implodes, and then the real work begins. And then over time, it becomes something substantive. It happened with the Internet itself, the dot com boom and bust of 2000. Right. We're seeing it happen right now happen with crypto and more specific with NFTs. Talk to me about that boom bust cycle, how it was for you to kind of live through that, because I'm sure there wasn't always easy. And I know you have conviction. I can tell by the way you're talking that you believe in it and what needs to happen with the technology itself for it to gain mainstream adoption, to get through to the other side.

So that's a great question. One thing I'll say is this. This past cycle was my third crypto cycle. So I started dabbling with Bitcoin in 2013. I was living in Milan. It was really cold. I didn't really speak great Italian, and so I was spending some time on Reddit and like stumbled across it, bought the exact top of that market, sent the bitcoin white paper to all my friends. It crashed like two weeks later. But I just held onto it because I believed in the tech. But you know what's funny is I believe in the tech, but it's not like I necessarily had full conviction that it was coming back. Like, I thought that was interesting. Could have just been like a weird flash in the pan on the Internet, you know, then it was 16 to 18 with the rise of Ethereum, where I was like, okay, I was onto something. And this time I also see the potential, beyond just the financial side, for this to also empower creators or to be able to impact culture. It was still early, especially on the music side. So when Nick came back around this time, I was like, I have seen this movie before and I already know how it ends. And this time it is like, back in those times it was magic Internet money. This time it's art, music and culture. And you don't bet against art, music and culture. So that's how I had the conviction to jump in. But one thing we have to remember is that a lot of people bought their first crypto to buy an nft, especially from the creative industries. And so they are where I was after my first cycle. They don't necessarily have conviction, necessarily it's coming back because they haven't seen it before. You know, they can go look at the charts and all that. But like you have to live it to really experience it. So one thing that's important to understand is that bringing that perspective, myself and my co founder Alejandro, we both have been through booms and busts, bulls and bears before. So we, we had that in mind. Like we always knew like even in the froth of like 2021 and you know, in the top of 2022, like we knew like winter is coming, right? And so we prepared accordingly. So that was, that's really critical. But it is challenging, especially when you see for example know search volume go down or you, or you see for example, obviously we weren't necessarily expecting the implosion of ftx. You know, bad actor. Bear markets always shake out bad actors. That's obviously on a really big, big level that obviously like shook the industry, its core. But ultimately I'm a big believer that the bear markets are actually extremely healthy for us. Bear markets are for builders. There's less noise, you're able to focus on what you really believe in. And the people who are showing up every day in a bear market are the ones who truly believe in the space, who aren't motivated by short term financial game but are actually trying to build the future. And that's actually one of the reasons why we launched the now pass in the midst of a bear market. A lot of people asked us, they were like, you know, you could have made a lot more revenue off of it if you had launched it in a bull. I'm like, yeah, but like I want to build a values based community. If we're going to build a community centric media model. Just that first case study, right? Like this is this is that like if I'm going to super serve a community, if I'm going to show up for them every day, it better be the real ones. It better be the ones that like that actually believe in the space. The ones who believe in what we're building, the ones who are there. I always say web3rewards those who show up. And so now's a great time to be building what we're building. And I'm not going to minimize the challenges of the market conditions. But one thing that we have full conviction on is like digital ownership is the future and this technology is the key to unlocking that. And one thing that we're seeing is even though many retail like mainstream attention know has shifted away from web three and all that. On the business side we're seeing tons of big brands exploring the space. I just saw a report from Coinbase that more than 50% of the Fortune 100 is developing blockchain based initiatives.

Yeah, it takes time. I mean I work with all these big companies and I know it takes years and years for them to even just get through legal, to understand the data and privacy concerns and to actually build the technological infrastructure to integrate into their systems. So it's going to take time. The big brands are always useless to join the party.

Totally. And you know what, when they are, we're here, we're ready to welcome them. You know, we've helped bring a number of big brands into the space. Like for us we're always like we want to see this space succeed and so we want to see big brands enter the space and we want to see them do it credibly and we want to see them do it the right way and we want to see them do it in a way where they are building long term connections with their community. Like one thing that's important, I always say like you know, that is really important is you have to rethink what you normally think about like a go to market strategy or anything like that. Like Most people in Web2 and before it's like it ends with the sale. In web three it begins with the sale. And a sale, an NFT sale is not an end, it's a beginning of this incredible powerful connection with your community. That connection is something that you need to be prepared for. It's something that you're going to need to nurture and it's something that you're going to need to make sure that, that you have a long term right wrong for perspective on. And so I really welcome the big brands that are coming in now and I welcome the ones that are going to come in later and we're here to help them too.

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I think one huge opportunity is when you talk about, you know, a lot of the things you're talking about are mainstream consumer habits that have been around forever and they just need to transport to a new medium. Like, loyalty has been a thing. People have always wanted to buy digital music. I mean, they did it over, over itunes at the beginning, right? And now they rent the music versus owning it. But basically the notion of digital ownership has been around for a while. I think one thing that's in the way of NFTs really gaining that mainstream consumer adoption is just sort of the form factor and the process of buying an NFT. Like, I don't know what MetaMask is. Like, I'm pretty technologically savvy, probably More so than 99.99% of people on earth. And I jumped on the first time I tried to buy NFTs and I was confused. It's like, where's my money? What's MetaMask? What's that difference between that and coinbase? And for somebody like you, it's intuitive because you're in the space, but it should be as easy as buying something on Amazon, and it's not. And I think until that happens, you're not going to have consumers really adopting NFTs. I get if I own this BMW NFT, because I own a BMW that can get the BMW's concert at Coachella. I get all that stuff. But the process of getting that NFT is, I think, what gets in a lot of people's way.

And why is that right now at eux, at ui, like the tech hasn't caught up and that's okay. Like we'll know we've reached that point, you know, when we have that, the ipod moment, when it's like 500 songs or whatever, like in your pocket. We'll get to the point where we're not talking about the tech, but we're talking about what it enables for consumers and like, what amazing things are created in that way. Like, and so like, that's like, we'll get there, but it takes time. Right now there's a lot of friction to get from interest to onboard. But like you said, like, it is this new medium. And like you said, like, what's, what's really interesting is when you think about, in the media context because, you know, like, for US it's like NFTs are just, are just one area of web three that, that we focus on and like, ultimately we're really focused on the idea of tokenized media. And what is tokenized media? Obviously it involves NFTs. Yeah, yeah.

I want to get back to the now pass, which is tokenized media. So let's. Let's shift gears to that and talk about what is tokenized media and then how you build on top of that idea for the now pass and what the now pass is.

So I think one thing to just understand, you know, is that, like, technology has just always pushed storytelling forward, right? Like from the Gutenberg printing press, like, creating like, the information revolution to, like, the advent of the Internet, and then suddenly we get. We get mobile smartphones, and then everything has to shift mobile, you know, so print to digital to mobile. Like, you remember all of these. Not the Gutenberg printing press, but, you know, these other. The other. Yeah, that's right. You know, you know, the other transitions, right? Tokenized media is the next frontier. It's so clear. And what's amazing is not only will this medium, like, is this a shift in medium, but it actually, like I mentioned, has the ability to actually change the longstanding relationships between publishers and their audiences and communities. Right? And so one thing I just want to say, too, is I think there's two buckets to tokenized media. There's the tokenization of communities around media, which is what I've spoken to a bit around, like, how this is different and what the potential is. And that's what we're building with the NOW paths and the NOW network. And then there is also the actual tokenization of media, as in putting articles, blog posts, podcasts, videos on the blockchain for verifiable authenticity on chain provenance. We're building at the forefront of both because we think they're both really critical. And one thing, that one development that has really brought the latter into focus, because we've been talking about Tokai's media for a while, and sometimes people are like, you know, I'm not sure if I understand this. Ever since those viral photos, those AI photos of Trump getting arrested, you know, went viral and fooled tons of people, it's been incredibly clear the need for tokenized media. Then we saw AI photos of a fake explosion by the Pentagon wipe billions off the S&P 500, right? Like, this is not going to stop. AI will never be less sophisticated and less sophisticated than it is right now, right? Like, full stop. It is only going to get more sophisticated, is only going to get more powerful. The disinformation and the deepfakes are only going to get more realistic, and there's going to be a real need to be able to track the authenticity of media. Pieces of content, Understand where did they come from? Understand did they come from trusted sources? Understand that journey and be able to do that all on chain. And so that is an area that I think is incredibly critical to combating AI disinformation. Then when we think about the tokenization of communities around media, that's the NOW pass, that's the NOW network. That's where we start to think about cool. What's this community centric media model? How do we shift an understanding of what a media company's role is in 2023? What we have a saying at NFT now that we believe media companies shouldn't serve you advertisements, they should serve you opportunities. And that's something that we've really worked to embody by tapping into the incredible network that we have by tapping into the amazing artists and builders and creators and, and executives, collectors, you know, founders that are part of our community and realizing that like we can actually super serve this community. We can give them, you know, there's the, there's the stuff that, that mirrors all of kind of membership in Web2, like exclusive content, exclusive access, exclusive access to our events, things like that. But where it gets really fun and interesting is when we start to think about loyalty and we also start to think about rewarding participation. So one of the things that gets really interesting with the NOW network is we are actually building out this whole reward system. You'll be able to earn XP points in exchange for consuming our content, sharing our content, contributing your own content to be published on NFT now, and ultimately sharing in the value that that creates and being able to then like trade those XP points for like exclusive rewards that tie into all of our partners. Like through our network, another really critical part, we now can also decentralize content creation and curation. Like this is part of progressive decentralization. So one of the things that we're doing is starting to open up some of our curated content series to be community curated content series. And so like, for example, like at the end of our first year, we did something that most media companies don't do, which is we asked our audience what we could be doing better, what would they like to see more of. And we actually got a really resounding answer. People were like, you know what, you do a great job supporting artists, you do a great job covering artists, but mostly the established ones. They're like rising artists need love too. And there's no real way for like rising artists to get the support right now. We said, great. So we started A franchise called NextUp NextUp is our rising artist franchise. It's been great. You know, we've been ahead of the curve on so many amazing artists and it's become a really important platform. But ultimately it's still a very centralized process. It's me and my writers and editors coming together, deciding which artists we're going to spotlight each month and then giving them, shining that light on them. But ultimately, like what excites me about web3 and this technology is being able to bypass gatekeepers, not create new ones. Right. And so one of the things that I'm really excited about is be able to open up next up to our community. They're going to be able to vote fully on chain with what's called token curated registries, TCR models, and be able to nominate, vote and have a say in which artists get this recognition and be rewarded with these XP points and say in exchange for doing so. So not only are they incentivized to help, you know, support the artists they believe in, but there's actually a direct incentive in terms of like coming back here. I think that we've always said it's like the NOW network will be built over time, not overnight. But ultimately it's really about showing that we can succeed outside of this like programmatic clickbait race to the bottom.

Well, it sounds like the culmination of loyalty. Your media platform and a community that you're bringing together all together.

Yeah, 100%. And you know, like we're an. We've done 5.2 million in top line revenue over the past two years without a single programmatic ad in media. And I think that's really significant and I think it's just a glimpse into the future of what's possible when you double down community, when you actually create content to serve your audience rather than an algorithm and when you understand how you can leverage this technology to actually, I think, foster and create the deeper relationships that we all want to see. Because here's the thing, like Matt, you know, the power of media, like it goes beyond just like a business and a commerce. Like this is. This is the marketplace of ideas. Right. And largely it's become this incredibly polarized, like series of echo chambers.

Yeah. I mean, I was about to say it's in desperate need of reinvention right now.

Exactly. And look, we both come from media. Like legacy media is not going to come up with a solution on their own. You know, like they're just trying to stay afloat right now.

Legacy companies rarely do and especially traditional media companies are really hurting right now.

And so that's why it's going to come from us, you know, and that's what we're working on. And so like for us, it's like to those who are listening, we're always like, reach out. Whether you're a brand interested in learning more about this technology at web3 or coming into the space, if you're, you know, a marketer who's trying to figure out like what that looks like for you, if we could be helpful, we'd love to be. And you know, I think that it's been an incredibly exciting year for us, you know, with the, with the launch of NowPass Now Network. We actually just announced the Gateway Korea in September. So we're actually bringing our flagship event. Did you, have you ever been to one of the gateways, Matt?

I have not, no.

Ooh. So we did it two years running in Miami Basel. First year was with Christie's which is a little wild. It was like six month old startup partnering with a 275-year-old auction house. It definitely opened some eyes but you know, it was, it was really special. We built this whole immersive audio visual gallery. And then last year was wild because we actually, we partnered with mana common. Moonpay was the title sponsor and we did a whole web3 Metropolis took over downtown Miami. It was five days, it was two city blocks, 12 buildings. Like in addition to all the usual like web3 suspects, like art blocks, G monies and IDCC artifact, all that we also had. Christie's came back but we also had like Instagram, we had Porsche, we had Faze Clan, we had wme. Like we brought a lot of like more legacy into the space and that's something that we're, that's like we really want to, that's like, that's at. Our ethos is like we're not here to like create barriers or to create like this is just the new paradigm and like either you're with us or you're against us. It's more about it's always an and not an or like digital and physical will always coexist. Like there's no need to be scared. And if you want to learn more about this space, we're here to help you. Like education is at the forefront. One of the reasons why we founded NFT now to begin with was to solve a problem that we ourselves faced, which was a lack of credible resources in the space. And it's been really amazing to continue to see it forward. And I think the future is extremely Bright. It's. There's going to be obviously the darkness of bear markets. There's going to be challenges ahead.

It takes conviction and you have conviction. You're thinking things a different way. So switching gears as we wrap up here, Matt, I mean, you obviously are somebody who, you've had a really exciting career and you're clearly just getting started what you're doing. It takes courage along with conviction to do the sorts of things you're doing. What advice would you give to some of our younger listeners who want to go out on their own and create something like NFT now? What are the steps they should take to really get the courage to make that leap and to end up where you are today?

I kind of live my life according to two principles. Stay open and don't force things. Pretty simple. But it's like most of the time you're either doing one of the one or the other. You're either not being open minded enough or you're forcing something that you've given no thought. And so like, that's something I think is really important. It's important to be flexible. Like, I mean, look, I grew up reading Spin magazine. That was my favorite magazine. But it's not like I set out to be like, my career goal is to be the editor in chief of Spin magazine. Like, if you had told young me about that, I would be excited. But that wasn't like I set that as like my North Star or anything. It was really about being, being open minded, seeing opportunities, not being afraid to pivot hard. When I saw something like dance music taking over America, I didn't, we didn't get into it because it's a whole backstory. But like, I used to work in nonprofits and NGOs, like prior to all that. And so I was actually finishing graduate programs related to that. But then when I saw dance music taking over America and I had this opportunity to be that guy at Billboard, I pivoted hard. And I have no regrets about that because I recognize that like there was a moment, you know, there was this window to be able to build something like that. Same thing with, with NFTs and Web3. Like when I left Modern Luxury, people thought I was crazy. That's a really cushy job. It's, you know, it's a great team. And I left to go do an NFT media startup. What people were checking in if I was okay. And those were the same people who a few months later were asking me what NFTs to buy, you know what I mean? And so what was really interesting is like, I think like having that conviction, not being afraid to take big swings. But ultimately you don't have to wait for those big swings to have at bats. Like before, like nft, there are a lot of like things that I tried to start. I had like a IG Live like podcast during COVID called Studio Break with artists checking into musicians. Like that ultimately like didn't really become anything, but it basically walked so that the NFT now podcast could run. You know what I mean? Like, like I got through all my reps doing that and realized the challenges. What am I good at, what am I not? Like, what do I need support on? Oh, the editing, things like that. So I always tell everyone, like, don't wait for like the right brand or the right opportunity to do it to start creating. Like start a, start a newsletter, start a podcast, start a Twitter space to start putting yourself out there. Start doing it and you'll be able to attract attention and find things that like really, you're really, really passionate about. Like for me it was like, like when I first started like learning about Web3 at NFTs, I was up till 4am every night, like going down rabbit holes. Like if you find yourself doing that, like go down deeper. That's amazing. Like just really, really like let that journey of discovery take you in. And also like, don't be too married to an idea around outcomes. Like have principles but stay open minded, right? So like when I started the NFT now accounts on Twitter and Instagram, like I remember them the minute that it happened and I was like, cool, nobody likes this. Like, I wonder if other people will, you know, I was like, you know, it's like starting from scratch. But ultimately I didn't know what it was going to become. I thought, you know, maybe it could be just like a pet project, it could be a curation channel, just like something to like I was posting about art that I was like, I like that I was discovering. And like I was like, there's no credible resources here. I just want to like build something here. But I didn't know necessarily that it was going to take the trajectory that it has. But ultimately I knew that we wanted to do things differently, that we wanted to build a better media model, all of these things. And so by building this out and realizing opportunities along the way, we're able to give this vision, life and give it form. And one thing that I think is important too is like I always say it's like there's a fine balance, like Jump in. But for the big things, like also take the time to make sure you do it right. There's always time to make sure you do things right. Like, you know, it's like if you're not embarrassed by your first product, you launch too late. And when I look back at the early NFT now podcast and like my. The newsletter, like, I cringe, but that's okay. But. But we waited two years to launch. Every. Wait two years. We took two years to launch the NOW pass because we were doing tons of research. We were, we had a front row seat to everything that was working, the things that were not working in the space. And we wanted to do something incredibly special and memorable. Like, if you go check it out, it's not just like a normal membership pass, it's like a fully generative on chain artwork that has all of these incredibly interactive, engaging elements to it. Tons of Easter eggs there, tons of things. We're building out, we're building out the member portal. And so we knew we wanted to do something really, really special. And so we took the time it needed to do something very memorable. So I think it's really a balance of not being afraid to ship things and get your skin in the game, while also understanding that while you may know your North Star, you may know your principles, the paths, especially when it comes to technology, innovation, et cetera, they quickly change, you know, like, look at AI. The rise of AI, like, AI has been on my radar for a long time. I played around with it for a while, but over the past it's, you know, I just got back from Cannes. It's all anybody could talk about out there, as you can imagine. And one of the things that's really critical too is like, we embraced AI, like earlier than most other media companies. And we did it incredibly transparent. You know, there's been a lot of like, shadiness in the media space around AI, you know, and like, we worked it into our editorial workflow. We made a, we made a whole thing out of it. We were like, hey, this is our first AI powered editorial news article. This is our first AI powered listicle. This is our first AI powered feature. We were actually proud of it and we actually earned platitudes from the AI community at large because of the way that we presented it. Every article has a disclaimer that says, editors note this was written by an NFT now staff member in collaboration with GPT4, in collaboration with Bard. All that because that's what's really important. It's, it's Never like, oh, I'm copying this. I'm hitting publish. I'm calling it a day. There's always a human working with this tech. But what's amazing is we were also able to get our team on board with it. I was able to assuage the fears, like, from my editorial team. I was like, hey, this is not here to replace you. We say, like, we often say, it's like, it's not artificial intelligence, it's augmented intelligence. And what it's here to do is replace all the rote and routine things that humans don't like to do so that you can focus on the things that only humans can do. And it's been like a real smash success, you know, in terms of, like, optimizing our workflows, increasing productivity. And the team actually really has embraced it. But that's an example of something where a year ago, integrating AI into the workflow wasn't necessarily one of my top priorities. But as soon as you could, like, see where the path was leaning, you have to be flexible too. You gotta be nimble in the space. Cause it moves fast. I always say web three in weeks are months and months are years. So.

Yeah, well, you've definitely accomplished a lot in a short period of time and I have no doubt that you're gonna continue to innovate in this space. And, you know, really excited to see what you're able to do to bring us to more mainstream and and work with so many of the great brands that listen to Speed of Culture. So thanks so much for joining today to Matt Medved, founder and CEO of nft. Now, on behalf of Suzy Adwee Team, please sure to subscribe, rate and review the Speed of Culture podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time. See you soon, everyone. Take care. Speed of Culture is brought to you by Suzy as part of the Adweek Podcast Network and a guest creator network. You can listen subscribe to all Adweek's podcasts by visiting adweek.com podcasts to find out more about Suzy, head to Suzy.com and make sure to search for the speed of culture in Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts or anywhere else podcasts are found. Click follow so you don't miss out on any future episodes. On behalf of the team here at Susie, thanks for listening.

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