Lights by Syd x ATW
When a song is finished, before it heads to streaming to meet an uncertain fate determined by an algorithm, before it’s pressed to plastic—what > is> it?
When a designer is enlisted to create artwork for a song, instead of being confined to one square canvas, with untold never-to-be-seen variations left behind, what if instead there were millions of possibilities?
Two lifelong friends who came of age as artists in the early 90s experimenting with “borrowed” software and a 56K modem now reunite on ASync to offer ‘Lights’— a striking piece of generative art that continues their exploration of those questions found at the edges of art and technology.
👉 I wrote "How To Mint Your First NFT" for you if you're NFT curious. It's published at WKSHP, a new space for experimentation in this space that I built with some friends.
If you have any questions or want to discuss any of this any more, [drop me a line][2], I'd love to hear from you.
And if there's someone in your life who is "into this kind of thing", please connect us! It's such a small world, this web3 / NFT space and I love meeting new people in it.
One reason I've made an NFT is simply because I have friends like you that are kind of waiting for someone to go first into this strange new world.
🙋🏼♂️ Hi. I'm your guy.
So to those that are watching me wade in - I welcome your questions.
There's another "you" I'm doing it for as well.
For the person who has asked me or any of my friends over the years how they can support our work. I wanted to have an answer for you other than "Bandcamp? 🤷♂️"
For the folks that have said "Streaming seems bad for artists, but I use it all the time, am I screwing you?" I wanted to have an answer other than "Maybe? 🤷♂️"
I've come to believe that there is a possibility that the NFT - a digital good that can be proven to be owned by one person but still experienced for free by many - is an "unlock" to a true creator economy built on a much more manageable scale - a new kind of "hit" that doesn't require millions of people to make it go.
Just you.
You could make this piece a hit by being one of a thousand collectors or by collecting all thousand if you want.
Either way, just one piece purchased for around $30USD is the equivalent of 10,000 Spotify streams.
Out of millions of combinations, only 1000 'Lights" will ever be made.
And they will all look different. One of the pieces that *could* come out of this looks like that 👆
My collaborator ATW has created a visual system that can create literally millions of different possible visual pieces, and I've created 6 audio "ghosts" of a new song that score those visuals.
You "mint" one, then a visual is generated and matched with one of those musical ghosts. It's a strangely fun and weird process.
At the end of the process you own the piece you minted because it's on the blockchain, baby.
It's maybe once a decade that the opportunity comes to get to learn something totally new.
It reminds me of the time now 20 years gone when the screech of my modem was the gateway to a whole world of collaboration and inspiration - a journey that actually started with ATW.
I hope you'll check out the piece and give a wave to your pal Syd diving first into the watery blue.