Noor Akhmazillah Mohd Fauzi, Muhamad Fairus Kamaruzaman, Nor Azlin Hamidon
Blockchain technology and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are revolutionizing the creative arts with their decentralized and secure systems. NFTs, traded on decentralized blockchains, have reshaped the industry in alignment with Industry 4.0. Despite research exploring NFT perspectives among Gen Z, digital artists, and engineers, their impact on creative arts education remains underexplored. Aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) for inclusive education and lifelong learning, this framework aims to address this gap. By investigating why art students are increasingly integrating NFTs into their creative processes, our study aims to enhance educational outcomes and career opportunities in the arts industry. We seek to uncover how NFTs can foster innovation and inclusivity in creative education, providing practical insights for educators and policymakers to leverage digital advancements for the benefit of students and the broader creative community. Maurice Merleau-Ponty's theory of Phenomenology of Perception acts as the theoretical framework for understanding how creative art students perceive NFT technology.
Despite the immeasurable value music provides society, finding ways to monetize their music is often an elusive and challenging prospect for musicians. The music industry has evolved into a consolidated âhits marketâ in which profits are highly concentrated in a small set of intermediaries and relatively few superstars. This âhits marketâ not only makes it incredibly difficult for most musicians to make a living with their music, it also fails to capture and compensate musicians who arenât extremely popular for the significant value they create. In the face of this deadweight loss, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) could be a means of disrupting the economic status quo and creating a superior set of economic incentives for musicians. This Article is the first in the legal literature dedicated to evaluating the viability of NFTs as an additional income stream for musicians. After detailing the economics of the traditional music industry and providing a framework for understanding NFTsâ asserted value, this Article considers constraints imposed by contractual obligations and copyright law to analyze NFTsâ potential to transform music monetization. Ultimately, this Article concludes that, notwithstanding their limitations, NFTs are likely to be an important new source of revenue for musicians who have been left behind by the popularity-driven economic incentives of the traditional music industry.
An Invitation to Play:A Response to Patrick Schmidt's "What We Hear is Meaning Too:Deconstruction, Dialogue, and Music" Patrice Madura Ward-Steinman The aims of dialogue-as-deconstruction, as described by Patrick Schmidt, are concepts I have pondered as a result of a five-week sabbatical visit to Melbourne, Australia. My research focus there was improvisation, and early in my visit I attended two concerts at the premier jazz club, Bennett's Lane. There I heard twelve improvisers in a variety of ensembles, all in celebration of the seventieth birthday of their mentor, Tony Gould, who also performed. Gould is cited by John Whiteoak and Aline Scott-Maxwell as an "outstanding player who has never ceased to develop as an improviser" and who "as a pianist, records prolifically across a wide musical spectrum."1 While the music was jazz, it was freer and fresher than usual. There was striking interaction among the musicians, including facial expressions that reflected genuine ecstasy, and body movement that was naturally "in sync" with the music. I began to ask many questions, including: Is Australia's jazz different from that [End Page 82] in the U.S.? Is Tony Gould's influence as a teacher the reason for the difference? What accounts for the sensation of "freshness" in this music? And why is this musical experience so gripping, both aurally and visually? Serendipitously, I discovered answers through the opportunity to respond to Schmidt's aims of dialogue-of-deconstruction. I shall illustrate how those aims, namely decentralized power and conflict, multiplicity and meaning, and mis-listening may be met in the improvising music ensemble. Decentralized Power and Conflict The lifeblood of "free jazz" and "free improvisation" ensembles is de-centralized musical interaction, which may be considered a metaphor for dialogue-as-deconstruction. Case in point: the Tony Gould Quartet was an improvising unit with each musician contributing to the musical whole. The air was electric with each musician poised in both the anticipation of what the other might play and in the moment of creation. A recent trend in studies of organizational behavior is on "self-directed" or "self-managed" groups, as identified by Keith R. Sawyer.2 David Borgo3 explains that the characteristics of these "self-organizing systems" or "SOSs" are threefold: they operate without centralized control, they "exhibit both complex and adaptive dynamics," and they are comprised of autonomous individuals who demonstrate a high degree of connectivity. Both authors assert that an ideal SOS is the free improvising ensemble, where musical ideas are allowed to emerge and adapt, and even musical "mistakes" may be manipulated into the context, thus creating new directions in dialogue. However, SOSs have some inherent problems. For example, they are "slow to emerge. . . . The more complex they are, the longer it may take them to warm up: hierarchical layers have to settle down . . . and individual(s) have to acquaint themselves with one another."4 Borgo explained that even advanced improvisers often need to pursue a musical idea for a long while for it to achieve coherence. Philip Alperson adds: "As the number of designing intelligences increases, the greater is the difficulty in coordinating all the parts; the twin dangers of cacophony and opacity lurk around the corner."5 It seems that "interactional synchrony"6 can develop among musicians who have "good chemistry" after a warm-up period, but those with conflicting personalities, aesthetic dispositions, or musical styles may have a more difficult time of it. When members of the Tony Gould Quartet were asked how they are able to achieve musical unity, they explained that they have played together for many years, they "hang out and drink together" when not on the bandstand, and they trust each other. Even when one of the members feels "out of sorts," their improvisations are respected as authentic expressions. Others' differences are honored, [End Page 83] rather than felt in opposition to one's self.7 Ingrid Monson8 quotes several musicians who use the metaphor of marriage to describe the musical relationship during a peak performance; on the other hand, jealousy, competition, and even hostility on the bandstand are not uncommon and can destroy an ensemble. So, it appears...