An Inside Look at Music's Most Exclusive Crypto Community
a.k.a. Friends with Benefits founder Trevor McFedries and Operations Lead Patti Hauseman discuss the origins, operations and (arguably exorbitant) costs of their DAO.
I don’t follow many crypto-related accounts on social media. Like many people in music over the past year, I’ve been curious about what’s happening with NFTs, Web3 and the blockchain—particularly as they relate, even potentially, to the music industry—but I haven’t yet drunk the metaphorical Kool-Aid. As someone who was literally born and raised in Silicon Valley, I’ve been bombarded by promises of technology-driven utopia for much of my life, and seeing how those promises have repeatedly (and sometimes spectacularly) fallen short has left me with a healthy level of skepticism about the tech industry and its capacity to change the world for the better.
None of that, however, prevented my Twitter feed from filling up with crypto evangelism last week, a phenomenon largely fueled by the extremely online attendees of NFT.NYC. Essentially a sort of SXSW for crypto, the three-day event included “debates, talks, workshops and briefings from the leading names and brands in blockchain,” and also spawned a series of Instagram-ready afterparties across New York City. One especially noteworthy event was put on by Friends with Benefits, arguably the most influential DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) in music, which assembled a tastemaker-friendly line-up that included DJ sets by Caroline Polachek, Doss, Pussy Riot, Channel Tres, Physical Therapy, AceMo and others, including Sam Valenti (a.k.a. SV4), the founder of Ghostly International. (Not surprisingly, the line to get into the party literally stretched around the block.)
Like it or not, crypto is seemingly everywhere. (There was even a crypto joke on Curb Your Enthusiasm this week, with Larry’s accountant saying that “it’s all nerds and Nazis.”) The financial aspect tends to draw the most headlines, but the role of independent and “underground” culture in crypto’s surge shouldn’t be overlooked, as artists and musicians have proven to be some of its loudest enthusiasts. In fairness, creatives of all stripes have also provided plenty of pushback, but regardless of where you land on the issue, the conversation has essentially become inescapable, and that energy has helped make entities like Friends with Benefits into hot financial properties. Over the past few months, the organization’s coin price has gone from about $5 to more than $100, which means that full membership in the DAO now requires thousands of dollars in $FWB tokens. (The amount was over $10,000 as recently as a few days ago.)
Friends with Benefits has been profiled before—Resident Advisor published a feature back in September, and New York magazine ran their own piece last month—but after seeing the crypto floodgates open last week, especially as far as electronic music is concerned, I wanted to take a look for myself and reached out to Trevor McFedries, the community’s founder.
McFedries has been involved in tech for more than a decade, literally helping to launch Spotify in North America and also founding Brud, a company best known for creating Lil Miquela (now known as just Miquela), a character often described by the press as “the world’s first virtual influencer.” Just last month, Brud was acquired by NFT start-up Dapper Labs for an undisclosed (albeit presumbly multi-million-dollar) amount, and McFedries is now heading up that company’s move into the DAO realm. All that said, he’s also got a long background in music; he played in hardcore bands as a teenager, moved on to DJing the EDM circuit (frequently alongside the likes of Steve Aoki) and was also part of a Top 10 rap group called Shwayze.
Over the course of an hour last week, McFedries and I dove deep into Friends with Benefits, discussing the community’s origins, inner workings and finances, along with the real-world implications of what happens when what’s essentially a private members’ group—especially one organized primarily around music—suddenly has major financial barriers to entry. Along the way, he also suggested that I speak to Patti Hauseman, Friends with Benefits’ Operations Lead, who was previously the DAO’s Membership Lead and continues to hold that position as it transitions to a new, as-yet-unnamed person.
Together, they provided a detailed look at Friends with Benefits, and while I can’t say I personally agree with every idea advanced—some of McFedries talk of “forking” and “voting with your feet” sounds a whole lot like “love it or leave it,” and the notion that members are “staking” (not spending) money to get into the DAO is entirely dependent on the coin price not dropping—there’s no denying that what’s happening with this online community is interesting, and it fascinating to get such an extended look under the hood.