"I wanted to start an NFT project that helps stray cats and dogs." Stanible co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Harry Santos confessed during a Zoom interview with Bandwagon.
At first, we didn't know what to do with that information. We must admit, though, our interest was all the more piqued. How did they get from saving animals to becoming a one-stop shop for exclusive NFTs from musicians, actors, and more?
Perhaps when you have one good idea, there's bound to be more—especially when you put two more brains in the mix who have been in the space early enough for them to witness it grow. John Bialon and Jardine Gerodias told Santos that his idea was "more of a charity than a business," but their interest in collaborating was still there. And so Stanible was born.
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"My co-founder John has always believed that there is something in the creator economy and fandom that can be enabled by NFTs," Santos shared. "If you look at NBA TopShot, they just digitised NBA cards. That's [a] fandom. So what if we can translate what happens in NBA Topshot to stanning, stans for your idols, celebrities, influencers, [and] vloggers? So we went to the whiteboard: how can we give value to creators and fans?"
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In wanting to empower creators, though, they realized that getting into NFTs can be quite complex. And so aimed to make it simpler.
"[With] Stanible, in a few clicks, creators can make an NFT, parang Instagram lang. You upload a photo, and then—boom—it’s an NFT in a few seconds." Santos said. "From the fan side, we wanted to simplify the process as well. We don’t want you to be exposed to crypto and the volatility, especially if you’re a beginner and just getting into this. So we put GCash as the payment method, even on Android. We have ShopeePay. We wanted to make the boarding process very frictionless, seamless and easy."
In incorporating more familiar payment methods and an Instagram-like profile, Stanible hopes that more people see the value of authentic digital collectibles.
"NFT is heavily limited edition so let's say you [the NFT you have] is one out of ten. That means ten lang kayong magkakaron non so it's unique (That means only ten of you get a copy, so it's unique); it’s proof of fandom," Santos explained further. "I’m sure you’re thinking, ‘screenshot ko na lang’ ('I'll just take a screenshot). Well, it's not the same. This is like saying, ‘Why don’t I print Michael Jordan and call it my own NBA card?’
"So if it’s not on your profile, it’s not legit. The way NFTs work is [like] having a fingerprint for every photo and video, or like a digital code that helps us authenticate and track it. So you can’t just print your own; you can’t just [take a] screenshot. What’s in your profile is authentic, issued by the creator, issued by the celebrity, and we authenticate it. We work with them. (...) It can also be used as a key to unlock perks and benefits which is also called NFT utility."
The more Santos talked about how Stanible works, the more it dawned on us how NFTs can be an avenue for music artists to take back ownership of their craft in the world of free streaming and downloads.
"When we talk to musicians specifically, a lot of them can’t even use their own music in their YouTube videos because they don’t actually own their songs anymore. Of course, we are also working with labels and the big companies, but this changes the game in such a sense that they have more ownership [of] the content they put out. So that’s one thing; there [are] monetary implications to that. Even [with] secondary sales may royalties sila, diba? (Even with secondary sales, they get royalties, right?)" Santos pointed out.
He added, "Because right now walang ganon eh, walang ganon concept (Because right now, there's nothing like that; there's no concept like that) [where] there's one of ten limited-edition snippet or [an] unreleased [version] of a song, I can release it in the future and the artist still makes royalties on that. It's on the chain; it’s on code. You can’t stop the royalties from going. So that's the monetary side of things. The other is really just the ownership, it could be (...) partnered, but mas may control nga yung artist (the artist has more control). That's what I see at least in music.
"Other than that, I also see a new way for artists to engage their fans. That means it can unlock perks; it can unlock communities. [...] Imagine if fans can have that, so they get to be part of this musician or artist community. It’ll unlock a group chat, a meet-up, a meet and greet. It [can] unlock so many things. This is a new medium, a new avenue for artists to be more creative on how they can engage their fans."
The move to enable fandoms through NFTs is not exactly a new thing. Just like with other aspects of music, the emergence of web3 has made many discover opportunities to share their craft in new and more innovative ways. In South Korea, for example, HYBE and Dunamu, in a joint venture with Levvels Inc., launched the platform Momentica to host digital NFTs for the fans of SEVENTEEN, ENHYPEN, LE SSERAFIM, fromis_9, and TOMORROW x TOGETHER (TXT). With Stanible, this opportunity is extended to Filipino creators—something that creators in the country seemingly have already embraced.
"You know, in the Philippines specifically there's been a lot of interest with crypto. Globally, we’re always ranking in terms of crypto interest, ownership and even usage. (...) After the bull run of 2017, it was really Axie Infinity (...) that really exploded a lot of interest in web3.," Santos shared. "So through Axie, ang daming na onboard (a lot of people got onboard). Millions of Filipinos got into crypto. ...) Because of that you know, a lot of Filipino groups actually [became] builders and got into it. The community became bigger and stronger and now locally we have our own games, our own apps like Stanible.
"There are a lot of very promising local NFT projects. Personally, I hold some of them, like Aswang NFT. There’s a bar in Poblacion called Keepers, it’s sort of like an NFT [and] web3-friendly bar. In fact, they're tokenizing their bar, you can buy an NFT and get owner-like benefits. Ang dami pang ibang projects na getting started (There are a lot more projects that are just getting started) so you know, ang ganda ng space sa Philippines (the space in the Philippines is really great). There [are] lot of exciting and promising things happening."
Find out more about Stanible on their website. Watch what went down during their official launch here:
This interview has been edited and condensed for brevity.
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