*As everyone knows, Michael Jackson was a pioneer in breaking and pushing boundaries in the music industry, from being the first black artist featured regularly on MTV to using groundbreaking technology in his music videos.
Now his nephew, Jaafar Jackson – son of Michael’s brother, Jermaine – is following in his famous uncle’s footsteps.
At “The Reveal” at the Dolby theater in Los Angeles of the new technology NASGO is betting it becomes the norm eventually, Jafaar Jackson performed in support of his new album, which he has earlier announced at the United Nations would be released in the new format called “tokenization.” He had made the announcement about the groundbreaking way he will release his album earlier at both the United Nations and then at the New York Stock Exchange.
Like his famous family, Jaafar Jackson wanted to make it clear he is releasing his album using this new technology to both be more accessible to fans and to be better able to support social causes.
“One of the biggest things (is) I want to bring awareness about things that are going on around the world through my music,” said Jafaar to EURweb in an exclusive interview.. “Using this technology and my music together, it’s definitely going to make me very happy.”
Jafaar feels the new blockchain/tokenization technology helps both artists and fans.
“Blockchain? It’s like buying stock in a company,” he said. “By buying tokens, you become part of that artist. So, a lot of fans will be able to be part of my music. If I had a chance to be part of some of the artists that I grew up listening to, I would love to have done that! This is new and I believe a lot of people will love this.”
Rising country star Cali Tucker also is “tokenized” and performed at the event with Jafaar.
“It’s a really special day for me for a couple of reasons,” said Tucker to EURweb. “First of all, I’m the first …female country music singer to actually be tokenized. So, I’m really excited to share that with everyone.”
“I’m performing tonight 3 songs off my new, original album,” Tucker continued. “It’s the first time I’ve ever performed them..so, I’ll be able to share that with you guys.”
“I think what they (NASGO) are doing is so incredible, and I’m glad to be on the ground floor of something that actually means something,” she continued. “I love when they talk about NASGO, they say, ‘What about the internet?’ and (how internet is now commonplace), that’s the exact same thing as blockchain, and I’m excited to utilize this tool to be able to reach out and build my career..have a bigger fanbase and to get my music out there without having to go through so much legwork, that you have to do with social media right now.”
“I can’t spend all day on a computer,” said Tucker, laughing.”Blockchain allows me not to have to do that. It does it for me.
So, what is tokenization?
“So, I wish I could be the smartest person in the room..to explain what tokenization is,” Tucker said laughing. “I’m still lind of learning…but what I’ve basically been told is that is that tokenization is… your own tokens and people are buying … cryptocurrency.”
“They buy into you as an artist, which is the currency that you’ll be using to do digital downloads and buy things off of what my tokenization is going to be, “Tucker concludes. “I am excited about just doing me, but am thankful (to be) involved with Eric Tippeatts and NASGO and the whole crew … I have so much to be thankful for to be involved with this.”
Speaking of Eric Tippeatts, the co-founder of NASGO, he also did an exclusive interview with EURweb to explain exactly what tokenization and blockchain are and how they work.
But first, he wanted to beam a bit about the big “The Reveal” event.
“The event, in very real ways, made music and technology history, as it celebrated the companies and artists who were the first to open up their businesses to the blockchain and gives them new resources for doing so,” Tippeatts said. “It turns many of the aspects of traditional business (cost, middle men and lack of transparency) on their head, so ultimately these arenas will be much different, in highly beneficial ways, in the same way the internet has changed so much of the world we know now.”
“We all know that blockchain will be the next big technology transformation and the Reveal was about making it simple and available to the mass market,” he accentuated. The ‘GoDaddy of Blockchain’ as a comparison.”
But to the average person who just wants to listen to music, what does being “tokenized” mean – and how does the NASGO app achieve that? Tippeatts has answers.
“Being tokenized means your functions are not carried along the internet or on your company server, but along an alternate conduit called the Blockchain, which is distributed, flexible and infinitely more transparent and safe,” Tippeatts replied. “The increments of value or currency that travel along the Blockchain are tokens. So being tokenized allows you to leverage the Blockchain conduit with all of the advantages it brings..
“In laymen’s terms, it brings businesses or artists and their audiences or customers closer together and allows them to engage in ways that didn’t exist in the past for funding new projects, for giving input and insights and for directing revenue exactly where you want it to go by eliminating middlemen, margins, and time delays and getting more and better input sooner on what the consuming audience would like to receive,” Tippeatts continued.
“This is much more about a brand being able to connect with their customer, fans and followers in a way that has never been experienced before,” he added. “They are now essentially partners – without any brand equity dilution – and incentivized with custom fan experiences. These are different from loyalty points that can be taken away, changed and diluted. The tokens have stored value that a customer/fan holds and owns for future use.”
As for the concept of Blockchain itself, Tippeatts boils it down to a simple definition.
“Blockchain is a decentralized database that is open for everyone to see to build trust and transparency for all peer to peer exchanges of value without any middlemen,” he said.
Tippeatts estimates that NASGO’s app will surpass the success of Pokemon Go, which had a whopping 800 million downloads and gross receipts of over $2 billion worldwide. That’s pretty ambitious! What gives Tippeatts the confidence that it will achieve that level of success?
“Based on moderate numbers and the pace of new business tokenizing do far – which NASGO and their marketing partner, Sharenode, have worked on making (transactions) easy and inexpensive to do, and are rewarding strong businesses for for sharing and supporting with others – it is entirely reasonable to expect NASGO to become the first trillion dollar platform on the Blockchain,” Tippeatts said confidently. “For those who use the VAPR augmented reality app to market their companies, the number of downloads and contacts could readily surpass $2 billion. Thus far, all indicators point to this being a highly realistic and reachable goal. As we mentioned at the event, our goal is one million small businesses globally. The cost for a business to purchase NASGO’s ‘BlockBox” is 600 NSG, or Nasgo tokens.”
According to Tippeatts, purchasing a “BlockBox” entitles the buyer to three services: 1.) A Blockchain Domain Address 2.) Their company’s web site on Blockchain and 3.) Tokenization of their business.
“NASGO has partnered with multiple large social media influencers around the world to help promote the Amico and VAPR apps as the new generation of community and having fun while building small businesses together,” said Tippeatts.
Before the main event,there were technology sessions for small and medium-sized businesses, sports and e-sports influencers, Blockchain and crypto enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. But Tippeatts explained why he picked musicians and not other business people or athletes for “The Reveal.”
“Well, small and medium-sized businesses and entities can benefit from more direct communication with their customers and audiences, so we wanted to emphasize that,” said Tibbetts. “In a nutshell, this is one of the most beneficial things that Blockchain and tokenization allows them to do.”
Picking fresh faces instead of trying to attract megastars like Taylor Swift was done intentionally and with a particular message in mind, Tippeatts said firmly.
“For these artists, they’re innovators. They’re rising stars who recognize that they can rise faster and better by leveraging everything that Blockchain and tokenization allows them to do.”
“Musicians are one of the largest categories that can benefit from Blockchain and Tokenization,” Tippeatts stresses. “The larger musicians do not own their name … the music labels do. So these are up and coming artists that have not been jaded and cannibalized by the large labels. During the day session, we had over 100 small businesses represented and sharing on stage why they tokenized. NASGO is about their community and why this is valuable to help more entrepreneurs become a success and educating them on next generation apps that can help enable this goal.”
Now, for the artists at the event and going forward, they will enjoy the creation of uniquely branded digital tokens for use in rewarding followers and customers with branded merchandise, priority seating and early release of upcoming materials. So, how would that work for someone like Jaafar? How would it work for a pro athlete? Tippeatts has answers.
“For an artist like Jaafar, the very biggest appeal is the ability to create a branded token as a means of connection and loyalty with your audience and following,” said Tippeatts. “Those who receive tokens can use them for swag VIP seating and the earliest possible access to new music. Without middlemen – such as recording labels – more of the money gets to the artist or athlete and it gets there faster, in time to allow the artist to develop more material and to do it with the crowdsourced support of the audience that wants to buy and receive it.”
“An athlete can use this for a limited shoe, or fan experiences to play basketball with Lebron James, or a day of golf with Tiger Woods. These are ways to create a seamless connections between brands and fans.”
Jaafar was at the United Nations and the New York Stock Exchange to promote NASGO and his new album. Tippeatts said that was not a coincidence. He had Jaafar appear at what are considered by many to be institutions representing humanitarianism and capitalism for a purpose.
“These audiences represent both sides of the tokenization “coin” so to speak”, said Tippeatts. “Tokenization allows for more contribution to humanitarian causes, as the process is transparent and can be built into the system itself – for example, every 17th minute, the revenue can go to the effort of the artist’s choice, as opposed to saving up for a single contribution at the end of the year,” said Tippeatts. “By upending the trasitional business process of middlemen, distributor, agents and recording labels, the artist or athlete creates – and keeps – more revenue, which speaks to the audience the NYSE addresses. Also – and this is very important – the VAPR (augmented reality) channel for distributing music – and perhaps, also, athletic performance events – eliminates the issue of piracy which wipes away so much of the music industry’s revenue today.”
So, bottom line, how do fans of Jafaar, Tucker and the other artists who performed Saturday go about gettimg their music now that it’s been tokenized?
“Those who attended the Dolby Theater event will be receiving tokens from each of the artists, (while) others can watch the artists’ sites’ for information on how to get tokens and how to exchange them for music,” said Tippeatts. “The process may very for each artist, but for each of them, regardless of purchase, ensures that people will look at their sites and examine more closely what they are doing – and get interested and engaged!”
Tippeatts feels the new app/technology will have a huge impact on art and the world in general, including the world of medicine.
“In the case of art … you can lock and time stamp any content created into the Blockchain that eliminates duplicates, just like songs,” said Tippeatts excitedly. “In medicine, this can help ensure that all records are recorded in the Blockchain and allows for people to be treated anywhere in the world.”
“Centralized systems, in contrast, do not have participants talking to each other,” Tippeatts concluded. “They are old and archaic. What we are creating and talking about is a global open ledger that allows privacy along with transparency for everyone involved.”
So, as Jaafar looks to conquer a brave new world like his uncle Michael before him, he makes it clear he is up for the challenge.
“I’m just happy to be doing what I love to do,” said Jaafar. “My family has inspired me ever since I was a little baby. I grew up listening to their music. I’ll always loo to them as an inspiration and I’m very happy that they’ve helped me throughout the years.”
EUR Extra Video Coverage …
Nasgo: How the blockchain is changing money and business with Don Tapscott:
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
