Last week, a story I came across by accident caught my eye big time: Shopify introducing NFT integration! Before I jump into what Shopify is up to, I wanted to explore another facet of this story, which is the fact that I did NOT hear about this from… anyone! Not a peep about it from the web3 music crowd on Twitter! Why do we think that is?
Off the bat, I can think of a few reasons: a lot of web3 artists are laser focused on web3 as a launch place for their careers and therefore are not in a financial or career position to use Shopify to sell merch in the first place; the news simply wasn’t blasted out loudly enough to reach web3 music Twitter; web3 music culture = being skeptical about ANY large companies entering “the space,” even if it’s in an indirect way like Shopify’s doing (ie they’re not launching their own exclusive Shopify NFTs or something).
I did a quick Twitter search for “Shopify + NFT” to see what the chatter was looking like. I didn’t find too much, and no strong opinions in any direction, but here are a few faves (verdict: people don’t know about this and/or don’t care about it for whatever reason):
i think i agree, Jack!:
idk the context here but i think i agree w/ chosta?:
lol. wtf is mintplex and should i know about it?:
Now let’s get into this Shopify story and why it could be major for small and larger artists alike.
What is Shopify up to?
First, here’s Shopify’s page about what they’re calling “tokengated commerce.” The skateboarding video is real cute, and it’s also straight to the point: token/NFT holders use their crypto wallet to unlock stuff in an online Shopify store. And it goes beyond stuff, btw — they mention “events” and “experiences” — there seems to be flexibility here to all kinds of stuff.
As an artist, this is exactly the kind of NFT functionality that I’m looking for. I’ve talked about how expensive music NFTs that are digital assets only are not for me & not my idea of a good time for people who listen to Celia Inside. Token gating my up & coming Celia merch store via a trusted storefront like Shopify feels like a solid move and solution for selling to web2 and web3 crowds all in one place. And you know that Shopify has a deal with Spotify to feature your merch directly on your Spotify profile page, right? It seems to me that Shopify is the clear choice for us as musicians and artists in the web3 space.
Who’s doing this, you ask? They list the following “brands” token gating on Shopify: World of Women, Invisible Friends, and Doodles to name a few.
Where do I need more convincing?: Shopify also prompts us to “mint and sell your brand’s NFTs” using their partner apps — “from flash sales to the hottest drops.” Sounds ambitious, and I’d love to learn/see more about how that works. But I’m definitely intrigued! There’s also some impressive no-crypto-needed language here, meaning people could buy NFTs without any crypto (but I’m guessing they’ll need SOME kind of wallet).
Or! Maybe this is all for fake, it’s been a good run for some, but the bubble is bursting and the jig is up!
xo C