By Last month saw Our Music Festival (OMF) a cryptocurrency music festival which was held in Berkeley. This festival set the precedent for many future festivals such as the likes of South by Southwest (SXSW) who will be hosting their own series of crypto-integrated festivals as well as crypto talks in 2019.
OMF was held at The University of Berkely last month on the 20th October at the Hearst Greek Theater which is a historic venue, having played host to some notable names over the past years. Everyone from the Dalai Lama, the Grateful Dead, and even Teddy Roosevelt.
Let The Good Times Roll:
The festival itself on all accounts was a massive success. According to Forbes writer Zara Stone, 8000+ people rocked up to the venue to participate in the cryptocurrency experience. The line-up itself was gargantuan. Announced back in August, the lineup featured names such as Matt and Kim, Big Sean and Charlotte Lawrence.
3LAU also performed a DJ set & teamed up with promo company Prime Social Group and SingularDVT who are a “blockchain entertainment” company. This trifecta managed to, with their collective efforts, to pack the Greek Theater. Stone reported in her article, “During 3LAU’s set, the DJ made a plea for more ‘people to get on the blockchain […]’”
It was without a doubt a massive party, but the festivals core focus on cryptocurrency made it truly one of a kind. The organizers of OMF introduced their own digital token, aptly named the OMF token. Here is an excerpt from the Berkely ticketing portal which clearly states why the token was introduced:
“[…] creating the first decentralized music festival network powered by a cryptocurrency (OMF Token) that will be redeemable for products, services, and experiences (physical, digital & virtual) within the network. The network will be comprised of OMF branded events and partnered festival events. OMF will establish the gateway for all transactions between consumers, artists and event organizers that participate in festival ecosystems.”
Furthermore, OMF also introduced their own OMF app which users could use in order to tokenize the festival-wide QR codes. The app itself was created by Interstellar “[…] a new company formed by Chain and Lightyear to make building and operating on Stellar even easier.”
More Crypto Festivals On The Horizon:
While OMF stands alone as a unique case in the vibrant and innovative history of American festivals, a bunch of other popular festivals such as South By Southwest Festivals & Conferences (SXSW) a popular multimedia festival which is held annually in Austin, Texas have already begun work on incorporating crypto elements into their events.
Next years SXSW event, which is taking place in March, will include conferences, workshops & talks which cover current topical “tracks”. This particular part of SXSW will boast a series of crypto orientated events and will include talks such as “Crypto Crime: How to Steal Cryptocurrency,” and “The Arsenal of a Blockchain Developer just to name a few.
Early this year, crypto motifs were also spotted at the massive Burning Man festival in the form of a BTC sculpture and back in 2014, Burning Man’s organizers accepted donations in the form of bitcoin. Who knows, maybe the near future will see other notable festival names such as Coachella & Bonnaroo join in the crypto party but for now, OMF remains the first, fully-integrated crypto festival.
A Shared Philosophy:
This marriage of festival & crypto culture paints a picture of the shared philosophy of values. Bot the festival and crypto culture believe in introducing a creative and experimental alternative to the run of the mill traditional way of doing things.
Of course, these values are mirrored in the fact that the Berkely Bay Area historically represents the birthplace of both Silicon Valley tech culture and big music festivals which both have roots in counterculture values born out of the 1960s era.
Currently, there is no word on whether OMF will become a Berkeley annual staple but we believe the event is just the beginning of reshaping the current festival experience.
Another innovation in the world of crypto and blockchain. Could OMF truly pave the way for more crypto-integrated events? Let us know your thoughts by dropping a comment below.
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