Since the beginning of time artists have always reached out to their fans for financial help in order to make their dreams come true by giving them rewards in return; most often it was just a simple gesture of gratitude such as an autograph or even just thanks. While this method still works today, there has been very little development in this field until the NEAR platform.
NEAR is made up of two major components: an open, blockchain-based protocol and a free desktop application where artists can create their own smart contracts in order to gain financial support from their fans. The artist can set up different tasks for completion that will be rewarded with NEAR coins which are NEP-5 tokens built on top of NEO blockchain technology.
All of these features are packaged beautifully into the NEAR Protocol freely available on GitHub. A developer's group has already formed to further its development, making it one of the most promising dApps on the horizon.
So maybe now you're asking yourself, what happens if I forget about my goals? Well don't worry because an AI bot called Mila will remind you that those goals are still available and your fans will be able to help out as well.
The NEAR team has stated the following: "NEAR Protocol was created to show our appreciation for all musicians and artists who have given so much joy and inspiration to our lives." This is even more evident once we look at their partners roster for this project. Some of these include: Steve Shadders – best known for his work with Roger Waters, The Who, David Gilmour, Paul McCartney among others; Craig Sellars – creator of dot-com boom's biggest exchange OTCMKTS:BATS; digital media mogul Antu Sorainen; blockchain developer Dean Eigenmann; Luc Descheemaeker – head of marketing and communication for NEO and many others.
This is an exciting project that will give musicians/artists the ability to give back to their fans in a way we have never seen before.
My opinions: If this is successful, it can lead to a bigger ICO (USD$ 9 million softcap, USD$ 27 million hardcap), because the marketcap of NEP-5 tokens will increase greatly; however, NEAR would need to add more features to prove its worth in order not to be written off as another scam. Even if they fail like all other projects, I believe that there were at least some people who tried and we need more of those if we want blockchain/cryptocurrency adoption in the future; we should support our own! Follow me at @elsharion or Dean van Dugteren at @dvdugteren if you like my articles! :) Dean is a very cool guy, I'm honoured to be part of this team and I am proud to know him. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe on Youtube for more information about NEAR! Also follow me on Steemit if you're into that sort of thing ;) Peace out!
