On May 8, artist DJ W!LD rejoiced in two of his favorite creative expressions: music and art, debuting a collection of 150 original music and art NFTs, alongside exclusive community engagements. The virtual collection gives viewers an invitation to see behind the curtain of W!LDVERSE, revealing the creator’s vibrant artistic range and multi-faceted personality through unreleased music tracks, mixing the artist’s roots from the Paris underground with a modern interpretation of electronic music, as well mixed-media artworks.
W!LD has grown into a globally recognized house talent, touring the world’s foremost clubs and festivals, and has produced over 300 music tracks. He places his community at the heart of this project with exclusive physical and digital giveaways, authorized commercial use of his music collection, and special event invitations. In collaboration with community-driven NFT platform OTHERSOUND, W!LD and fellow prominent DJs launch their works of art and music, along with exclusive access to events and unique offerings.
Whitewall had the opportunity to speak to DJ W!LD about this cutting-edge project, the artist’s lifelong relationship with art and music, and the bright future of connecting digital and real world community engagement.
DJ W!LD NFT Collection.
WHITEWALL: What inspired you to create this special, comprehensive NFT project, combining 150 music and art NFTs, and exclusive community engagement?
DJ W!LD: The main inspiration comes from the freedom of creation you get from Web3. As a community-led environment, you can create anything you want for your NFT holders without any obstacles from intermediaries.
WW: What can we expect from the 150 unreleased tracks?
W!LD: It’s a deep-dive into my roots and my versatility in music styles. I made it so people discover all the music genres I’ve been working throughout my career, not only the music I play for events. I’m really glad to have the opportunity to combine all these styles in the same collection as they’re part of my inner artistic persona. As a collector, it’s like a big LP of 150 tracks on which you own the commercial rights through the NFT.
WW: Can you tell us about the art you’ve created for this project, as well?
W!LD: Similarly to music, the artistic concept around my collection is coming from various styles, formats and techniques as I have always been painting, drawing, taking photographs and creating videos. This collection is a way to express this artistic vision I have been looking forward to fully revealing with an unlimited number of possibilities. Through 150 art and music pieces, I don’t have to stay on one artistic line and express my ideas as I always wanted to do.
DJ W!LD NFT Collection.
WW: Tell us about your artistic practice? You work in a range of visual mediums—what have you been experimenting with lately?
W!LD: The foundations of my artistic practice on canvas are based on stencil graffiti. Yet, through NFTs I shaped my vision into videos with special effects, collages, etc. in order to tell a story for each NFT including crazy, trippy, sexy, funny images and sounds. Each track and visuals come together to create unique pieces that speak by themselves.
WW: How do you see your music practice in relation to your artistic practice?
W!LD: They are joined at the hip—one doesn’t exist without the other. Before even creating this symbiotic relationship between music and art in this collection, my mind had always been subject to those inner creations. Mixing both music and art in this collection allowed me to finally put my abstract thinking into reality.
WW: With this project you will authorize commercial use for your music by NFT holders—they may use it to accompany and promote their own personal and professional endeavors. This is a very interesting concept, given the challenges that present with music licensing. How did you conceive of this?
W!LD: Unlike most of the NFT collections out there, I wanted my collection to have specific utilities combined with unique artwork and not be focused on pure profitability. That’s why it was fundamental for me to give this collection a purpose for my community. I want to have strong interactions with my NFT holders giving them the chance to get fully into my world, having rights to use my music, receiving exclusive vinyls, paintings, VIP lists to my events, etc.
DJ W!LD NFT Collection.
WW: Where do you imagine seeing your music as a result of this giving back to the community?
W!LD: It can be used for several purposes: commercials, movies, events, exhibitions, etc.
WW: Can you tell us about your collaboration with the game-changing music and art NFT community, OTHERSOUND?
W!LD: The collaboration of Othersound is the result of long discussions to make sure we were all aligned with the same concept, especially for the roadmap and advantages. On the one hand, I took care of the whole artistic direction of the project, leading completely the creation of the collection, such as the concept around music and art. On the other hand, Othersound is in charge of making the concept happen in Web3 through building the platform, marketing and communication. We are also aligned on the future of the platform for which we will see a lot of famous artists coming on board to work with us and present their own concept to their respective communities to give them similar advantages to their NFT holders.
WW: What potential do you see in the NFT space for musical artists?
W!LD: The potential has not been tapped yet, like the early beginnings of the web when everything was possible and a few entrepreneurs shaped the world according to their vision of the future. The potential lies in this freedom of creativity, embracing what Web3 allows us to do technically in a community-led parallel world. Thanks to Web3 musical artists will be able more than ever to connect directly with their community. We will be able to create concepts according to community morals and beliefs and not be led by market opportunities. Another fundamental point is the percentage of royalties given to the artists that must come back to a fair point. This will now be possible.
WW: As an artist who performs regularly around the world, how do you see the digital community interacting with real, in-person experiences?
W!LD: As Web3 is still abstract for some people, I firmly believe we need to mix virtual and in-person interactions. This will be a perpetual ideas-sharing concept with the community as they will be able to join me on tour when it’s possible and be given access to exclusive virtual events too, using their NFTs for this specific utility. I also want to give a deeper, community-oriented purpose such as letting them vote and give their opinions on new concepts and events through the digital world to make them happen in the real world.
DJ W!LD NFT Collection.
