Mastercard has announced a partnership with Polygon as part of a Web3-focused incubator programme. The financial services company wants to support musical artists looking to harness the power of the digital economy with the tools they need to succeed.
“The core of this programme is providing emerging artists with the Web3 tools and skills they need to excel and advance their music careers in this digital economy,” Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Mastercard, said to TechCrunch. “By providing access to experts and innovators in the space, the artists will be guided on how to incorporate Web3 into their work throughout the entire programme and then beyond.”
Polygon is a scalable blockchain built on top of Ethereum that has been making huge strides in the Web 2.0 ecosystem of late. In the past year, the network has partnered with a number of other major brands such as Starbucks on its Odyssey digital collector rewards programme, and Disney for its Accelerator programme, as well as major clothing brands such as Prada and Adidas which are launching NFT projects through their blockchain.
Mastercard is not the first mainstream brand to target the music industry with the help of Web3. Global record production and distribution company Warner Music Group has already made inroads into this space with several deals dating back to early 2021.
Most recently, the company partnered with digital fashion design company DRESSX to allow select WMG artists to create a variety of fashion items and sell them to their fans as NFTs.