Music App among selected startups Fuelarts x Tezos Accelerator. A platform to explore and discover works of art and music. We asked the M1X Labs Co-Founders to talk about the initiative and answer some of our questions:
- Carolyn MarieCo-Founder of M1X LabsCarolyn is a multi-disciplinary artist and poet, Teia DAO Founding Member, and also Co-Manages the DAO. Before crypto she was a Food-Tech Startup founder.
- Lisa SheridanCo-Founder of M1X Labs and CTOLisa is a Silicon Valley Unicorn veteran and early engineer at Splunk, StitchFix, and Riverbed Technology. Lisa also has a background in astrophysics and for fun she paddles outrigger canoe in Hawaii.
- Ryan TanakaCo-Founder of M1X LabsRyan is a classically trained musician / composer / musicologist, he participated in the Ethereum ICO and was an early supporter of Dogecoin / Musicoin. Ryan a of Founding Member of the TEIA DAO.
- What is M1X Labs?
- M1X Labs is a 3-person co-founder team building a Web3-native art and music curation and discovery dApp (multi-media player); and curator tools (royalties, referrals, commissions) for the Tezos NFT ecosystem.
This will be achieved by our smart-contracts and dApp. Our M1X token allows users to mint customizable lists of NFTs on-chain. Our dApp functions as a multi-media player capable of serving the wide variety of media types associated with NFTs on Tezos. Around these lists and multi-media players M1X Labs is creating incentives and revenue streams. We are intentionally building a "Curation Layer" to boost all current market activity; something we believe that Tezos Web3 enthusiasts are missing when compared to Ethereum (especially since Manifold launched their referral program Q4 2022).
This will be achieved by our smart-contracts and dApp. Our M1X token allows users to mint customizable lists of NFTs on-chain. Our dApp functions as a multi-media player capable of serving the wide variety of media types associated with NFTs on Tezos. Around these lists and multi-media players M1X Labs is creating incentives and revenue streams. We are intentionally building a "Curation Layer" to boost all current market activity; something we believe that Tezos Web3 enthusiasts are missing when compared to Ethereum (especially since Manifold launched their referral program Q4 2022).
- How did you come up with the idea to create this platform? What did inspire you? And tell us more about your team.
- M1X Labs started within the cultural backdrop of hicetnunc (HEN) and the Teia Community. Inspired by the artists who were minting high-quality artwork – all the time. The idea originated when two crypto-obsessed friends and arts/music enthusiasts (Carolyn and Ryan) started experimenting with ways to create an automated showcase for the talented artists on HEN/Teia. It was called "TeiaSurf'' because it was an experiential hybrid of casual couch-surfing and relaxed web-surfing; but only with art & music from Tezos. (Carolyn contributes to the Teia Community in multiple capacities including PR/COMMS – where this idea began to tug at her brain).
The first "prototype multi-media player" was literally two browser windows sitting side by side (one for visual art and one for audio art) running a simple script to click the "random" button on Teia's website on a timer (a search feature available on HEN and Teia's former UI). Though it was a very simple thing, Carolyn and Ryan got hooked on the player as a discovery tool and realized the potential for a full-fledged Web3-native dApp focusing on curation and lists (playlists). Carolyn and Ryan decided to call their FA2 token: M1XT (with the T representing "token").
A few iterations later, Carolyn recruited her long-time friend Lisa to join the team as CTO and to write Tezos smart-contracts. Lisa joined TeiaSurf and began upgrading the tech stack for optimum Web2 & Web3 compatibility. Together we recognized that we wanted to incorporate our token name (without the "T") as our company name and rebranded the company as: "M1X Labs" (pronounced "Mix Labs").
Note: Carolyn and Ryan are both founding members of the Teia DAO - (which will become formalized and gain official non-profit status March or April 2023).
The first "prototype multi-media player" was literally two browser windows sitting side by side (one for visual art and one for audio art) running a simple script to click the "random" button on Teia's website on a timer (a search feature available on HEN and Teia's former UI). Though it was a very simple thing, Carolyn and Ryan got hooked on the player as a discovery tool and realized the potential for a full-fledged Web3-native dApp focusing on curation and lists (playlists). Carolyn and Ryan decided to call their FA2 token: M1XT (with the T representing "token").
A few iterations later, Carolyn recruited her long-time friend Lisa to join the team as CTO and to write Tezos smart-contracts. Lisa joined TeiaSurf and began upgrading the tech stack for optimum Web2 & Web3 compatibility. Together we recognized that we wanted to incorporate our token name (without the "T") as our company name and rebranded the company as: "M1X Labs" (pronounced "Mix Labs").
Note: Carolyn and Ryan are both founding members of the Teia DAO - (which will become formalized and gain official non-profit status March or April 2023).
- What have you learned from the early steps of developing M1X Labs?
- Shortly after starting our project, we learned that Web3 dApps have issues and challenges that were new and untested. A few include:
1
The tech is very new so the number of bugs or issues we would run into were much higher than normal.
2
Documentation for implementation/troubleshooting tends to be poor and/or would become obsolete very quickly, making it difficult to debug.
3
Hiring technical help in this field is difficult or expensive due to the small number of qualified candidates out there.
4
In Web3, storage and gateway issues are a big challenge, and the ecosystem has yet to come up with a "best practice" just yet.
5
The ecosystems right now lack meaningful standards - both in tech and business practices, which makes collaborations and partnerships difficult.
M1X Labs was, in a way, created in order to tackle these issues head-on as the ecosystem gradually comes to resolve these issues, one by one. We are seeking to form partnerships and alliances with companies and organizations out there who also seek to see the Tezos ecosystem to reach full maturity.
- Is it possible to make blockchain art more accessible and easy to use? Share with us your tips, please.
- We are all experienced users of both mainstream Web2 apps and bleeding edge Web3. Our observations are that these emergent technical products often feel like a computer science degree is required to participate. That's something we hope to avoid with our dApp.
For ease and accessibility, we are focused on trying to radically simplify the user interfaces (UI) of our dApp in order to reach the widest audience possible. The fun experience comes from the quality content that the Tezos chain itself provides and our unique discovery feeds and filters. By keeping a minimal, intuitive, and simple UI we are able to provide a pleasant user experience (UX) for curators, collectors, artists, and the crypto-curious alike.
For ease and accessibility, we are focused on trying to radically simplify the user interfaces (UI) of our dApp in order to reach the widest audience possible. The fun experience comes from the quality content that the Tezos chain itself provides and our unique discovery feeds and filters. By keeping a minimal, intuitive, and simple UI we are able to provide a pleasant user experience (UX) for curators, collectors, artists, and the crypto-curious alike.
- What are your hopes for the future of the Web3 ecosystem?
- While the decentralized, "anything goes" mentality of the Web3 ecosystem has its own appeal, we believe that to achieve the types of collaborative partnerships that will allow creative communities to thrive, Web3 will need to establish standards and guidelines for creators, curators, developers, platforms, managers/agents, and other secondary marketplaces to operate in a way where the incentives are all aligned together in a predictable/sustainable way.
We are optimistic in the long run and we want M1X Labs to help bring about these changes. The Tezos NFT ecosystem has managed to build up a lot of goodwill in the crypto space so far, while also having the technological capacity to turn this dream into a reality.
We are optimistic in the long run and we want M1X Labs to help bring about these changes. The Tezos NFT ecosystem has managed to build up a lot of goodwill in the crypto space so far, while also having the technological capacity to turn this dream into a reality.
- What made you want to participate in Fuelarts x Tezos Accelerator 2023?
- We were recommended to the FuelArts X Tezos Accelerator by the Tezos Foundation following a grant application. We welcomed the open communication channels with the Tezos Foundation and wanted to network with and learn from professionals in the Art-Tech space.
As a newly formed company, we were exploring our options for how to best integrate ourselves within the Tezos ecosystem to realize the vision of a partnership-driven collaborative world. Part of our goal is to make sure that the relationship between M1X Labs and the rest of the ecosystem is cooperative, productive, and positive. So far, Fuelarts has proven to be aligned with that mission.
As a newly formed company, we were exploring our options for how to best integrate ourselves within the Tezos ecosystem to realize the vision of a partnership-driven collaborative world. Part of our goal is to make sure that the relationship between M1X Labs and the rest of the ecosystem is cooperative, productive, and positive. So far, Fuelarts has proven to be aligned with that mission.
- What did motivate you a lot in the acceleration?
- M1X Labs is motivated by impact. We define our success by how much impact we can affect by connecting the dots between: the right people, organizations, companies, and communities. Personally, we are motivated by working together, in tandem, towards the common goal of creating a fair, equitable, sustainable, and prosperous blockchain arts ecosystem to the benefit of all. We're excited at the prospect of making this happen, as well as to be among people who have these same goals in mind.
