Mastercard has partnered with Polygon to provide a platform for emerging musical artists. Will the payment giant successfully adapt to Web3?
Mastercard, one of the largest payment processing operators worldwide, has partnered with the Polygon network to help budding musical artists create their personal brands through Web3.
According to a Polygon announcement, the Mastercard Artist Accelerator Program will kick off in spring 2023.
Mastercard Artist Accelerator Program
The Mastercard program aims to help musical artists of all the types, such as musicians, DJs, and producers. The selected artists will be trained to leverage blockchain technology and build their personal brands through NFTs and metaverse.
The company steadily moves in the music industry by sponsoring GRAMMY awards. Last year, it even hosted the first GRAMMY week in the metaverse with Roblox.
Raja Rajamannar, the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard, says, “Music is a universal passion, inspiring us, moving us, and bringing us together; however, it can feel impossible for budding artists to break in. With the Mastercard Artist Accelerator we are expanding access and driving connections further with cutting-edge Web3 technology.”
The community speculates if they would soon see a physical card from Mastercard with an image of an NFT. The watchmakers Timex recently launched 500 watch pieces featuring owners’ Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs on the dial.
The Web3 Expansion
Mastercard is one of the dominating brands in the payment processing sector. With Web3, there are speculations that the decentralized technology will disrupt the payment sector and push giants like Visa and Mastercard out of business.
But as they say, Change is the only Constant. If businesses don’t adapt to the developing technology, they will likely meet the fate of Kodak, Nokia, or Blockbuster. Hence, Mastercard is trying to have its exposure in the Web3 ecosystem.
In October last year, Mastercard announced joining forces with Paxos to onramp cryptocurrency trading for traditional finance. Similarly, in August, the payment company partnered with Binance to offer a prepaid crypto rewards card.
The rival company – Visa, is also trying to capitalize and build on Web3 space. Last year it partnered with JP Morgan to make international payments easier through blockchain. Most recently, in December, Visa announced a proposal to enable Ethereum holders to set up programmable payments from their own self-custodial wallets.
Will the current payment giants manage to utilize Web3 and survive the change?
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Disclaimer
BeInCrypto has reached out to company or individual involved in the story to get an official statement about the recent developments, but it has yet to hear back.
Source: https://beincrypto.com/mastercard-moves-into-the-music-scene-with-the-launch-of-polygon-artist-accelerator/