Web3 / AI
MastercardWeb3 Artist Accelerator
As Creative Director, I helped Razorfish pitch and win a program that helped emerging musicians create with AI, own and monetize their work, and reach new fans — culminating in a live-streamed showcase.
Role
Creative Director
Client
Mastercard
Discipline
Web3 / AI
How does a global payments brand earn a place in Web3?
When every brand wanted into Web3, most of them faceplanted, chasing the hype with hollow NFT drops that culture saw straight through. Mastercard wanted in too, but on its own terms: a debut in Web3 and AI worthy of a brand built on trust. No empty gimmicks, just adding genuinely to already-thriving music culture.
We pointed Mastercard’s first move in emerging tech at the artists who needed it most.
Don’t sell the technology. Use it to lift someone up.
The real promise of these new tools wasn’t wild speculation, it was opportunity. For emerging musicians, AI and Web3 meant new ways to create, new ways to reach fans, and for the first time, real ownership of their work. So we aimed Mastercard’s debut at the people who stood to gain the most: rising artists trying to break through.
The Artist Accelerator
We built a program that paired rising musicians with AI music tools, Web3 mentorship, and a global stage. Artists used emerging technology to make new work, learned to own and monetize it, and built direct relationships with the fans who believed in them, all under the Mastercard banner. It was the brand’s first real step into Web3 and AI, and it led with generosity instead of hype.
Give artists what they really need: ownership.
A first step
Mastercard’s debut creative venture into Web3 and AI
Pitched & won
A new-business win for Razorfish, with me leading creative
Live showcase
A streamed performance of the artists’ work, presented by Billboard
From pitch to live-streamed stage
As Creative Director, I helped win the program, then shaped how it came to life: the storytelling, the artist films, and the brand world around them, building toward a showcase where the artists performed the work they had created.
A brand’s first foray, done right
The Accelerator gave Mastercard a credible, human entry into emerging tech, the kind that earns a brand the right to be in a new space. It put real tools in artists’ hands, turned a buzzword into a platform with purpose, and helped cement Razorfish’s reputation as a partner who could make new technology feel like culture, not a cheap ploy.
The Billboard showcase
The full live-streamed artist showcase, presented by Billboard.
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