You make the music. You should keep the money.
You get $0.003 per Spotify stream. To earn $100K, you'd need 33 million streams in a year. Your label — if you have one — takes 80-85% of what little comes in. The platform owns your audience data. The algorithm decides if anyone hears you.
You create the value. Everyone else captures it.
The tools exist right now to:
- Split revenue transparently — every collaborator gets paid automatically, every penny trackable
- Own your audience — a portable list of your real supporters that no platform can take away
- Prove you made it — timestamped, verifiable proof that you created your work
- Sell directly to fans — no middleman, no 30% platform cut
The problem isn't that these tools don't exist. The problem is that nobody teaches artists how to use them.
That's what the ZAO does.
A guild of independent musicians, artists, and builders who learn together, support each other, and keep more of what they earn. Started in 2023 as a pivot from ZTalent Agency. Currently a tight-knit community of Respect token holders who show up every week.
We don't say "trust us, we'll handle it." We say "here's how it works — let's learn it together."
Think of it like: a music co-op with weekly meetings, real concerts, and tools that actually put money in your pocket instead of taking it out.
Week 1: You sign in, introduce yourself, and start hearing what other members are working on. Music plays inline — you discover artists you've never heard of. Someone DMs you to welcome you.
Week 2: You join your first weekly meeting. Six people in a circle. Everyone shares what they've been building. The group ranks contributions. You earn your first Respect — the community's way of tracking who shows up and adds value.
Month 1: You've shared your music, gotten feedback, connected with producers and other artists. You might join a collaborative project. You start learning how the tools work — not from a textbook, but from watching other members use them and asking questions.
Month 3+: You've earned enough Respect to have real influence in how the community is run. Maybe you propose a project. Maybe you collaborate on a track with transparent revenue splits where everyone can see exactly who gets paid what.
Nobody tells you what to do. You show up, contribute, and earn your place.
Artists compete head-to-head. Fans engage and trade on who they think will win. Artists earn directly from audience engagement — no streams required. Big battles Sundays at 7 PM EST. Quick battles Monday-Friday at 8:30 PM EST on YouTube Live. Daily community discussion at 11 AM on X Spaces.
Work with the community on music, marketing, or sync licensing. Revenue is split transparently — artists keep the vast majority. The ZAO Cypher (multi-artist collab with producers Clejan and GodCloud) is the first project testing this model.
Compare: major labels take 80-85%. We're building the opposite.
The sync market is $650 million and growing. More than half of all placements are now "micro-syncs" — YouTube videos, podcasts, indie films, social media ads. The ZAO is building a collective catalog of pre-cleared music from our roster, submitted to indie sync agencies. If your track gets placed, the money goes to you.
We've produced four festivals: New York (NFT NYC), Miami (Art Basel), Colorado (ETH Denver), and Maine (ZAO Stock, coming October 2026). Plus 150+ weekly metaverse concerts through our COC partnership. Artists perform, connect with audiences, and build their reputation — online and IRL.
You don't need to understand blockchain to benefit from the ZAO. You don't need a crypto wallet on day one. You don't need to know what "soulbound tokens" or "fractal governance" are.
Those are the tools running under the hood. You'll learn about them naturally as you participate — the same way you learned to use Instagram without reading a manual about HTTP protocols.
The technology enhances the experience. It doesn't interrupt it.
22 artists. 378,000+ combined monthly Spotify listeners. 500+ tracks across hip-hop, trap-violin, R&B, electronic, Latin pop, synthrock, and more.
- Clejan — 289K Spotify. "The Trap Violinist." Toured with Lindsey Stirling. Opened for Snoop Dogg.
- NessytheRilla — 6 albums. Opened for 6ix9ine, Doja Cat, Chief Keef.
- GodCloud — First finger drummer on Ethereum. Featured in Forbes.
- Jadyn Violet — 8 raves in 7 cities. Sound.xyz pioneer.
- Jango UU — Genre-bending synthrock from NYC.
- AttaBotty — ZAO co-founder. 10,000+ NFTs sold.
- Mr. Darius — 12+ releases on Sound.xyz. Published author.
- Stilo — 150+ consecutive weekly VR concerts since 2007.
- And 14 more across the ZAO roster.
Since 2024, the web3 music space collapsed. Sound.xyz shut down. Catalog shut down. Royal closed. Async Art shut down. Noise DAO went dormant.
They all started with technology and hoped community would follow.
We started with community. We've held 100+ weekly governance sessions. Published 400+ daily newsletters. Produced 4 festivals. Built our own app. All bootstrapped — zero VC funding. $8,000+ in self-generated revenue.
We're still here because we show up every week.
| Who | What They Do |
|---|---|
| Zaal | Founder. Electrical engineer turned web3 builder. 400+ daily newsletters documenting every step. |
| Hurric4n3IKE | WaveWarZ founder. Built the entire battle platform. Musician and developer. |
| Candy | Co-founder. Design, marketing, automation. ZAO member #2. |
| AttaBotty | Co-founder. 20+ years in music production. Festival production lead. |
| Ohnahji | Education lead. Runs "Web3's First HBCU." Weekly podcast co-host. |
The ZAO is invite-only — intentionally. We believe in depth over breadth. Every member knows each other by name.
Step 1: Get a referral from an existing member. Step 2: Show up. Introduce yourself. Listen to what others are building. Step 3: Contribute. Share your music. Give feedback. Be present. Step 4: Earn Respect. Your contributions get recognized by your peers.
That's it. No buy-in. No token purchase. No technical setup required on day one.
| Website | thezao.com |
| App | zaoos.com |
| Newsletter | paragraph.com/@thezao |
| Podcast | Let's Talk About Web3 |
| WaveWarZ | wavewarz.com |
| Builder | @bettercallzaal |
"I'm not into crypto. Is this for me?" Yes. You don't need to know anything about crypto to join, participate, or earn. The technology is invisible until you want to learn about it.
"What does it cost?" Nothing. No buy-in, no subscription required to be a member. Some features (like releasing music through the collaborative track) involve optional revenue shares.
"I already use DistroKid/TuneCore. Do I need to switch?" No. Keep your existing distribution. The ZAO is a supplement — community, education, battles, sync licensing, live events — not a replacement for your current tools.
"What if I'm not a musician?" We also welcome producers, designers, videographers, writers, and music fans who want to support independent artists. The community has roles for people beyond just musicians.
"Why only 40 people?" Because a room where everyone knows your name is more valuable than a platform where you're a number. We're growing — carefully.
The ZAO — where artists keep what they create.