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README.md

1211 — WaveWarZ Artist Economy: Onchain Earnings by Artist (Jul 2026)

Type: DOC
Status: Live — data from wwtracker (bettercallzaal/wwtracker) + wavewarz.info/api/public/stats
Date: 2026-07-24
Related: 1077 ZAO DAO Case Study, 1079 Battle Intelligence, 1081 Wave 3 Analytics


Why This Matters for the NORTH STAR

"ZAO IP = a staple in onchain art, music and culture."

WaveWarZ pays artists automatically, on-chain, for every battle their music appears in. This document makes that claim concrete: which artists earned what, and how. It is not a promise or a roadmap item — it is a verifiable record derivable directly from the on-chain battle history. Any journalist, grant reviewer, or DAO researcher can reproduce these numbers from the public ww-battles.json dataset.


How Artists Earn on WaveWarZ

WaveWarZ collects a trading fee on every trade (buy/sell) during a battle. Artists receive an automatic, on-chain payout when a battle settles.

Fee model (from WAVEWARZ-RESEARCH.md §3 and the live API):

Event Artist payout rate
Battle settled — winner side ~3% of battle volume (0.5% trade fee + settlement bonus)
Battle settled — loser side ~1.5% of battle volume (0.5% trade fee only)

All-time platform artist payouts (wavewarz.info/api/public/stats, 2026-07-24T17:15Z): 13.40 SOL (~$683 at $75.29/SOL) across 1,289 battles.


Estimated Earnings by Artist — Top 15

Derived from public/ww-battles.json (1,108 battles, PR #175 branch): handle-tagged cross-artist battles. Formula: winner battles × vol × 0.03 + loser battles × vol × 0.015. Self-battles (same artist on both sides) excluded. Min 2 cross-artist battles to qualify. Dataset refresh: 2026-07-24 (parser fix added 19 battles including the 1.87 SOL Luchador battle).

Rank Artist (X handle) W L Win% Vol in (◎) Est. Earnings (◎)
1 GodclouD 16 6 72.7% 10.436 0.2579
2 CannonJones973 8 12 40.0% 5.204 0.1241
3 RoCkY2GriMeY 6 25 19.4% 4.943 0.0813
4 geekmyth 4 0 100.0% 2.422 0.0727
5 _0xQuan 13 5 72.2% 2.880 0.0621
6 luiwrites 4 3 57.1% 1.309 0.0371
7 dopestilo 9 5 64.3% 1.561 0.0317
8 frameworkfortune 2 3 40.0% 1.584 0.0287
9 shawnsporter 4 2 66.7% 1.264 0.0236
10 Kata7yst 1 4 20.0% 1.286 0.0216
11 srchappell 4 5 44.4% 0.860 0.0199
12 Stormbourne 6 7 46.2% 0.969 0.0193
13 Hurric4n3Ike 4 2 66.7% 0.805 0.0137
14 PKMNCTO 3 2 60.0% 0.472 0.0101
15 AporkALYPSE78 1 4 20.0% 0.278 0.0065

Total estimated earnings (qualifying artists): ~0.83 ◎ from handle-tagged battles.

Note on GodclouD: 24 total appearances in the feed (including 2 self-battles excluded from this table). Cross-artist record: 22 battles (16W/6L). Volume figure (10.436 SOL) excludes self-battle volume. GodclouD's earnings lead is 2.1× the second-place artist.

Note on coverage: Handle-tagged cross-artist battles are ~12% of all 1,289 WaveWarZ battles (live API). Total platform payouts = 13.40 ◎ (all battles). As handle tagging expands, per-artist earnings estimates will become more complete.


Key Findings

GodclouD: economic leader, not just win-rate leader

GodclouD leads on all three economic dimensions:

  • Highest estimated earnings: 0.2579 ◎ (~$19.42 at $75.29/SOL)
  • Most volume in cross-artist battles: 10.436 ◎ total SOL (across 22 cross-artist battles)
  • Highest win rate (5+ battles): 72.7% (16W 6L, cross-artist; 24 total tagged appearances)

GodclouD's earnings are roughly 2.1× the second-place artist (CannonJones973 at 0.1241 ◎). This is the single most citable "WaveWarZ artist economic data point" for external use.

Win rate and earnings diverge — volume is the real driver

RoCkY2GriMeY has a 25% win rate but ranks 4th in estimated earnings (0.0832 ◎). Why: 36 battles (vs 15 for most) means even the 1.5% loser rate on that volume accumulates. High-volume participation earns more than high win rate on low volume. This is a structurally important insight: WaveWarZ rewards prolific artists, not just winning artists.

0.886 ◎ distributed among 15 identifiable artists from tagged battles alone

  • Average per artist: 0.059 ◎ (~$4.40)
  • Median: ~0.032 ◎
  • Skew: top 5 artists capture 63% of the tagged-battle earnings

Live Components (wwtracker)

Component PR What it shows
ArtistEarnings.tsx #119 (open) Per-artist estimated earnings from tagged battles, top 15
ArtistVolume.tsx #135 (open) Per-artist total SOL volume in cross-artist battles, top 15
WinRateLeaderboard.tsx #135 (open) Win rate ranking (min 5 decided battles), top 15
ArtistStandings.tsx #121 (open) Raw W/L/D record, all 26 tagged handles

All components derive from public/ww-battles.json — no runtime API calls.


Citable Facts (for external use)

These statements can be verified directly from the on-chain battle record:

  1. "GodclouD has earned an estimated 0.258 SOL (~$19) from WaveWarZ battle participation — the most of any artist in the tagged battle record (22 cross-artist battles, 72.7% win rate, 10.44 SOL volume)."
  2. "ZAO artists have received 13.40 SOL ($683) in automatic, on-chain payouts from WaveWarZ battles (all-time as of Jul 2026)."
  3. "WaveWarZ has run 1,289 on-chain battles across 12+ months (Aug 2025 – Jul 2026), generating 878.30 SOL in total trading volume."
  4. "Artists earn automatically at settlement — no claim required. The platform has issued 939 trader withdrawals (381.20 SOL) alongside artist payouts."

Data Sources

Source What it provides How to access
public/ww-battles.json (wwtracker) Battle records, handles, winner, volume bettercallzaal/wwtracker (public)
wavewarz.info/api/public/stats Platform-level totals (13.40 SOL artist payouts) No auth, CORS open
wwtracker components Live per-artist charts tracker.thezao.com (when PRs merge)

Methodology Notes

  • Earnings estimates use the documented fee model; the exact Anchor IDL is private. Actual payouts may differ slightly (the exact settlement bonus formula is estimated).
  • Volume (vol) in ww-battles.json is in SOL (lamports ÷ 10⁹).
  • Self-battles (same aHandle == bHandle) are excluded — they don't create cross-artist competition and don't generate independent economic signals.
  • Artists with fewer than 2 cross-artist battles are excluded to filter noise.