... with Miguel Benavent de B (1) PRIVACY & ARTISTS
2025 conversation about Privacy, Artists and the web3
[ en español AQUÍ ]
🐦⬛ A few weeks ago, I had a meeting at Mirlo Studio with Miguel Benavent de B, whom we often follow and read on his blog. Miguel is a crisis manager and communicator with expertise in technology and innovation. But above all, Miguel is curious, creative, and rigorous, and he always has a thirst for learning. We hit it off immediately, connecting directly and easily.
Miguel agrees with Georgina Mauriño on the need to defend the human condition and everyone's right to their own space and freedom. The contributions of technology are welcome, provided they are used knowledgeably.
In the studio, we are all attentive to what is happening around us, and with everything that is going on, it is not easy to stay focused. Could it be that they want us distracted? Just in case, I insist from time to time on returning to our guiding star, the fundamental rights that are most important to independent artists... I decided to ask Miguel about this, so that he could share—from his own experiences and projects—ideas that might light the way for new independent artists. Georgina joined our conversation.
Now, I am bringing our exchange of ideas to this newsletter for artists on the Internet of Value. I will do so in three installments. The first deals with a fundamental issue:
Artists' privacy in the world of exhibitionism
🐦⬛ Is the loss of privacy inevitable for an artist? What consequences can this have?
🤔 Until now, artists were “subjected” to a system (which has come to be called “the industry,” whether musical, cultural, or whatever name you want to give it in each case) that deprived them of their rights as creators and of direct contact with their ‘audience’ or “market” (listeners, readers, etc.). This left them unprotected against a system that, to put it bluntly, ignored them as creators, profited from their prominence and, worse still, from their economic gains. Unfair contracts and unjust conditions were the norm for artists, in order to be able to exhibit or bring their work to market. Only when an artist became famous could they “negotiate” their terms and become someone...
Artists live off their identity, which is what their art expresses. And identity demands privacy, lest it be diluted into social anonymity! Miguel Benavent de B
🤔 It seems like an unsolvable oxymoron, and yet I believe that protecting privacy has been and remains essential to defining your unique creative process, to identifying your own message. Furthermore, this exercise in self-knowledge is, in reality, a very healthy human practice in general. All human beings can be artists, although very few take the time and trouble to follow this necessarily private path.
🐦⬛ That's why we love the definition of privacy in the Cypherpunk Manifesto: Privacy is the ability to selectively reveal yourself to the world.
🤔 On the other hand, as you rightly say, technology opens up new ways of being rewarded for contributions to the network, and these new business models will have to be made compatible with the protection of privacy... quite a challenge.
🐦⬛ So, I ask you: is having a lot of followers and getting along well with the algorithm always good for business? Are vanity metrics profitable?
🤔 Today, fortunately or unfortunately, artists and their work are worth what the audience is willing to pay for them and how many fans they have. Until now, this was in the hands of the system (whether it be their manager, art dealer, representative, record label, etc.), meaning that the middleman was the one who determined whether or not they achieved “fame”... and a large part of their earnings!
However, the emergence of P2P (Peer to Peer) technology in recent years has brought artists closer to their market and their fans.
And if we add another layer to this, such as Blockchain (an operating system based on cryptography, security, and data immutability), this opens up a whole new universe, promoting not only identity but also interactivity, economic transactions, and the tokenization of value, both in terms of ownership and the value of talent contributions, both from the artist and their market.
🤔 You're right that market laws are unforgiving... however, I wonder if P2P technology can't leave behind this dependence on “advertising” by artists and their clients. I'm confident that decentralization, this tokenization that values what is unique and scarce, will introduce new business models to the Internet of Value.
🐦⬛ Tokenization is the first step to enter and benefit from the new digital economy that is already emerging in web3. If you feel lost with this concept, you can start by reading about the Internet of Value and tokenization brought to us by blockchain technology and especially Bitcoin. Smartists -2025, the year of tokenization-
🤔 Personally, I dream that today's algorithmic or random consumers will become repeat and loyal customers. I also hope that avenues will open up for artists to communicate with their customers in a personalized way. The paradigm can change if we want it to, but we need to define the new modes and clarify the roles that each of us will play.
🐦⬛ So today, we must ask ourselves... What should we talk about? Fan clubs or communities?
🤔 I prefer to talk about ecosystems. Fan clubs are a thing of the past. And communities are something that bring people with the same interests together, but they don't go much further than that. Today we talk about ecosystems, because each of the parts that make them up has a more active role, and the sum of these parts is the achievement or consolidation of a project, whether artistic or not.
In a balanced ecosystem, everyone has their role, from the creator to the audience, including the producer, the record label, the distributor, etc. Everything revolves around the artist and their work, which regain the prominence that time and the System had taken away from them.
🤔 Let's hope that the new era brings this balance, and that every artist regains control of their message.
🐦⬛ So, based on your experience, Miguel, here's a more direct question: How can an independent artist manage their online presence today with an eye toward the future?
🤔 I am in favor of collaboration in every sense, rather than “individual heroics”...
...And from that perspective, I believe that artists are stronger when they work together and, even better, share experiences and take on global challenges. After all, all artists face the same challenge: reaching their market and, as far as possible, increasing their audience.
Years ago, I participated in a website that brought together amateur artists whose main goal was to finance artistic projects (such as road shows, concerts, video clips, etc.) through crowdfunding. All the artists shared the common goal of “getting out there” and, ultimately, becoming professionals. We attracted more than 8,000 artists over a period of about two years, throughout Spain and Latin America, from all genres (singer-songwriters, groups, bands, etc.) and all musical styles.
Each of them had their own “space” from which they interacted with their loyal followers! But the magic was something we hadn't anticipated: creating a community of artists who grew by supporting each other and collaborating on everything. One knew about production, another about organizing concerts, others about designing album covers or graphic imagery, and still others about managing social media.
Unfortunately, due to management problems, the portal closed after a couple of years due to lack of funding (Blockchain, as we understand it today, did not yet exist). But it was a learning experience for everyone involved, the entrepreneurs who created it and, above all, the artists! It was undoubtedly the seed that prepared us, years later, for the arrival of Blockchain and tokenization, as tools for interaction and, why not, also for financial viability!
🤔 What a great and pioneering project! It was indeed paving the way for what we are now beginning to see... Although at the time of writing there is little talk of DAOs, in this newsletter we have seen some projects that use technology in line with what you are telling us. So far, these have been experiments for artists who are more tech-savvy, and traditional artists have not shown much interest. But I believe that this is a thread that will be picked up again and eventually put into practice when the protocols of these organizations and the technological tools for participation become easier to understand and use, and are more widespread. In addition to collaboration between artists, there is now an unstoppable trend towards much more fluid communication between artists, collectors, and all recipients of works of art: their observation and eventual participation in the creative process. This is something that greatly enriches and gives more meaning to the works.
🐦⬛ Another issue is the profound reflection that this new paradigm raises about another fundamental right: intellectual property rights, in a context in which AI is becoming increasingly prevalent in the lives of artists of all genres... We will discuss this in the next installment. Thank you very much, Miguel and Georgina.
🗞️ News directly related to this right to privacy. → Will the Digital Euro end your privacy and freedom?