Snoop Dogg revealed as co-founder of Web3-powered livestream platform

American rapper and actor Snoop Dogg has been revealed as one of the co-founders of a Web3-powered live streaming app called “Shiller” — adding to yet another Web3 partnership for the well-known hip-hop artist. 

The app is described as a “live broadcast platform” that aims to combine Web3 technology with real-time live-streaming content. The rap star has been named as a co-founder of the app along with technology entrepreneur Sam Jones.

Get ready for the Web3 live stream revolution!

Say goodbye to the middlemen and hello to true creator empowerment with Shiller!

Apply now https://t.co/w43RvAGN3t pic.twitter.com/YV9H2Wa5LF

— Shiller (@shiller) February 11, 2023

It follows a wave of Web3 partnerships by Snoop Dogg in the last year.

In April last year, Snoop Dogg partnered with Sandbox metaverse to launch an NFT collection called “Snoop Avatars” and released a hip-hop single titled “A Hard Working Man,” which was later accompanied by a 50,000-piece NFT drop.

The rap star also partnered with Yuga Labs — the team behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and CryptoPunks — to perform on a metaverse-transformed stage at MTV’s Video Music Awards on Aug. 29.

Snoop Dogg also recently partnered with crypto casino Roobet, where he will serve as the firm’s “Chief Ganjaroo Officer,” according to a March 1 statement from Roobet.

As for Shiller, blockchain will feature heavily in the platform, allowing content creators to “token-gate” their streams and promote nonfungible tokens or other products from e-commerce websites.

These content creators can be paid out in cryptocurrencies such as Ether (ETH) or NFTs, which can be cashed out as fiat.

It was slated for a January release but has been delayed until April, according to Shiller’s latest update on March 2.

Creator economy movement

The launch of Shiller appears to be part of a broader creator economy movement where Web3 will likely play a role.

While “Web1” enabled users to write HTML and read content, “Web2” enabled user-to-user interactions — which was brought to the masses by a few social media monopolies, such as Facebook, Google and YouTube.

The “Web3” movement aims to eliminate these intermediaries by providing creators with complete ownership over their content and the monetization that flows from it.

Related: Music NFTs are helping independent creators monetize and build a fanbase

Decentralized messaging platforms are beginning to emerge too, with one named “Damus” attempting to become a “Twitter killer.”

Backed by Jack Dorsey, Damus went live on the Apple App Store on Feb. 1. It is built on a decentralized network that enables encrypted end-to-end private messaging, called “Nostr.”

The platform comes with built-in Bitcoin (BTC) payments on the Lightning network.