COC Concertz

The On-Stage Expression of The ZAO

COC Concertz is a recurring concert and showcase series run by Zaal (BetterCallZaal) under The ZAO umbrella^[1]. It occupies a distinct place in the ecosystem - not the large annual gatherings of ZAO Festivals, but a numbered, ongoing cadence: shows happen roughly monthly during active seasons^[1], with editions numbered sequentially (COC #1 in March 2025, COC #7 scheduled for mid-July 2026)^[1].

Each edition is a live concert featuring 2-4 independent artists^[1], typically running 2-3 hours of music^[1], conversation, and experimental Web3 moments. Recent shows have piloted dropping wallet gates entirely, trading crypto-native friction for open access and broader audience reach.

The series broadcasts simultaneously across multiple platforms: Spatial.io metaverse venues (the primary virtual stage), X Spaces, Twitch, TikTok, and YouTube^[4]. This multi-platform approach treats virtual and physical equally - audience members can join from a Web3-native venue, a livestream platform, or an IRL location if a physical co-hosting partner is involved.

A Stage Where the Network Proves Itself

The ZAO ecosystem provides on-chain tools - SongJam for composition, ZABAL for community coordination, streaming contracts for revenue splits^[6]. These tools return profit, data, and IP rights to creators. COC Concertz returns something equally essential but harder to measure: the stage, the attention, and the proof that a decentralized music community is not just a timeline but a room full of people who showed up.

For artists, it is direct exposure and a pathway into the wider ZAO pipeline - moments from the shows become clips, community engagement becomes bounties, and artists themselves graduate into festival lineups. For The ZAO community, it is cultural proof - evidence that the network functions as a platform for real expression, not just economic coordination.

The format also serves as a testing ground for hybrid live/virtual formats. Each show generates feedback on how audiences move between platforms, how the metaverse venue and the livestream audience interact, and what keeps people engaged during live music in a decentralized context.

Format, Platforms, and Operational Flow

Show Structure

A typical COC Concertz runs 2-3 hours with this approximate breakdown:

• Intro / Ambient Set - 20-30 minutes of music or DJ set to build atmosphere as the audience arrives across all platforms. Establishes the mood and allows late arrivals to settle in.
• Main Artist Sets - 3-4 artist performances, each 30-50 minutes. Sets include live music, conversation, and for some shows, experimental moments (collectible drops, fundraising activations, community shoutouts).
• Closing Set / Outro - Final 20-30 minutes. Sometimes a collaborative jam or a reflection on the show's themes. Builds a sense of closure while community members transition to the next part of their evening.

Between sets, the host (typically Zaal) facilitates transitions, introduces artists, calls out community members joining from different platforms, and manages any Web3 activations happening that show.

Broadcast Topology

The operational core is multi-platform:

• Spatial.io Metaverse

  The primary virtual venue (usually StiloWorld, a custom Spatial.io space designed by Stilo and CyberNerdBaby^[4]). Audiences arrive as avatars, can interact in-world, and feel a sense of shared space. Real-time chat runs alongside the stream. NOTE: Spatial.io free/pro tier sunsetting July 27, 2026^[7]; enterprise access may be required for future shows.

• X Spaces

  A linked audio room on X (formerly Twitter). Reaches the native Farcaster/X community and provides an audio-only option for listeners on mobile or in transit.

• Twitch & TikTok

  Parallel livestreams at twitch.tv/bettercallzaal and TikTok. Captures audiences from those platforms' native communities and creates clips for asynchronous discovery.

• YouTube

  Recorded performances and full-show compilations. Archive strategy in development - docs show plans for automated YouTube description generation, timestamped chapter markers, and artist profile enrichment from live transcripts.

Web3 Integration Points

COC Concertz experiments with Web3 moments, including:

• Proof of Meet Collectibles

  Experimental moments where attending a show (whether in the metaverse or on livestream) earns a non-transferable or semi-fungible collectible as proof of presence and community membership.

• Cross-Community Collaboration

  Shows feature multiple artist/creator communities: an artist's fanbase, a metaverse community (like StiloWorld or Waha indigenous community), and The ZAO core team converge on one stage.

• Fundraising via Giveth

  Some artists (e.g., Joseph Goats) use COC shows as a vehicle to raise funds for community causes via Giveth (giveth.io) on-chain donations^[7], turning the concert into a dual cultural and economic event. Giveth is a zero-fee cryptocurrency donation platform^[7] where 100% of donations go directly to verified projects.

The First Wave: 2025-2026

Source: Codebase show history (doc 352, validated May 2026), ICM COC Concertz box^[3].

Recurring Performers and Collaborators

Three artists have emerged as core to the COC series identity, with additional performers rotating in. Here is the active roster as of May 2026:

Stilo World (Los Angeles, CA)

Caribbean-influenced hip-hop and R&B artist, founder of the StiloWorld Spatial.io venue used for COC broadcasts^[5]. Released album "Ambition" with tracks including Together, Hero, I Want You to Stay, Paradise, Mama, Bonita, Save Me, and Nothing to Lose. Approaches artist readiness as a core practice - "preparation meeting opportunity." Hosted 150+ consecutive weekly VR concerts, establishing himself as a reliable presence in Web3 music. Performances at COC: #2 (WaveWarZ Battle exhibition), #4 (full Ambition album live).

Artist Social Links: Instagram @stilio.music, Twitter/X @stiloart, LinkedIn: Dope Stilo Music Club

Tom Fellenz (US-based, vineyard performance circuit)

Guitarist, soundtrack composer, and AR/virtual space builder^[5] who returned to live acoustic performance through metaverse stages. Since 2019, has composed over 15 full-length pieces of electronic music crossing genres including rock, 80s soundtrack, R&B, blues, and smooth jazz. Earlier work centered around solo instrumental acoustic guitar performance; has begun transcribing pieces for full band arrangements. Performed at Metaverse Music Festival in Decentraland (March 2022). Plays guitar "as conversation, not performance." Original compositions: Setting the Scene, From Above (20 years in development), Another Page Turned, In Quieter Times, A Tale of Fall. Connected to Meteorites, Token Smart, and Third Planet communities. Deeply engaged with blockchain and virtual platform technologies for music distribution, having built 'NFT Music Hall' in multiple virtual platforms and hosted over 40 musicians. Performances at COC: #2 (live set in SaltyVerse Auditorium), #4 (5-song acoustic set, showing his progression as a performer).

Artist Social Links: LinkedIn, tomfellenz.com, Apple Music

Joseph Goats (Caracas, Venezuela)

Venezuelan singer-songwriter and social impact artist (born as José Cabrera), using music as a vehicle for indigenous community support and social coordination. Rebranded from Jose to Joseph Goats for English-language audiences. Performs original songs in Spanish: No Winter Slam, Kama, Compass (Brujula), with themes of ecology, indigenous wisdom, and community building. Active fundraiser via Giveth for community causes - raised USD 8,259 on Giveth^[7] supporting earthquake relief and community projects. Approaches music as a public good for DAOs and Web3 communities, organizing free digital concerts and discord performances. Performances at COC: #4 (3-song live set from Caracas, demonstrating the multi-geographic reach of the series).

Artist Social Links: Giveth campaign profile (specific URL to be confirmed); additional social profiles in active population.

Additional Artists

AttaBotty and Clejan performed at COC #1, establishing early momentum. Both are part of The ZAO ecosystem but social links and biographical detail remain limited in the current codebase; these are flagged as action items for artist profile enrichment.

Artist social links and Web presence (Twitter/X, Farcaster, Bluesky, Lens, personal websites) are in active population. The COC Concertz #4 transcripts are being used as the primary source for artist bios and context, a rich document that captures voice and philosophy more authentically than web search. Deep research pass (July 9, 2026) added verified social links for Tom Fellenz and Stilo World, confirmed Joseph Goats' Giveth platform presence, and verified Giveth as zero-fee donation platform. Platform changes noted for Spatial.io shutdown.

The Stack Behind Live Performance

Data & Audience Management

COC Concertz currently runs on Google Firestore^[2] for core data (show metadata, artist profiles, chat persistence, real-time presence during broadcasts). The database setup is straightforward: free tier accommodates the monthly-show cadence with 50,000 reads/day capacity. During a show with 50+ concurrent viewers and a few hundred chat messages, the system burns a few tens of thousands of reads in a single evening - still well inside the free tier, with cost escalation only relevant if a single show exceeds 500 concurrent viewers (estimated ~$0.06 per 100,000 additional reads if that threshold is crossed, a non-issue at current scale).

The Firestore setup uses client-read-only rules on core collections (artists, shows, chat history), with all writes routed through Admin SDK routes at `/api/*`. A Supabase instance is already wired into the application at `src/lib/supabase.ts` for archive features (dormant, pending activation). Site authentication is optional; wallet gates have been dropped on recent shows to maximize reach, though past shows still track attendance via optional Web3 verification.

Content Generation & Archive

Current workflow: shows are recorded to YouTube, with manual description writing post-show. Development underway for automating YouTube description generation, integrating transcripts, adding timestamp-based chapter markers, and enriching artist social links from show transcripts.

The COC codebase includes a newsletter builder at `/newsletter` (with existing infrastructure for AI generation and @mention resolution). The planned enhancement is a YouTube Description template that consumes show transcripts and generates SEO-optimized descriptions + tags + timestamps in one action. Follow-up phases include a `/content` dashboard unifying newsletter, YouTube descriptions, and social posts into a promoter toolkit.

Permanent archive via Arweave is under consideration for long-term content preservation, though not yet activated.

Streaming Infrastructure

Broadcasts are coordinated across Spatial.io, X Spaces, Twitch, TikTok, and YouTube using a multi-platform restream strategy. Specific tooling and CDN choices are not detailed in current research docs; this is an operational detail managed by Zaal and the production team.

How COC Concertz Feeds The ZAO Network

COC Concertz has graduated to its own repository and operational ownership - a pattern in The ZAO where a project earns autonomy once it is production-ready and attracts outside collaborators. The show series feeds multiple parts of the ecosystem:

• Content & Clips - Moments from shows become short-form content for Farcaster, X, TikTok. Artist performances and community reactions drive discovery and funnel new audiences to The ZAO.
• Bounties & Engagement - Moments flagged for community response (artist callouts, audience shoutouts) become ZABAL bounties, incentivizing ongoing engagement beyond the live show.
• Artist Pipeline - Performers and organizers from COC shows are candidates for ZAO Festivals^[6], the larger annual events, creating a natural progression from recurring series to marquee events.
• Community Proof - Each show is a data point that the network functions IRL, not just on-chain. Attendance, cross-platform viewership, and on-chain coordination metrics are gathered and shared.
• Protocol Testing - Proof of Meet collectibles, cross-community fundraising via Giveth, and hybrid virtual/physical co-hosting are all experiments that test mechanics later scaled across The ZAO.

Next Actions & Planned Features

• Artist Profile Enrichment (NOW)

  Populate all artist social links (Twitter/X, Farcaster, Bluesky, Lens, website, Giveth) in Firestore using COC #4 transcripts as primary source + manual research. Enables artist discovery and direct fan connection paths. Deep research pass (July 9) partially addressed this - see artist sections above for verified links.

• Platform Continuity - DECIDED (2026-07-10)

  Spatial.io free tier sunsets July 27, 2026. Zaal confirmed the decision (2026-07-10): livestream-first, then distributed across every platform available - "streaming is our new metaverse." COC Concertz will not replace StiloWorld with another metaverse platform; livestream becomes the primary virtual venue, with existing multi-platform distribution (X Spaces, Twitch, TikTok, YouTube) as the delivery model going forward.

• YouTube Description Automation (Q3 2026)

  Add YouTube Description template to the newsletter builder. Input: show transcript (paste or upload .docx/.txt) + show/artist selectors. Output: SEO-optimized description, timestamps, tags, all in one copy-pasteable block. Reduces post-show manual work from 1-2 hours to 5 minutes.

• Content Hub Dashboard (Q4 2026)

  Unify newsletter builder, YouTube descriptions, and social post generation into a single `/content` page. Allow promoters to manage all COC Concertz content distribution from one interface. Optionally save to Arweave for permanent archive.

• Direct YouTube Upload (2027, if needed)

  Integrate YouTube Data API v3 to upload videos directly from the website, auto-fill metadata, set thumbnails. Only if manual upload becomes a friction point.

• Show Cadence Growth

  COC #7 is planned for mid-July 2026. The aspiration is monthly shows during active seasons (spring/summer/fall), with 1-2 shows in winter. Exact artist roster and venues to be confirmed as each show enters production. Pending resolution of Spatial.io platform changes.

Honest Unknowns and Challenges

• Spatial.io Platform Sunset (CRITICAL)

  Spatial.io discontinues free and pro tier hosting and 3D world support July 27, 2026, directly impacting COC's primary virtual venue (StiloWorld). Zaal's leaning (2026-07-09) is livestream-first rather than a metaverse replacement - not yet finalized, decision targeted for next week. If confirmed, COC #7+ shifts weight from the Spatial.io/StiloWorld layer toward X Spaces, Twitch, TikTok, and YouTube as the primary "venue."

• Audience Retention Across Platforms

  Current data shows attendance at shows, but not how audiences distribute across Spatial.io, Twitch, TikTok, X Spaces, and YouTube. If the metaverse venue is the primary experience and livestream audiences feel secondary, this may limit reach. Conversely, if livestream audiences dwarf the metaverse crowd, the Web3 cultural value proposition weakens. This needs measurement.

• Monetization Path

  Shows are currently free to attend. Artist compensation is not detailed in available docs. A clear revenue model - whether via ticketing, platform splits, sponsor underwriting, or community treasury allocations - has not been formalized. As the series scales from monthly to bi-weekly, this becomes critical.

• Artist Pipeline Traction

  It is not yet clear whether COC Concertz performance leads to concrete outcomes for artists: increased streaming, festival bookings, bounties completed, or revenue from other ZAO products. The series is designed as a pipeline, but the downstream effects are still being measured.

• Metaverse Venue Dependency

  StiloWorld is the primary virtual stage, owned and maintained by Stilo. Even beyond the Spatial.io sunset, sustained platform or artist unavailability would impact show logistics significantly. Backup venue plans or venue diversification may be warranted.

• Social Link Population

  Artist social media handles, personal websites, and Giveth profiles are mostly empty in Firestore (flagged in doc 352). July 9, 2026 research pass added verified links for Tom Fellenz and Stilo World; Joseph Goats Giveth presence confirmed. Remaining gaps: direct social handles for Joseph Goats, complete profiles for AttaBotty and Clejan.

For Artists, Community Members, and Partners

• Attend a Show

  Shows are free and open to the public. Join the Farcaster channel /cocconcertz^[1] for announcements of upcoming shows, venue links, and real-time chat during broadcasts. Watch on Spatial.io (metaverse), Twitch, TikTok, or YouTube depending on your preference. NOTE: Spatial.io access may require changes post-July 27, 2026.

• Support Artists

  Follow performers on their home platforms (links now included in artist profiles above as they become verified). If an artist is fundraising via Giveth^[7] (e.g., Joseph Goats supporting community projects), donations on giveth.io go directly to community projects with zero platform fees. Engage with content clipped from shows, comment, and amplify on your networks.

• Perform or Collaborate

  Inquire via Farcaster (@bettercallzaal^[1]) about artist submission and booking. The series prioritizes Web3-aligned and independent artists, multi-genre, with openness to experimental formats. Being embedded in The ZAO ecosystem is a plus but not a requirement.

• Produce or Host

  COC Concertz is looking to formalize regional hubs and co-hosting partnerships for physical/hybrid shows. If your community or venue wants to host or co-produce a show, reach out with your space, audience size, and technical setup.