Humans of Social Money with Keeley Bumford of DRESG

“I’m Keeley and I'm an artist/producer/composer based in Los Angeles. I've fostered a career as a self-sufficient recording artist and producer through my work as a vocalist turned composer/producer across a variety of music for visual media. When I began, I was the only singer I knew who could record and mix themselves. Through the growth of my own skills and community, I've been able to technically realize the sound I wanted to achieve and also advocate for femme-identifying artists and producers to do the same, we're all trying to make it less of a rarity.

My manager, Cecilie Dreyer, and I had many conversations about web3 integrations and how the line between artist and fan can be continually blended to give folks more ownership and care in the projects they engage with. That’s when $DRESG was born. 

I love that I can have a custom token for my community. They do so much for me, and I want to create something they get to build and use to unlock value in our relationship. I feel it incentivizes folks to engage in a way that is not passive and empty like a lot of social media can leave us feeling. When social media leaves me empty, I go to my server to connect genuinely. I think that's really rare for artists to experience and it's not something I take for granted. 

I have a wonderfully active Discord server & Patreon that is largely comprised of other producers and creatives who started following me after my appearance on the popular Youtube series '4 producers 1 sample' with Andrew Huang. I love including them in various decisions I make as an artist and also creating fun challenges we can commit to together. 

On the server, we have a reward system where each day you check-in and say you did your creative hour & or share a demo of what you made, you earn 100 $DRESG. When we first launched the token, we made sure to retroactively reward the existing community with an initial $DRESG drop to thank them for their historical support on various channels. 

I also love that it feels a bit like Hogwarts where I can see someone doing something really helpful and productive in the community and reward them. 100 $DRESG to Gryffindor! Lastly, the idea that these could one day hold actual monetary value is of course extremely exciting for all of us.

Currently, the tokens can be spent on my website at the 'Vault' where I keep custom sample packs, stems from my songs, early versions of released songs, and unreleased things I'm working on. There are so many ideas I'm excited to implement down the road like voting on songs to make my record, activations on tours, production feedback from me, and much more

In the future, we’re also going to have community-led projects, collaborations, IRL activations, and support."

– Keeley “Dresage” Bumford. Follow her on Twitter and join the DRESG Discord.