What are the advantages of Web3 over Web2? a16z founder gives a strained response in an interview

Reflecting on the narrative of the bull market, L1, Web3, NFT, DAO, and the metaverse, the initial anticipation has waned after the collapse of coin prices, with doubts arising over the cash flow of NFT projects, strange governance proposals emerging in DAOs, and a sudden decrease in community discussion. Web3 seems to have come and gone without ever truly materializing, and when a16z faced questions about the specific advantages of Web3, they seemed unable to provide compelling reasons to truly break free from Web2.

a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen discussed the blockchain revolution technologies continuously advocated by a16z and others in a program with Bloomberg columnist Tyler Cowen, but when delving slightly deeper into what concrete advantages Web3 has over Web2, Marc Andreessen's answers seemed somewhat vague and ambiguous.

How Podcasts Benefit from Web3?

Marc Andreessen:

I hope that in five years, the so-called Web3 Podcast will thrive. Compared to the past open-source internet, it will have uncensored content, a higher level of trust, as well as elements such as higher-level currencies, economic incentive models, etc. Although it is still in its early stages, we are quite optimistic.

Tyler Cowen: So, what are the specific advantages of Web3 Podcasts? Like the fact that we are recording here without any control, right? We can chat, and what we say will not be subject to external review. So why would a Podcast based on Web 3.0 be better?

Andreessen: "Money," and changes in revenue models.

For example, the revenue distribution mechanisms for creators on platforms like YouTube and Spotify. They can only keep celebrities in this closed system through contracts and away from the open-source internet. For instance, Joe Rogan doesn't need to choose an open-source network; he can continue to make big money in the closed ecosystem of Spotify in his own way. However, for the average person, they should be able to get a piece of the pie, and this network structure has been going on for 30-40 years.

He mentioned that Web3 can monetize the value of more creative content, such as Substack, which is a good example and somewhat close to a Web3 product. Under economic incentives, users produce a lot of high-quality content.

Note: In 2020, Spotify announced a one hundred million dollar deal to make "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast an exclusive program.

So How Do Podcasts Benefit from Web3?

Cowen interrupted Andreessen again at this point, apparently he did not provide the "specific" answer Cowen was looking for - how does the revenue model of Web3 work? Will platform revenue be higher than Web2 platforms? Will Web3 platforms be willing to share more profits with creators compared to YouTube and Spotify?

Cowen: You don't have to use Joe Rogan as an example; you can use more well-known podcast hosts. How can they earn more revenue in a Web3 version of the Podcast? Please be more specific.

Andreessen:

They can customize business models, such as subscription models, micro-tipping, and through the rise of NFTs, etc. They can achieve this through completely different tokenization models by issuing unique digital assets that can be sold, traded. Web3 injects native network assets and economic incentive mechanisms at the foundational level, which is a system that has not been seen before.

Cowen: It sounds like the key difference lies in a more frictionless, smaller payment mechanism. Is issuing and selling NFTs simpler than selling signed T-Shirts? I don't see much of a difference? It seems to have only a slight advantage, like only bringing 1% growth to GDP, not very attractive.

Andreessen did not directly answer this question. He stated that although the media market is small, for example, in the gaming market, the gaming market is actually quite large. Cowen nodded in agreement, saying that newspapers, magazines, and print ads are relatively small markets.

He emphasized that the goal is not to expand the media market by a hundredfold but to offer creators and users a better proposal. Considering the different world we live in now, there are potentially 5 billion users online every minute, and it is difficult to predict how large the media market can grow. For example, who could have predicted that TikTok would have such a huge market?

How Does Web3 Decentralize?

Cowen: Will Web3 become like Web2 due to the intervention of intermediaries? For example, power may once again be concentrated, or there may be censorship mechanisms. Although there is progress, this may make Web3 not so different from Web2. How can Web3 prevent these things?

Andreessen:

For example, Gmail does not review content, but as far as I know, they have the ability to activate review mechanisms at any time. Similarly, online retailers have always tried not to be classified as spam, which is the result of their review engine's intervention, not just the simple email transmission protocol SMTP. We can build our own email system, just like Gmail replaced Yahoo Mail back then.

He emphasized that many Web3 protocols invested by a16z are not even companies. The investment of a16z is not to obtain equity but tokens. These protocols are decentralized from the start, and he believes this is a choice to move away from intermediary mechanisms and create a completely new system.

VC's Fantasies about Web3

Entrepreneur, angel investor, and also a critic of Web3, Liron Shapira, was the first to publish the interview content on Twitter, where the community began to notice Andreessen's strained response. This tweet also sparked very disdainful reactions towards Web3 and was even commented on by Jack Dorsey, the Twitter founder, who was blocked by a16z regarding Web3.

Finally, writer Charlie Warzel contacted Liron Shapira, who summarized the overly optimistic phenomenon of the general cryptocurrency community regarding Web3:

Founders and venture capital firms are so obsessed with a vague, early-stage idea that they never stop to consider its feasibility, thinking only that they are doing something visionary. However, in reality, the product has not even undergone the most basic logical testing. Web3 is not just a financial farce but a completely hollow abstract concept.