Leveling Up’s 2022 Year In Review
Most Read Articles, My 2022 Music Playlist, and Some Tokenomics Reading
GM readers 👋,
Happy New Year!
2022 was a big year for Leveling Up. In March, I committed to writing more often and seeing how learning in public felt. The results were better than I could have hoped. I’ve learned a ton through the writing process, met a bunch of incredibly talented people (you!), and been approached about exciting, unexpected projects. As one reader succinctly put it: writing on Substack is a serendipity machine. Amen!
You can think of this year in review as our version of the Dundies (if you’re not already a fan of The Office, click this link for a glimpse at what I’m referring to).
This year in review will mix a few topics.
I’ll highlight the songs that stuck with me this year. These are some of the tracks I’ve listened to over and over again while writing, traveling, learning, reflecting, etc.
I’ll cover 2022’s top 5 most read articles. I’m basing the results off of Substack’s “views” metric on each post.
I’ll share a list of my favorite tokenomics articles this year. One of my 2022 personal goals was to learn more about tokenomics. These pieces helped me get smarter on the topic.
Thanks again for reading. Leveling Up’s readership grew 533% this year (albeit off a low base!). As I said in the last post, I’m super grateful that each of you spends a bit of your valuable time with my thoughts on various topics. I intend to keep writing next year, so hopefully Leveling Up continues to be interesting and/or entertaining to you.
As always, I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments. Any artists or songs that I should listen to? Any tokenomics articles that I should read? And if you have any ideas for future newsletter topics, please let me know!
Finally, a huge thank you to my wife Hannah and my business partner Adam for editing and providing invaluable feedback on each article. Leveling Up wouldn’t exist without their help.
Now, let’s get after it!
Jimmy
PS if you’re not already a subscriber to Leveling Up and don’t want to miss out on future newsletters, feel free to enter your email below and you’ll receive new posts directly in your inbox:
My 2022 Year-End Playlist
Here are some of the songs that stayed with me throughout the year. You can click this link to listen. I hope you enjoy it!
2022 Most Read Articles
Here are Leveling Up’s most read articles this year. If you’re new to the newsletter, I hope you’ll find them interesting.
Where Do Music Catalog Valuations Go From Here? (Link)
Navigating Music Valuations: Part II (Link)
Hipgnosis: Sustainable or Momentary Music Disruptors? (Link)
Down The Rabbit Hole: Music & Technological Innovation (Link)
HYBE: Prioritizing Transmedia Storytelling with Music IP (Link)
My Tokenomics Reading List
As mentioned, one of my goals this year was to learn more about tokenomics. In addition to working on several blockchain gaming tokenomics projects with the amazing team at Naavik, these articles, podcasts, and videos helped me get smarter.
I hope you enjoy them! But please note: this list is not exhaustive, so send me ones you think I missed!
Chris Dixon - The Web3 Playbook: Using Token Incentives to Bootstrap New Networks
Li Jin & Katie Parrott - New Creator Playbook
Gabriel Leydon Interview - Invest Like the Best Podcast
Mitch Lasky Interview - Invest Like the Best Podcast
Naavik & Lars Doucet - The Sandbox: Where Digital Land and UGC Collide
Naavik - 1 vs 2 Token Economies
Naavik - A Deep Dive Into Liquidity Pools
Nat Eliason - One vs. Two Token Models in Crypto Gaming
Nat Eliason - Crypto Gaming is Broken. How Do We Fix It?
Nat Eliason - Is it a Ponzi?
Packy McCormick - Designing Token Economies
Richard Kim - Twitter thread
Vader Research - Token Value Accrual
Vader Research - Why STEPN’s Collapse Is Inevitable
Vader Research - Nightclubs and Web3 Games
Final Thoughts
Well, that’s the 2022 year in review. I’ll be back soon (hopefully in January!) with the next newsletter. Until then, I hope 2023 brings each of you health, happiness, and prosperity!
Thanks to Hannah and Adam for the feedback, input, and editing!
If Alderbrook can help you build or fund companies in this space, please reach out!