The global payments leader Mastercard announced the program "Mastercard Artist Accelerator" through a blog post. To assist five emerging artists across the globe to set up and manage their Web3 music brands and educate those in the music scene about the possibilities of Web3 technology Mastercard, one of the biggest payments companies, has partnered with Polygon.

To teach the selected artists Mastercard artist accelerator program will use the Polygon network. Customers will enjoy unique access to special events, music releases, and more through Web3 activities such as minting.

Autonomy and freedom are the biggest goals of the program. The two companies prepared “first-of-its-kind-curriculum” for this task. It will teach the artists how to construct and own their brand through Web3 activities, including minting NFTs, representing themselves in virtual worlds, and establishing an engaged community. Later this year, the program will culminate with a live-streamed artist presentation.

The five artists that will be able to participate in this program have yet to be chosen. Artists can still submit their applications. The initiative is set to begin in the spring of 2023. Fans will be able to accompany these performers on their journey, teaming up to discover how these tools work.

Mastercard is also launching a nonfungible token (NFT) collection dubbed the "Mastercard Music Pass" for people who were not chosen for the program. Through brand alliances, the goal is to give holders with instructional materials and unique tools to enable young artists to learn about Web3 integrations with the music sector. Polygon has become a hotspot for music-related Web3 initiatives.

Other firms working on the Web3 area 

Global entertainment leader Warner Music Group had joined with Polygon Studios and e-commerce and interactive platform builder LGN.io to create LGND Music, a Web3 music portal. The site, which is set to go live later this month, will allow users to stream music as well as acquire and trade music NFTs.

Mastercard has been expanding its presence in the blockchain and cryptocurrency areas by partnering with Coinbase in January which will allow Mastercard cards to be used to purchase NFTs on Coinbase's marketplace. 

Mastercard teamed with Paxos in mid-October to enable banks to offer bitcoin trading and related services to its customers.