Get Paid to Create at Decentraland Music Festival: $10K in Awards Up For Grabs
By Decentraland, , in Announcements
✏️ September 29 – Applications for the open calls mentioned in this blog are now closed.
Decentraland Music Festival returns to Genesis City from Nov 19–22, 2025, and this year’s theme—SUB/STREAM—celebrates artists who made the stream their stage. Twitch icons, TikTok trailblazers, AI-native musicians, and virtual bands will unite in one global digital lineup. This year, two open calls invite both communities and performers to step into the lineup.
What does SUB/STREAM mean?
Streaming is where scenes are born and fandoms thrive. But what happens when your stream becomes a place—somewhere your audience can gather, move, and interact?
SUB/STREAM asks communities and creators to reimagine streaming as presence. The festival will pair global headliners with new talent, and transform underused parcels across Genesis City into long-lasting cultural spaces.
Open Call #1: Claim Your Party Pad
Party Pads are 2x2 festival home bases built for thriving digital communities—custom-built by professional Decentraland studios to spotlight fandoms, projects, and collectives. They’re not for solo creators but for groups with energy, culture, and an audience to bring. Think of them as clubhouses, lounges, or hubs where your crew shows up together and sets the vibe.
This is for you if your group is:
A fandom or streaming collective with regular live activations
An NFT or IP community looking to represent at the festival
A cultural crew or Discord server that already runs events
Any digital-native network with content and culture to share
From a Party Pad, communities can:
Stream DJ sets, talks, or fandom activations into the festival
Drop an exclusive Wearable for avatars Host watch parties, premieres, AMAs, or meetups
Showcase your Discord, collective, or project on the global stage
Selected communities will receive:
$1,000 USD in MANA for programming
A fully-funded Party Pad build via Creator Connect
12 months of exhibition time in Genesis City
Festival map placement and official promotion
Key dates
Apply by Sept 22 (11:59pm UTC)
Selected communities announced: Sept 24
Party Pads installed: Oct 28
Party Pad Referrals: Earn 500 MANA
The strongest communities often come through existing networks. To highlight that, a new Referral Award has been introduced for the Party Pad Open Call.
Anyone can refer a community—whether it’s a fandom, cultural crew, Discord collective, or other digitally savvy network—to the Zealous application page.
Here’s how it works:
When applying, the community includes the name and social media handle of the referral source.
If that community is selected as one of the six official Party Pads, the referral source will be contacted.
The reward is 500 MANA, awarded for each successful Party Pad referral.
You can refer as many communities as you like, but you’ll only receive the Referral Award if the successful Party Pad lists you in their application. If more than one referrer is mentioned, the award will be split between them.
Awards will be paid after the Party Pads are selected, with payment scheduled for Tuesday, Sept 30, 2025.
All MANA to USD exchanges will be taken from the closing MANA value of Monday Sept 29, 2025, with the funds transferred to the wallet of your choice (ERC20) by Tuesday Sept 30, 2025. Payments will be made in MANA so an Ethereum wallet address is required.
This program recognizes the role the Decentraland community plays in connecting the festival with the most exciting digital collectives worldwide.
Open Call #2: Perform on the Main Stage
Eight new performers from the Decentaland community will join the Main Stage lineup alongside global stream-native pioneers.
This open call is looking for:
Live electronic musicians & producers
Virtual bands and avatar-based performers
Twitch, TikTok, or YouTube Live artists expanding into 3D stages
Singer-songwriters, rappers, or instrumentalists already streaming originals
Performance artists blending music with visuals, avatars, or interactivity
Selected artists will receive:
$500 USD in MANA to support streaming setup
A 1-hour Main Stage slot during the festival
Promotion to Decentraland’s 600k+ social followers & 177k subscribers
Spotlight placement in the official program
Key dates
Apply by Sept 22, 2025 (11:59pm UTC)
Selected artists announced: Sept 26
Technical tests: Oct 27–30
Festival: Nov 19–22
Decentraland Music Festival 2024
Why Apply?
Decentraland Music Festival is more than a four-day event—it’s a chance to:
Grow your audience: Perform in a 3D festival space while simultaneously streaming to your existing channels.
Extend your impact: Party Pads and Main Stage builds remain live in Genesis City for at least 12 months.
Be part of history: Previous festivals featured Deadmau5, Ozzy Osbourne, NGHTMRE, San Holo, and Whipped Cream. This year, you could be featured on the bill.
Join a community: The festival channels fans into Decentraland’s new Party-Goer Community, where activations continue year-round.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE_q8D8Upuk
Decentraland Music Festival 2024 Recap
Getting Started
Before applying, download Decentraland and explore. No need to build yet—just get familiar with how activations feel in 3D space and check that your device runs the world smoothly. To be eligible, you’ll need to provide the email or wallet used to access Decentraland in your application.
Participation Beyond Awards
Taking part in Decentraland Music Festival isn’t limited to award recipients. Even if you’re not selected for a Party Pad or Main Stage slot you can still be included in the official program.
The application form will include the option, “Even if I’m not selected, I’d still like to be part of the program.” This ensures every community and performer has the chance to be listed in the festival blog and lineup, with details that can be updated closer to the event.
Ready to join SUB/STREAM?
The stage is set for stream-native culture to go collective. Whether you’re repping your community with a Party Pad or performing your set live on the Main Stage, this is your moment to turn streams into places and fandoms into destinations.
Submit by Sept 22, 2025 and be part of one of the most ambitious virtual music festivals dedicated to the stream-born generation.
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