Cover Story: Iqbal Ameer talks blockchain innovations and AI’s role in the experience economy

Over the last few years of building All-Access.io, you’ve been tackling one of entertainment’s biggest challenges—fan data ownership and authenticity. How does AI-powered authentication change the relationship between fans, creators and platforms?

IA: This statement captures All Access’s true value proposition: fans are the market, not the product. Today’s extractive models exploit fan consumption data as a commodity—Facebook and Instagram are ‘free’, but sell your data. Instead of benefiting from their consumption value, fans end up overpaying for tickets, expected to cover marketing costs. Why pay for marketing when you’re the market?

Our decentralised ecosystem gives fans total data control, allowing direct fan-creator collaboration without middleman platforms using exploitative algorithms designed to extract maximum advertising revenue from all parties.

All Access also leverages AI to tailor entertainment content to match fan consumption patterns and needs, empowering both fans and creators. Our flywheel rewards fans immediately for authenticating what they like and what they don’t, creating a more equitable value exchange between creators and their audiences.

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Your vision for All-Access.io positions “fan excitement as currency” within a decentralised system. How do you see blockchain and AI working together to create a more equitable entertainment ecosystem, and what does this mean for traditional intermediaries in the music and entertainment industry?

IA: Blockchain presents a unique opportunity to create a tokenised ecosystem incentivising positive creator-fan interactions. All Access introduces a form of ‘tokenised social capital’, recognising fans who contribute positively to content or experiences they love. Social capital measures monetary contributions and willingness to share social clout; for instance, reposting about artists on social media earns token rewards. Creators now have a direct way to engage fans and create more content value. We’ve essentially rewired entertainment’s value economy.

Our AI infrastructure provides a neural system supporting these efforts. For fans, it’s an entertainment companion tuned to their consumption and listening interests. For creators, it’s a vertical prompt tailored to their business, understanding their needs and consumers.

Again: AI tailors prompts individually, learning your likes and dislikes. You’re rewarded with tokens for authenticating your preferences through daily quizzes. These tokens can buy you Taylor Swift tickets because the AI recognises you as a genuine fan—it’s game-changing in our view!

AI is transforming everything from personalised recommendations to virtual performers. How do you see AI enhancing rather than replacing the human connection that’s at the heart of live entertainment?

IA: I see AI as a plus—workflow optimisation, content creation tools, vibe coding, smart logic and more. There’s a plethora of AI tools to help you create music, movies and social content. We’re approaching a golden age of creativity where AI can serve as an ‘inspirational tool’ for our next-generation design thinkers, experience-makers and creators.

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If you had to offer a critique of AI and its potential impact on the live entertainment industry, what would that be and what could the strategies to mitigate or reduce its negative effects look like?

IA: AI shouldn’t be viewed as a cursory trend that’s convenient to some and inconvenient to others. The steam engine was replaced by internal combustion engines with massive socio-economic impact, but we adapted. Today, these engines are being replaced by electric motors, and so we’ll adapt again.

AI’s advent represents a shift in economic design and how we interpret core market value. It favours those who embrace, understand and know how to exploit it. You can pursue regulation, but you can’t stop it—it’s inevitable. But if you use it as a companion to help achieve your goals, you’ll move so much faster.

You’ve previously spoken about Malaysia’s expertise gap, forcing All-Access.io to rely on foreign talent for blockchain development. Have things improved?

IA: Not necessarily, but Malaysia now has many blockchain communities and societies, especially within universities. We’ve tapped into these veins, giving students an AI companion to help them work faster. This allows us to take risks in hiring blockchain students to help us build.

Effectively, we’ve created multiple sandbox environments where students are shown real industry problems to solve using AI. They return with multiple solutions, and our team evaluates whether they’ve earned the bounty rewards we’ve set.

It’s been fun working with these students. They’re used to dry projects like developing inventory systems. Suddenly, they’re exposed to live entertainment. One student said, ‘Oh, you’re doing Duolingo,’ and we replied, ‘Yes, but instead of us teaching you, you’re teaching us.’

What is it about Malaysia’s ecosystem, culture or market dynamics that not only supports innovation but gives you a competitive edge? And what would you tell policymakers about the one change that could unlock Malaysia’s potential as a true innovation powerhouse? 

IA: I’ll be frank: Malaysians have never held all the cards. We’ve always been the underdog, facing challenges in environment, infrastructure and capital access. But this has made us more resilient, innovative and hungry as entrepreneurs. This resilience wasn’t created overnight; it’s been years in the making.

This environment has produced highly productive, innovative thinkers. I meet people everyday with great ideas that could only emerge from Malaysia’s unique circumstances.

To policymakers, I say: stop giving us a hard time! We’re now positioned to flourish. If you take steps to understand what we’re building, what we’re intentionally breaking, we can move forward together collectively.

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