NFTs | Nice F*cking Tits!
What is it about NFTs and why am experimenting in this space.
NFTs have allowed US (you, me, even 11 year olds in Thailand) to create a way to show ownership of digital assets. That means that any piece of digital content can now be owned by someone, and we can track the ownership whenever it changes hands through the blockchain.
What's even cooler, is the ability for the original creator to be credited and receive royalties for any sales that happen after the first sale direct from the artist.
There are actually a lot of interesting aspects and uses for nfts that we are only just beginning to see, but I won't get into all of that right now. I find a few interesting aspects of selling digital content through the blockchain for artists specifically though.
Selling a piece of digital content on a block chain , the way I've come to understand it and in a very simplistic way) is like standing in the town square and saying "I have this piece of art for sale", some one comes along and wants to purchase it, and you say. "I transfer this piece of art to this buyer in exchange for 1 ETH (ethereum)" the town accountant (The blockchain Market) makes note of it in the public ledger (the Blockchain) and the transaction happens instantaneously.
The blockchain is like a public ledger that allows you to track your art from YOU to whoever else buys it after that. With the idea of "smart contracts" built into certain block chains, you can even add in an automatic royalty, for every secondary sale. So how does that work in our town square analogy?
One year after your original sale, the same art buyer decides they want to sell the piece of art they bought from the creator, YOU. So they go to the town square and say. I'd like to sell this piece of art by this specific artist for 10 ETH. A new buyer comes along. The town accountant makes note in the ledger of the sale, and the transaction occurs, except this time, 10% of that sale... goes to the artist's wallet, and the artist can now connect with their new collector.
I think we're just beginning to see the new ways this decentralized market can be used.
We're seeing it used like trading cards in the sports world, capturing moments in time from an awesome play.
We're seeing it used for luxury items in fashion for people's online personas which is now translating into fashion in the real world since Beeple collaborated with Louis Vuitton and the bored apes showed up on the basketball courts.
We're seeing artists all over the globe thrive and sell their art, humanitarian efforts meeting their goals, and networks being built across the planet.
We're also seeing the mainstream media try creative ways to get aboard to stay afloat on the opensea market.
I'm still trying to understand the apprehension I feel from others who seem disinterested in exploring this new avenue, especially artists. I'm embracing this #cryptoart community in the way I embraced myspace when it came out. I had no idea how to code my own myspace profile, but I learned because it was exciting and there was so much potential to shape the space to work for me and my creativity. I believe the same is true in the world of crypto art and nfts.
I don’t know if our current social platforms want you know how much room there is for imagination and creativity and ownership in the web 3 space not just in their “meta”verse. Our attention has been consolidated to these main platforms, constantly learning and relearning how to use them based on algorithmic tweaks, and what's trending in the vicious cycle... hoping to grow your audience enough to flash a blue check on your profile.
Fuck that.
Create something from you not because it's this week's trending tik tok. There is room for artists of all kinds, (not just digital artists) in the web 3 and nft art world if we start thinking outside the box.
