Ep 7 – Art and Music NFTs and Receiving Royalties

Welcome back as we continue our deep dive into the world of NFTs. In this episode, we will look at art and music NFTs and why blockchain technology is transforming the creator industry. If you are a visual artist, a digital artist or photographer, you can now sell your artworks as 1/1 or as a limited edition series on any of the NFT marketplaces. It is a new avenue for you to get exposure, grow your reputation and find a new audience who wish to support you by collecting your work. If you are already an established artist, you can now digitize your artworks by scanning them or creating them wholly on your computer and turning them into digital files that you can upload to the NFT marketplaces to sell. There are so many wonderful artists in the NFT space to explore. So jump on any of the marketplaces that I have listed in the Meet The Metaverse guide and take a look.

Now for the musicians among us. If you are creating music in any form, you can now turn this musical file into an NFT. As we mentioned in the last episode about utility tokens, you can create an NFT that gives your fans special access to you, your live shows, VIP tickets and backstage passes, a songwriting session with you, exclusive bonus tracks etc. You could sell an NFT of your album cover that even comes with extra benefits, you could turn your entire album into an NFT with a limited run, or even offer your fans a percentage of the publishing rights of your songs.

As I mentioned in the Introducing NFTs episode, how you create an NFT and what that NFT gives your buyers is only limited by your imaginations. In short, it is a wonderful way to create something that makes your fans and followers feel special. Our NFT project, New Day tomorrow, is based around a song that we will be releasing in March.It has been very thrilling for us to look at all the ways we can create a community experience around this. If you want to know more, come find us on Instagram and Twitter using the links section. Speaking of links, I have added some really cool projects in the Meet The Metaverse Guide of artists big and small, who've created music NFT projects that are all very different from each other -to show you the scope of what is possible.

Let's look at why artists love NFTs - independence and creative control. With NFTs an artist no longer needs to rely on a gallery or an auction house. What about the hefty up to 40% commission fees that these agents, brokers and galleries take from you when you sell your work. And if you're signed to a record label, I don't need to tell you that you're being rubbed blind by the record companies and you know how many records you need to sell to ever see a penny. With NFTs you now have full creative control over your process, over your income and over the potential revenue that you can earn. But it is the existence of smart contracts that have been the game changer for creators and the main reason NFTs blew up. A Smart Contract enables you as the artist to set and build in a royalty that is paid in perpetuity.

Let me explain. Say I am the art collector and you are the artist starting out your career. I pay you $500 for your painting. Now, over the next five years you do really well and become quite sought after, famous even. I decide to take your artwork that I paid $500 for and sell it for $150,000. And in another five years time, you become as famous as Banksy. And now that same artwork is worth over a million dollars. While yes, you as the artist have successfully built a career and are probably selling your new artworks for that amount of money, but for that particular artwork I bought from you for $500, you never saw another cent from that artwork after that.

When an artist sells their artwork as an NFT, each time that artwork is unsold on the blockchain, 10% of the total value of what it is sold for will come back to you as the artist as a royalty payment. I mentioned 10%, but you actually have full control as the artist to set whatever royalty you want in the Smart Contract. 10% though seems to be currently standard across most projects. Now think back to Veefriends, Cryptopunks, Board Apes, World of Women. They have been sold and on-sold and on-sold several times since they were first launched. The creators have therefore made millions of dollars in royalties from these ongoing sales. And this is how it should be. Smart Contracts empower the original creator and rewards their ongoing popularity in a very tangible and satisfying way. As long as the internet stays up and blockchain stays up, which should be for a long while yet, the artists will continue to see these royalties coming back as cryptocurrency payments into their digital wallets.

If you are a visual or digital artist or musician, this is the time to both go it alone on the blockchain and also collaborate with other creators to launch meaningful large scale projects. So what are you waiting for?