The Future Of Art Hinges On Web3 And NFTs

Artists have often gotten a rough deal throughout history when it gets to corporations and middlemen profiting from their work long after they have received and spent the fees they were paid. Now, many believe that the decentralized world of web3 – and specifically NFTs – offers an alternative. By creating and releasing work as non-fungible, digital tokens, they have the opportunity to take back control of how and where their work is used and set payment terms that are more favorable to them. 

So how does it all work?

Now, cofounder of Pplpleasr and a well-known artists working in the NFT space 'aka Emily Yang' has created an online course to teach other artists how to create their own NFTs with a purpose of using them to create a descent living.

Question: What are NFTs?

NFTs (Non-Fungible -Tokens) are a form of tokens that live on the blockchain, much like cryptocurrency. How they differ from cryptocurrency tokens, however, is that every one of them is unique. In short, this means that they can be used to extend that “uniqueness” on other assets that they are associated with. The most popular initial use case for NFTs has been digital artwork, with works created by, among others, Beeple (Mike Winklemann) and the artist known as Grimes, Pplpleasr, becoming popular with online collectors and regularly selling for bigger sums.

NFTs most often live on the Ethereum blockchain, although other blockchains such as Polygon and the Binance smart chain are also capable of storing them. So if you want to understand the concepts behind NFTs, it’s important to remember that NFTs aren’t the pieces of artwork themselves per say, it’s rather more accurate to say they are tokens that act as certificates of ownership for the artwork.

They aren’t just useful for recording ownership of art, though. 

The so-called utility NFTs exist in that function as everything from event tickets to proof of ownership of rare whiskies. Many believe that the real value of NFTs lies in the metaverse – a term used to describe the interconnected, persistent digital environments that the internet will evolve into as we all get accustomed to spending more and more of our lives in digital worlds. Here, NFTs will be used for everything from proving ownership of virtual land and property to unique collectibles that we will use to decorate our own personal digital space.

 Why are NFTs important to artists?

First and foremost, is that due to their ability to include smart contracts – executable pieces of code that are also included on the blockchain and can carry out certain tasks when conditions are met – they can potentially revolutionize how royalties are paid and how artists earn a living.

During the "Pre-crypto era everything was reliant so much on trust, signing legal papers, chasing up payments  and usually it was just a big hustle. And once you sold a piece of art, that was all you’re ever going to reap.”

As of now the functionality built into the concept of NFTs now means the smart contracts can be programmed to execute every time a piece of art is sold and re-sold among collectors, with the original artist receiving a dividend on every sale, not just the first one. Although great for artists, the potential ramifications go even further, potentially even changing the way society sees the relationship between artists, their work, and those of us who consume it.

Secondly, it is for a certain that the benefit NFTs bring to the art world, is the origin authenticity. The immutable, encrypted nature of the blockchain means it can be used to prove not only where the artwork came from but where it has been and who has owned it since it was first sold. This is useful because prestigious owners, such as galleries, renowned collectors, or celebrities, can have their own impact on the value of a piece of art or the culture that is built up around it period

Last but not least, when digital artwork was allowed to have value, through its collaboration with an NFT, It created a new class of asset that would correlate well with the lives of generations who live in the digital world just as much as they do in the physical realm.

About a decade ago, one would take a break by spending casual time on the internet, "today, it’s quite the opposite, we only take a break from the internet to grab a snack but the majority of the time we’re on the internet now you see how the narrative has immensely changed.

“On realizing that this is the trajectory society has taken, whether or not you like it  the digitization of assets is only a matter of time  you’re going to start recognizing the fact that you have less and less of a desire and need for physical belongings “WHY?” they are easy to lose and take up space but with digital art, it's a different story, you can just keep it digitally in your wallet just the way you do with crypto currency."

How artists can pave way into NFTs

Important to note for any artists wanting to get involved with NFTs is that it’s essential to understand the culture. As with everything related to crypto and blockchain, users can be somewhat skeptical, and there’s often distrust of people or organizations that are seen to have an interest purely because of the potential to make a dime.

“You’ll notice your life will become a lot easier if you bring authenticity to the space.

“A huge number of corporations have come in thinking they want this ‘flamboyance' of being associated with NFTs, or maybe they have a monetary incentive. Those generally do not fare well with the crypto community that can smell a mile away if they’re not ‘crypto native’. I think doing extensive research around that before even thinking about getting into the NFT space is a good tip.”

And for starters I will allude to my preamble earlier saying, Cofounder Pplpleasr well-known artists working in the NFT space called “AKA Emily Yang”  has an online course to teach other artists how to create their own NFTs to better their living will be the best course of action to take.

Blog by 

Rodney Kawaayi

Tweet me: @RKawaayi