Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1399888
j u ly • a u g u s t • s e p t e m b e r 2 0 2 1 c g w 6 3 NFT and sell it? He said, "You absolutely can. But, you're not going to get any money for it because it's not Beeple's NFT." That's the importance of the markets, which are what is validating the art out there. There are certain market sites on which anyone can put an NFT for sale. But, it doesn't mean someone will pay thousands of dollars for it. They're not going to do that because they don't know where to find [the site it is on], who you are, what's going on. Just like an art gallery in the real world: Peo- ple curate the art that is out there so people can validate that there's value in that art. Especially people in the crypto world, they don't really know much about the art world. They're collecting it based on speculation of its value. Are artists really making money on NFTs? There are actually thousands of artists who are making a living, or at least some money, on some sites, but they're not making half a million dollars on NFTs. They're making an ether (about $3,000) or so on some really good art. That's something that should be celebrated. This is the first time many digital artists have a legitimate marketplace to sell this type of content on it. Remember, too, there's an actual cost involved. If it costs you $300 to put up an NFT for sale, you better make at least $300 on your sale. Just because a bunch of people are making a bunch of money on NFTs doesn't mean that you're going to make a bunch of money on NFTs. Does the artist give up his or her rights to the video clip or image? It depends on what you have agreed to in your contract. It's all in the contract. Also, that person didn't buy the art. They bought the token. The token is attached to the art. That token represents the uniqueness of what they own. What the person wants to do with that art or that NFT is up to them. There are VR museums out there that are filled with NFTs of a person's favorite art that he or she collected. Oh, there's one more important thing that a lot of people don't know about the NFT market, which is a really good thing for the artists. The contract basically says you passed ownership of this art, but there's a lot of contingencies that are actually in that contract that are really interesting. Say you buy my piece of art on a market site for one ether; I get 0.85 ether, and the gallery gets 0.15 ether, their commission. Now you own that NFT. A few years go by and I become really famous and the NFT becomes very valuable for my art piece, and you're able to sell that NFT for 100 ethers, making a big profit. The contract states that I get 10 percent of every subsequent sale. So, if you sell it for 100 ethers, I get another 10 ethers. So, the artist constantly gets a cut of every sale. That's because of the nature of how blockchains work. It's a ledger. You can't hide anything. The only way a person's going to own the NFT is through the execution of the contract. What happens if someone just now buys a video, for instance, that has been circulating on YouTube for a number of years? Scarcity is important. The "Charlie bit my finger" video (one of the most watched videos on YouTube) recently sold as an NFT (for $760,999), with the family promising to delete the video from YouTube. (The NFT buyer decided to leave the original 14-year- old video on YouTube.) CG Garage did some pod- casts on NFTS — Why? A lot of friends and people who've been on my podcast started asking me questions about NFTs, and I thought we needed to provide information on this subject so that people can make their own decisions about it. I talked to my friend Sally Slade, who is very tech-savvy and a great artist, and she agreed to give the process a try, and did a podcast episode where she went through all the steps that are involved. And then I started getting in touch with others. One was David Yermack, head of the finance department at NYU Stern School of Business and an expert in cryptocurrency. He knew about NFTs before it was about art. I also talked to other artists about how this is affecting their livelihood, particularly with everyone talking about the Metaverse — which is how you buy and sell digital goods. If you want to buy architecture or real estate in a Metaverse, an NFT is probably a cool place to do it, which now means that architects should start thinking about build- ing things in a Metaverse instead of in reality, or in addition to reality. Are NFTs a temporary fad? No. There is definitely an oversupply prob- lem right now, which is not necessarily a bad thing, because it's going to weed out some work and, eventually, the cream will rise to the top. Remember, NFTs are not necessarily just about art, but they do have an effect on the art market. And, I don't think that's going to go away. I think people are going to con- tinue to buy and sell digital goods, and NFTs are an answer to doing that. That includes art, videos, and other content of that nature. What take-away do you have for digital artists? We need to get information out that helps people, especially artists, and the more peo- ple can learn about NFTs and educate them- selves on the subject — whether they're for them or against them — the better equipped they are to make decisions on whether they want to be part of that market. 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