NFT Presents Digital Artists a New Identity in the Market
NFT, also known as Non- Fungible Token, are tokens used to represent one’s ownership over items. Non-fungible means that each item has its own unique identity and cannot be replaced with something else. In this way, fungible items could be exchanged because their scarcity can be a determining factor of the value of goods. Unlike this, NFTs allow people to “tokenize” items such as art, music, and even real estate. Those items can only have one owner at a time and are secured by the Ethereum blockchain, preventing modification of the record of ownership or copying in a new NFT. Tokenized items are gaining a new identity in the digital world. By utilizing NFTs, each art piece gains an irreplaceable and unique identity and clearly shows the ownership of each piece.
Most NFTs are thought of as an evolution of fine art collecting, especially digital art. Digital art existed long before the blockchain, but just like almost all data, it was easy to copy and claim one’s property as another's. Most digital artists, tired after years of creating content that generates visits and engagement on Social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram while getting almost nothing in return, have dived into this trend of NFT. Speaking of artists in all fields— filmmakers, musicians, and even authors anticipate a future in which NFTs transform both their working methods and the values of art in the world, now that buyers are capable of truly “owning” and selling digitized art for the first time.
The concept of NFT is relatively new to our society. The whole industry seems absurd to people: art collectors paying six to eight figures for works that can easily be accessed and shared online for free. The whole industry seems absurd to people: art collectors paying six to eight figures for works that can easily be accessed and shared online for free. Critics assess the NFT art rise as just the latest stock bubble, corresponding to this year’s boom of “meme stocks” such as GameStop. This phenomenon is attracting a strange group of not just digital artists and collectors, but also speculators who are eagerly looking to profit from the latest craze.
The NFT craze hit a new world record in March when Christie’s, the art auction house, auctioned off a digital photo collage by an artist who goes by the name of Beeple for nearly $70,000,000, immediately making him the third most expensive living artist in the art history. When an artist gains more popularity and followers, the original owner of the piece can resell it online, bidding for a higher price. With every possible trade happening, the actual artist is available to make 10% monetary profit with secondary trading. The NFT art market opens a broad and transformative secondary market for digital artists; helping them attain a new identity online by getting noticed by online speculators looking for phenomenal digital artists. When someone purchases an art piece in NFT, they are buying a unique identifier representing the digital artwork. Thus, the ownership of the piece gets recorded and stored in the blockchain. Owning the artwork by NFT does not limit how the artwork is viewed or shared digitally. Instead, it works similarly to interactive trading. With NFTs, owning a digital artwork is highly transformable as each artwork’s identity is tradable and sharable among collectors to increase its value gradually over time.
The only problems derived from digital artwork shared through NFTs are authenticity and uniqueness. When a digital artwork is created and shared online, anonymous users download and share them, and it is impossible to track those activities. Despite this issue, NFTs hold the potential to make the values of digital artwork similar to the ones of physical artwork. NFTs are capable of turning arts with digital identities into the form of assets in the real world. As NFTs exist on the blockchain, it becomes impossible to replicate the identity of the original artwork. This trait of NFTs provides a way for digital artists to earn revenue from their artwork, stay authentic, and prevent hacking and duplication issues.
Digital art is gaining popularity due to the highly secured and viable mediums of sharing its identity through NFTs. This innovative approach via NFTs paves a new way for artists and collectors. Art collectors are realizing the significance of the digital art world and getting captivated. This innovative approach via NFTs paves a new way for artists and collectors. Art collectors are realizing the significance of the digital art world and getting captivated. NFTs not only open diverse ways to generate new revenue streams for art but also financial ownership. Apart from transforming the digital art market, NFTs reevaluate how art holds substantial importance in the global art market.