NFTs and How They Change Creating
The world is full of acronyms, and you may have heard NFTs. What does this mean? It stands for Non-Fungible Tokens. Still, confused? Read on to find out more.
Some Background
Not long ago, a huge story broke about a digital artist selling a piece of art for $69 million. This surprised a lot of people because digital art is available online anywhere you go. That particular piece of art he sold is available as a JPEG online. What made this specific sale interesting is that it was the public’s first taste of NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens.
In another story, a photographer took a picture of LeBron James doing a dunk at a game. He was the only one that got that particular shot. So he used NFT to sell that picture for over $250,000. He could do this because he could prove he was the originator and owner of that photograph.
This means that if someone else were to use an image you own, you would either receive royalties or could demand that it be taken down.
What are NFTs?
Essentially, this is the same technology that makes bitcoin work. It’s a blockchain that identifies a piece of art. In this case, it gives it a signature that’s embedded in the art. It shows proof that this is the original work of art. There is nothing you can do to remove it, so you can’t forge this art. That is the NFT part of it. Non-fungible means you can’t change it. It is becoming really popular in the art world, the music industry, and other industries, as well. It is popular in any industry where they want to identify a piece of work as the original without any concerns it is a forgery or duplicate.
Tom Brady and NFTs
Tom Brady is going into business with a partner and started a company called Autograph. The company targets artists, entertainers, fashion designers, and other creators. It will use NFT to create a platform that can identify something they created as the original work. They can then sell it and have that transaction be public. The one thing about blockchain is that not only is it unchangeable, but it’s part of the public record.
Tom Brady is getting involved in this because his autograph or likeness is worth a lot of money as a professional sports personality.
Tracing
You could look up the original art piece that sold for $69 million and see and trace its history. You start with who originated it, follow to who bought it, and end with where it’s at right now. It is becoming exceptionally popular with people who are creating original works.
These works are worth a lot more money than they would usually be because you can prove that it is the original.
The Future
Over time, this will fundamentally change how we produce works of art and how we share them. Now, people can determine whether or not you should have access to a piece of digital art. If someone were to sit down and paint a piece using watercolors or oils, that painting would need to be protected the old-fashioned way, and you still have to worry about fakes or duplicates.
As more and more digital art is being created, you will continue to see NFTs being embedded as it is relatively inexpensive. Artists will likely do it with most of their work because they never know what might end up selling for a lot of money.
This explosive growth of NFTs is likely to change a lot because now you can track many things you couldn’t track before and be able to do things like licensing and protecting copyright.
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