Artists turn to NFTs to break free from traditional norms
NEW DELHI :
Indian artists are taking to the trend of selling digital art via non-fungible tokens (NFTs) online. The trend is picking up in India’s art community as people see the medium as a way to break through traditional norms set in such industries and extend their sources of revenue.
Musicians, artists, photographers and poets look at NFTs as a way to get around intermediaries and gain more control over their work.
“I think it’s about time we change this notion of a starving artist and I think the NFT marketplaces, WazirX, OpenSea or other digital platforms are actually helping change that,” said poet Priya Malik, who has sold NFTs through multiple platforms.
She plans to create content specifically for NFTs in future.
Malik and many other artists said platforms such as YouTube and Instagram gave them the opportunity to reach millions of viewers, whom they could then monetize.
“I look at NFTs as an extension of that digital stage. This is where I’m going to be, for the lack of a better word, ‘minting’ money from art that I already own or can create specifically for this market,” she said.
They also see NFTs as a way to retain control over their work. Malik, photographer Abhinav Chandel and musician Sambit Chatterjee explained that the NFTs they sell include a clause that will allow them to earn royalties for future sales. This, according to many artists, was an ability they sorely missed. “If I sell my prints to someone and if they decide to sell it further, they might do it discreetly and I will never know about it. This way, at least I have a contract and I will know what’s happening with it,” Chandel said.
NFTs are built on a blockchain platform and act as a digital equivalent of ownership deeds. The fact that they are on a blockchain makes their ownership traceable forever, which is what allows the royalties to be tracked.
