The verifiable digital scarcity is suddenly all the rage. NFTs – non-fungible tokens or digital collections that use blockchain technology as authentication – are everywhere.
The century-old auction house Christie’s is taking action; for the first time, it is accepting cryptocurrency for an NFT piece by the digital artist Beeple. Artist Chris Torres has just sold a unique and slightly modified NFT version of his famous GIF Nyan Cat – you know, the animated flying cat with a Pop-Tart body – for almost $ 600,000. And earlier this month, Lindsay Lohan sold an image of her face as a digital asset; since he changed hands a few times, it is now valued at almost $ 50,000.
Last Friday, Linkin Park co-founder Mike Shinoda became the first major artist to release a single – the bouyant “Happy Endings”, featuring Ian Dior and UPSAHL – via the NFT auction. A 75-second clip of the song, accompanied by Shinoda’s animation of the art of contemporary artist Cain Caser and the musician himself, was sold in an edition of 10 on the Zora online market. Here’s number 10 out of 10, which went to 4 WETH (about $ 6,600):
All of Shinoda’s income from NFT sales – now and, since he retains partial ownership of the works in the future – goes to ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. According to the terms of sale, NFT owners “have no right to license, commercially exploit, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works, publicly perform or publicly display the NFT or the music or art contained therein. “Or, as writer Matty Karas of MusicREDEF says,” you’re basically getting a digitally signed MP3. ” (However, it should be noted that the first “Happy Ending” NFT owners will receive a physical impression of the unique work of art signed by Shinoda and Caser.)
Shinoda, 44, who also has a hip-hop side project called Fort Minor, recently spoke to Input via Zoom on their “Happy Finals” NFTs and what’s on the non-fungible horizon. The following conversation was edited for length and clarity.
How did you get into NFTs?
I’ve been watching NFTs for some time. Linkin Park has a VC arm, and a few years ago we held several meetings with different companies about investment and the idea of creating blockchain-related goods. And I thought, “I feel like we’re ready for this. But the fans are not ready for that. Nobody will buy. ”So, we stayed away from that. And it wasn’t until this year when I thought, “Oh, people are ready.” Normal people are really collecting these things. And it’s not just a few billionaires getting involved.
What do you think has made normal people ready for NFTs?
Sometimes it is as if the conversation is going in that direction. Part of that is big headline sales, like the Beeple or FVCKRENDER stuff. I think the Unchained Gods [game on the Ethereum blockchain] thing is really cool. Even CryptoKitties – I think they’re great. And all of those little things add up, and it has to hit your radar in a way that you say, “Oh, this is something I would buy. I would collect this. “
Many people have no idea what an NFT is. How do you convince people that they are real, since they are not tangible?
The creators always ask me “Wait, what are our rights?” And it’s like, “Okay, well, here’s what I think your rights are. Your rights are what you tell people about your rights – tell them what you are selling and that is what you are selling. “
There is no one who takes NFTs seriously who really accepts the idea that what you are selling is copyright or the master. This is usually a difficult task for anyone who is a breeder. And on the rare occasions that this is the case, they will make a big deal of it. In other words, if you buy an MP3 of a song as an NFT, you don’t own the song. It is the equivalent of buying a print of a work of art or buying an original work of art. Just because you buy a Mickey Mouse print doesn’t mean you can put Mickey on everything.
The average person has a hard time accepting the idea that you can take something you posted on Instagram and then post exactly the same thing on Zora and earn $ 1,000. They’re like, “Wait, why the hell would my video make $ 1,000 on Zora, since I’m posting for free anywhere else? I don’t understand. “It’s like, just because you don’t understand – just accept it. It’s not about the physical item. It’s about the concept of ownership. It’s the concept of what is valuable to a collector.
From a collector’s point of view, I can imagine fans saying, “I can stream your music on Spotify for free as much as I want. Why should I worry about buying this NFT? “
From the point of view of a collector, if the MP3 of a song is one of one, and I trust this creator that they will keep it one of one, then the value is maintained or the value increases. If someone is an opportunistic and dishonest idiot and says, “This is a rare thing,” and then: “Just kidding, I’m earning another five – I’m effectively lowering the value of your things,” come over. Eventually, there will be systems that will help people evaluate creators accordingly.
And since you’re a household name, I assume that people don’t think you’re an “opportunistic and dishonest idiot” about it.
Hope not! I tried music and visuals like an NFT. I tried only visual; I tried GIFs. They all performed differently. I have yet to make one that is just NFT music, as an entire track from beginning to end, one by one. That will be soon. I’ll do that and see what happens.
I always put some version of an explanation of what you’re buying, like a product description. You can resell it, but you cannot duplicate it and mass produce it. You do not have the right to make CDs with my MP3 and go and sell them. By the way, the same as YouTube. You can’t just copy an Avengers movie and put it on the air and hope that Disney doesn’t give you a crush.
“Management it was like, ‘Are you Crazy. ‘”
Tell me about selling the Happy Endings NFTs. What was the price range of those 10?
I’m not sure right now, but I can guess. So that’s how it worked: I had already put some things on Zora, and I have a single called “Happy Endings” to come out. It’s basically like a pop single. So, we are all prepared for this great launch. And I said to management, “I want to debut it with an NFT”, and they said, “You are crazy. How in the world are we going to make this happen? “My attitude is like,” I know the schedule is short, but we can work it out. ” And that is what we did.
The highest bid was five Wrapped Ethereum [around $8,000]. The lowest figure was a few hundred dollars. And as soon as the initial sales ended, I said: “Surprise, everyone who has one starting tomorrow will receive a signed copy of one in ten of the art. So you have 24 hours if you want to resell it. But whoever is the owner at this hour tomorrow will have an impression. “I kind of expected someone to come up to the person who just spent $ 200 and say,” I’m going to give you $ 15,000 for that NFT you spent $ 200 on. ”I expected you to change hands. And he hasn’t changed hands.
What do you attribute this to?
I think the people who bought them were legitimate fans.
What do you think of the whole NFT market now? Is it a bubble?
In this world, they call the bubble very “foamy”. You already read The long tail book? So I think it becomes much more of a longtail, where you get certain things that are really worthwhile, like a great product or a great work of art that will win this kind of high price tag. And then everything else is going to drop a lot, as if this NFT is $ 50 or $ 20. There will be more of that.
That animated cat GIF sold for almost $ 600,000.
Man, I was so happy about it. I loved it. Because I can’t imagine in my wildest dreams that this person earned the money he deserves for creating Nyan Cat. Nyan Cat is like an omnipresent image on the Internet. It’s like Pepe, the Frog and all those other memes. Nyan Cat is a funny piece of art, but it’s like world famous. And there are no words for – it’s the perfect NFT. I thought I should go to most. I bet $ 600K is just the starting block for the value of that piece.
You look at this and many people think that this is going to be just the province of the rich.
I think the big things, that people decide to have real value, will be less and more distant as we move forward. I think it will be more like skins for video games, prints and art. Like when Shepard Fairey releases a new painting or a new image, he can make a single stencil piece. And then he can make multiples of the same thing that are printed by other people. He can photograph, print, sell cheap, right? Let’s say the original costs $ 100,000. The prints cost about 100 dollars, right? I think that will happen. This seems to me to be an inevitable place for NFTs, where you get some high-value and very rare stuff, like the Pokémon Shiny card style. And then you get things that are ordinary cards.
Back to the music itself. The lyrics for “Happy Endings” talk about how last year was a “shit show”. How bad was Mike Shinoda’s year?
It’s all right. I tend to be very optimistic and try to look for fringes of hope. Much to my wife’s annoyance, by the way. She’s like, “Really? Are you going to ‘silver me’ now on this shitty thing? “So, yes, if we are real, 2020 was rubbish. I can’t imagine another time in my entire life when I would end an entire year and say,” That year was shit. “And last year deserved it completely.
The thing about this song is that I felt like I had really channeled all that negative and anxious energy into it. And he did it in a playful way. That sounded the right tone to me. So it was such a bad year? I mean, worse for other people than for me. But I don’t like being stuck inside the house.