Different types of NFTs
A lot has been said around the potential around Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) — the risks, rewards, use cases, etc. have been discussed between techies, entrepreneurs, creators, and everyone in between. In a nutshell, they can display the true value of an asset with the functionalities of blockchain.
The space has recently exploded with new, innovative projects being developed at a rapid rate of knots to push the envelope more and more. There is a diverse range of NFTs out there and it is always wise to understand the types before diving in and creating your own project or investing in one.
The major categories of NFTs include (among others) digital artworks, collectibles, artwork, music, gaming, domain names, and event tickets. Let’s discuss each of these briefly:
Digital Artwork
Possibly the most popular category, this category is also the foundation to form galleries of digital art for creators from around the world. This includes images, video clips, and drawings. The latest form of art, “crypto art” allows artists to create pieces and sell them through non-fungible tokens that are stored on the blockchain.
Artists are then able to claim a royalty on future (secondary) sales as a form of perpetual income. Imagine getting a cut every time someone traded/sold a piece of your work, forever. Pretty cool right?
On the flip side, the super-rich is using this as an investment vehicle of sorts. You basically sell your ownership rights and gain profit off the back of market demand.
Collectibles
It’s about time we took a look at the “digital” equivalent of our worldly interests. With the booming market, you’d be surprised as to what you can find in the NFT space — from limited edition sports cards, moments, and collectibles.
An early project in the collectibles category, and one that’s still going strong, is the Cryptokitties project. This project gives you a “kitten” with unique traits and the traits determine the rarity (which can determine the value). Brands like Marvel, Coca-Cola, GUCCI, and the like are also hopping on the bandwagon and creating their own NFT Collection. Read more here.
Music
Musicians from around the world have often been the victims of not receiving what’s duly owed to them due to greedy middlemen, agents, stations, and other governing bodies. Well, that’s all about to change.
NFTs are shaking up a number of huge industries, including music. The concept is actually pretty simple if you take the tech out of the equation — instead of artists waiting months or years to reach the masses and to make some decent dough, by selling/minting their music on the blockchain (like through Royal.io) they can reach millions in a single day.
A great example is musician Grimes who netted a cool $5.8million in just 20 minutes after releasing a piece of music as an NFT. Artists are now able to sell directly to their fan base and benefit from it.
The fans are also winning by being part of the bigger picture and getting the music “straight from the source” without agents and middlemen in the picture and they end up benefiting from the success of an album, track, or project.
As music is passed on or sold on the secondary market, the artists will continue to make money — even if their music is used in other tracks, the blockchain makes it somewhat easier to track usage and pay those that deserve to be paid.
