The surge in digital during the pandemic has had consequences in every field. The use of content on the web, decisive during the most difficult months, has gained ground in terms of authority compared to physical products so far always seen as the best. One of the examples concerns the digital art, certainly not a new phenomenon (it was born in the second half of the twentieth century), which has experienced months of unprecedented visibility thanks to the trend of NFT, the so-called Non-Fungible Token. The most important operation on the market so far was that of Beeple, American artist, who through the Christie's art house sold the NFT of one of his digital works for nearly $ 70 million.
As we read on The Verge, a Non-fungible Token is a kind of digital certificate which certifies ownership of a particular file. The copyright remains with the artist, but the collector can fill their virtual gallery with works such as unique NBA images, music or videos. “There was a moment of great enthusiasm at the beginning - he explains Gadi Sassoon, composer and digital artist - for creatives, who are still living through a difficult period, it was as if a solution had been found. On a musical level, the idea of being able to give value to a digital artifact is beautiful. Spotify is a model that works but is often not enough: the earnings it guarantees are low ».
NFT: the risks
Taking a look though to the graphs photographing the prices of NFTs in the last year, it turns out that the situation is far from stable. After a 2020 of flat calm, the market began to register the first mixed sales in the first months of 2021, until boom in May, when in a few days it went from $ 31 million traded to over $ 175 million in NFT. “I think there is a lot of anarchy in this sector - is the comment of Sassoon -. There was a real race, no different from the one we saw with the dogecoin phenomenon ». With the cryptocurrency meme born as a joke and exalted for months by Elon Musk to the sound of tweets, NFTs share the moment of crisis after the initial euphoria. Will emerging artists sooner or later monetize by selling songs through NFT? Right now it is risky to make predictions.
«The risk I notice - he adds Gadi Sassoon - is to become elitist: in terms of image a musician would not give a good message if he began to exclude all fans who do not want to be part of this world ». World where exchanges also take place through cryptocurrencies and they work thanks to the reliability of the technology blockchain, which certifies and secures exchanges and transactions. «The blockchain is here to stay and its decentralizing nature will give enormous advantages - concludes the musician -. Instead, I remain doubtful about the future of NFTs, at least until there is a shared legal framework ".
