AUGUST 24, 2023
As expected, the NFT space has taken shape and changed.
Such an open space does not look for labels. However, they are often unavoidable. It is necessary for the space of digital art, cryptocurrencies, project exchanges, and business to begin to lay the foundations for a long life as a revolutionary movement. Everything is a mixture of interests and actors that have found a window of opportunity but were not fully defined. Now as time passes this new entity has spaces where each character finds its niche.
So far, we can see a clear picture of where the most relevant characters fit in and those that move on from the initial emotion of profit - thanks to the bear market - to build an alternative of true visibility for creators. Creators, not just of art, but all kinds of culture creators.
In this mix, there are artists, business people, traders, risk-takers, dreamers, and in the future, those who will learn from our mistakes.
At the moment many artists who have not found sales but stagnation have either left or taken reservations; many have given up full-time as creators to pursue ventures that provide stable income. Those who stay become vulnerable to scammers from the desperation for discovery as the artistic revelation of the moment, because if you are not one of the favorites of the businessmen or patrons you will struggle for visibility,
It is never what you know but who you are.
Some advice, my dear fellow artists: Business people will pay for your work when you show your value, not just talent. Business people who bet on digital creatives buy what has value, as they know that value will increase. They look to invest, build, create alliances, and connect. For that, they need to see your value.
Consider the Medici group - Cozomo and his crew - a great example of business people supporting amazing artists and using the opportunity to grow themselves and create opportunities for others. Business people know how to find opportunities even in their leisure time as if an innate behavior. Nothing is done just for the love of art - unless all other needs, including the need for attention, are already met. All of us, especially artists as we are business-illiterate romantics, need to learn from these people.
On the flip side, there are dealers, those who buy art to find someone who will pay a better price and hope for a profit. They might try to get a famous artist's work for less money to make a name for themselves. They won't give you the same respect as business people and help you grow. They are selling, not adding value.
And what of the dreamers, those who like the business people build but of themselves, and their emotions? They build out of conviction for the community and those lacking the spotlight. Dreamers seek equality of opportunity, they assign value based on empathy, perhaps from experience. They bet heavily on the rebellious, anarchic, and different speech of each creator. The dreamers risk personal resources and put their names on their work. Their credibility is at risk if they fail, however, they recover because of the appreciation and the comradery of those who understand the struggle.
Finally, the risk-takers, the gamblers and scammers. I can't help but smile ironically at the thought of them, as despicable characters who detract from the seriousness of the movement it’s opportunism embodied in deft fingers that are increasingly ingenious in taking whatever they can: value, parts, reputation, money. But, like all of us, they find themselves amidst great opportunities where they can "work" unscrupulously.
In this fragmentation of the digital culture revolution, where change happens every 24 hours, survival and adaptation come from an iron will to belong – because no matter the character you identify with, you have found here a space to see and be seen. I am constantly reminded of Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl, it is a reading of the future that we are susceptible to every day.
So, learn from the business people, build like the dreamers, and distinguish between gamblers and friends.
But above all, live the dream of being in the digital revolution.
