Gen Z Redefining Creative Ownership through NFTS
Gen Z is the generation who is uprooting tradition, changing the rules, recreating and redefining societal norms. The generation who grew up with the internet while simultaneously transitioning from the physicality of relationships, art, money, how we obtain information, etc. Seeing the wrongs in the world, unveiling the hard truths about our society, healing, and living life with brand new eyes from the authenticity of our unique experiences. Gen Z has changed the world. We’ve experienced so many collective changes, our society has been reshaped consistently and constantly in short periods of time, instead of through the decades which, traditionally, were how we measured progress and changes.
“Creatives no longer have to hand over ownership of their content to a platform they used to publicize it on.”
Creativity, innovation and independence are what drives Gen Z. NFTs is the new thing that fuels how our generation utilizes this drive. NFTs is a very new concept that has taken the world by storm 2021. But what exactly are NFTs? NFTs are non-fungible tokens, non fungible means that it’s unique and can’t be replaced with something else. For example, the US dollar is fungible, you can trade in US currency for another country’s currency. However, non fungible is one of one like an art piece, you could trade it in for another art piece, but it will not be the same, it will be completely different.
NFTs give the ability to assign or even claim ownership of any unique piece of digital data that is trackable by using Ethereum’s blockchain public ledger. NFT is minted from digital objects as a representation of digital or non-digital assets. This could be anything that falls under the category of digital art, real world items and much more. However, NFTs can only have one owner at a time, and ownership is managed through metadata and uniqueID that no other token can replicate. Each token has an owner which is made easily verifiable, all this information lives on Ethereum and can only be bought and sold on any Ethereum-based marketplace.
So in other words, if you own a NFT you can easily prove you own it which, is similar to proving you have Ethereum in your account. The token proves that your copy of the digital file is the original. Your private key is proof of ownership of the original, no one can manipulate it in any way. If you choose to sell it, it grants you resale royalties or you can hold on to it forever, and it's secured by your wallets on Ethereum. If you’re an NFT creator you can easily prove you’re the creator, you determine the rarity, you earn royalties every time it’s sold,you can sell it on any NFT market you’re not locked into just one market and you don’t need anyone to intermediate.
The biggest use for NFT’s is maximizing earnings for creators. Content creators usually see earning and profit potential eaten by platforms because they’re typically making money for the platform. The platform for example; Youtube sells ads to a creator's audiences, they don’t get paid however, they get exposure, exposure doesn’t garner in profit. NFTs have redefined the creative economy. Creatives no longer have to hand over ownership of their content to a platform they used to publicize it on. The ownership is engrained in the content itself. When the NFT sells the funds go directly to the creator, and if the new owner of that NFT chooses to sell that NFT, the OG owner will receive royalties, and this is guaranteed every time it’s sold because the creator’s address is a part of the tokens metadata forever.
NFTs are game changer because as creators the platforms, agency, or company doesn’t own rights to your creation. Our generation has seen some of the biggest musical artists confess to not making any profit because their label owns all rights to their masters, and they typically got a small percentage from the royalties. Gen Z is the generation that is breaking free, demanding their freedom and independence, and getting very creative with obtaining it. NFTs is changing the industry rapidly, especially as the world is converting to virtual and digital realties. Ownership and originality is very important in our society due to the internet. Creators want their credit, their profit and recognition and NFTs give them this all easily. Gen Z is reclaiming ownership, they are about to shake the world yet again!
The Takeaway
NFTs have given creators the ability to profit from our art beyond just eyeballs on social media and what brands are willing to pay us. We are learning about markets and investing and NFTs and blockchain are our generation's claim to independence.