Musician Adel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, is set to release his first NFT via Nifty Gateway on Saturday. He follows in the footsteps of other musicians such as Kings of Leon, Grimes, Rico Nasty, and Ja Rule who recognize the ability of NFTs to put power (and dollars) back into the hands of artists.
I am delighted to announce that my first NFT outing will be on Saturday at 2:00 PM EST on @niftygateway. The collection will include new music and limited edition artwork. I developed the graphics with Strange Loop Studios pic.twitter.com/627BO4JekK
– The Weeknd (@theweeknd) March 31, 2021
The drop will consist of a one-of-a-kind token containing the audio track of a song that won’t be available on any other platform, and two limited-edition works developed in collaboration with Strange Loop Studios. The symbolized song will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, while an unlimited number of each work will be sold at a fixed price over a set period of time.
The “ Can’t Feel My Face ” singer told TechCrunch that NFTs are disrupting the music industry and breaking down barriers between creators and their audiences:
“I’ve always looked for ways to innovate for fans and change this archaic music biz and seeing NFTs allowing creators to be seen and heard more than ever on their terms is deeply exciting. I intend to contribute to this movement and I can see that very soon it will be integrated into the mechanics of the music industry.
Tennis player sells arm space
Croatian tennis player Oleksandra Oliynykova is the latest sports star to enter the NFT market. But unlike other athletes who have made brief forays into the visual arts industry to craft their NFTs, the 20-year-old has upped the stakes by auctioning an NFT giving its owner lifetime rights to a 15×8 cm space area on his right arm.
Six days after it was auctioned on the popular NFT marketplace OpenSea, Croatian tennis player Oleksandra Oliynykova has sold exclusive lifetime ownership of part of her right-hand man for more than $ 5,000. https://t.co/eliYyoQ7bM
– Sportico (@Sportico) March 31, 2021
Oliynykova, who ranks 30th on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) world tour, stipulated that the owner of the NFT can order a tattoo on the space at his own expense – or just leave it blank and hope for the sell for a higher price after playing. at Wimbledon or Roland Garros.
The NFT sold for $ 5,400. However, the owner will not be able to tattoo whatever she wants on her arm, with the tennis player stating:
“Although I am very liberal when it comes to the image or content of a tattoo, certain restrictions apply. First, it should be generally normal, with no extremism allowed. Secondly, since I am a professional athlete, it should NOT contain anything related to gambling, betting, etc.
Takashi Murakami flourishes as an NFT artist
Acclaimed Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami entered the NFT space after taking inspiration from digital artist Beeple and his recent $ 69 million hit in the crypto art world.
The artist announced his dive into NFT via an Instagram post on March 31, with the release of 108 “Murakami Flowers” which feature 8-bit digital illustrations of flowers, in collaboration with online gaming authority Yoshihisa Hashimoto.
Murakami noted that his recent interest in digital art and the virtual world came from watching his children play the Nintendo Switch game Animal Crossing with their friends:
“They were watching fireworks in the game while chatting with their classmates, whom they couldn’t meet in person, via Zoom, admiring how beautiful it was.
“I saw the reality of changing values when I realized that these children could discern beauty in a virtual world.” he added.
Eulerbeats’ second album not at all difficult
Not only do visual artists compete with AI robots for NFT sales, musicians also have to compete with computer-generated algorithms that can produce music sold as NFT.
Ethereum-based music and arts project EulerBeats sold 25 copies of their second album “Enigma,” generating $ 3 million from an auction on OpenSea yesterday.
The project consisted of 25 LPs made up of 27 tracks tokenized on OpenSea, with the algorithmically generated tracks supported by visuals. This is the second release of the project after the launch of their debut album “Genesis”. The two LPs share a common mathematical basis, but provide different artistic, musical and bonding curve structures.
