Art and culture are credited for our communities wellbeing, education and enlightening our emotional world. Various types of political statements, beliefs or social values have been produced and communicated through Art, Music or Literature by struggling artists and independent content creators of all kinds. Although, the digital revolution has reshaped the Art and Media industries by introducing different ways of production, distribution and enabling reasonably priced promotional campaigns, still the technology has its flaws. For many artists and content creators working with brick-and-mortar institutions, streaming or other social web-based platforms is a gruelling route. Why? simply, because of the unfair treatment by the powerful intermediaries as they offer insignificant royalty fees, commissions or payments.
Ipso-facto, keeping the torch of artistry lit, requires transparency and incentive. So enter blockchain technology. Progression from the age of information to age of value, the blockchain technology serves the two essential elements for support and creation of art. How? Well, the simple idea behind the technology is that information or anything of value such as music, art, money, IP, deeds,… can be securely stored and relocated on a expansive global distributed ledger or database, run on numerous machines. The principle behind blockchain is to fulfill common needs by establishing trust through mass collaboration and clever code.
The transparency factor is about the provenance and the authenticity of the art of all kinds. A well documented provenance confirms that the piece is authentic, not stolen and the history of the ownership.
The application of blockchain technology for verification and ownership of physical art has been employed by number of companies such as Verisart in Los Angeles, Tagsmart in London and Ascribe in Berlin. They provide certificates of authenticity and provenance records.
The concept of ownership and provenance can be used for digital art. Once the art has a story together with the element of scarcity, it becomes collectible and eventually adds financial value. Beatriz Ramos, a Venezuelan artist and CEO of DADA.nyc , has created decentralized digital art marketplace on the blockchain offering the transparency factor along with a social network where artists speak to each other through drawings.
The incentive factor allows the ethical and fair payment to the artist. The common good practiced at the very best as art lovers reach their “high” from the ownership and have fulfilled their moral imperative by supporting the artist fairly and directly. At the same time, the stimulus is significant for the artists to be in charge of their creative work and gain from their magic.
