With the internet came a massive shift in the way we consume media. Napster disrupted the music industry, Netflix ushered in an era of on-demand entertainment, and YouTube gave creators a platform to share their work directly with audiences.
Now, blockchain technology has ushered in yet another disruption in media consumption. It has made it easier than ever to support artists through alternative payment channels. But it's not just about making transactions more efficient. Supporters also get creatively involved by contributing songs and artwork that help build new worlds for fans to explore. Let's take a closer look at how blockchain is changing art right now.
It Creates a Historical Record for Artwork
Blockchains are a record of past transactions and because they're decentralized, there's no one central place that can be hacked or tampered with. This means that if you have an artwork in your possession and the blockchain says it belongs to someone else, you'll know that someone has tampered with the blockchain history. That's why this technology is so useful for provenance, it can track ownership over time.
So far we've been talking about how blockchains work in general terms, as ledgers for recording data about every transaction ever made within a network. But what does this mean for art? It means that using blockchain technology for authentication purposes can help protect historic artworks from being stolen or forged. It can be done by creating an immutable “digital fingerprint” of each piece by recording its unique attributes (history, materials) on the ledger so anyone who wants proof-positive authentication can simply check it against those records if necessary.
Blockchain Removes the Need for Middlemen
The most obvious advantage of blockchain-powered art is that it removes the need for middlemen. There's no need for a middleman to verify authenticity, nor is there a need for one to sell the artwork. You can sell your digital painting yourself, or you can use an app like Maecenas to find someone who wants to buy it and will pay a good price for it.
This lack of middlemen also goes beyond just buying and selling artwork. It also saves money when managing sales, since there aren't as many people involved in each transaction.
It Focuses More on the Artist and Less on the Investor
The most important thing to remember about blockchain is that it puts the artist in the center of their art. It's not focused on investors or sales, but rather on creating and sharing works of art with people who appreciate them.
The artist is the one who creates something beautiful, unique, and special. They are at the heart of everything we do as humans. They should be rewarded for what they do, as should anyone else involved with making a work of art happen like curators, editors, critics, and collectors.
It Can Preserve Digital Art
Blockchain can help preserve digital art. With so much of our lives now lived online, many people have begun collecting digital and virtual art. The problem with this is that once a file is uploaded to the internet, it’s easy for it to be copied, shared, and even sold without the creator’s consent. Blockchain can help solve this problem by authenticating and tracking ownership of digital assets through its decentralized ledger system.
Blockchain Can Be Used as a Peer-To-Peer System to Make Transactions
Blockchain can be used as a peer-to-peer system to make transactions. This means that you are transacting directly with another person, and not going through any third parties or middlemen. You don’t need to go through your bank or credit card company when making payments on the blockchain system, because it uses cryptocurrency.
All you need is a good cryptocurrency exchange like Binance or OKX. You also don't need to use a payment processor like Stripe or PayPal, which take a cut of every transaction they process. Cryptocurrency can save you money compared to those services.
Blockchain Lets Us Track Each Piece of Art Back to the Artist and Their Story
Blockchain is a secure, decentralized ledger system that allows users to track and trade assets. This technology can help artists and collectors track the provenance of their pieces, from inception to current ownership. In the age of mass-manufactured art pieces and forgeries, this is a game-changer for art lovers everywhere.
In addition to providing transparency around the origins of an artwork, blockchain also lets us track its ownership history so we know who's owned what and when. The same goes for authenticity – if you don't know where your piece came from or how it got there, then how do you know whether it's real? Blockchain allows us all access to these details without having to rely solely on institutional knowledge or trust in records kept by one individual company or organization.
Blockchain Helps Protect Artists and Their Work in New Ways
Blockchain’s ability to record the history of a piece of art, as well as its current ownership, is a huge step forward. It means that art can be tracked and authenticated in new ways. You can see how each piece changed hands over time, making it much harder for someone to sell you an artwork they don't own or saying they made it when they didn't.
This technology also helps protect artists who want to sell their work by putting an official stamp on their creations. And yes, this includes graffiti artists who want to protect their tags from getting ripped off by other people trying to profit off of their ideas.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that Blockchain technology has a bright future. The art world has taken notice and begun to adopt it as well. With more artists creating, selling, and distributing their work through the digital space thanks to blockchain’s security features, the industry will continue to grow in ways never seen before. This new way of doing things seems like an improvement from traditional methods, where artists often lose control over their art or get cheated out of profits due
