NFTs both fuel and kill the liberation of creators and consumers.

“Holy fuck.”

Those were the first words on Twitter of artist Beeple following the sale of his digital collage for $69 million in 2021. The piece of art in question is titled “Everydays: the First 5000 days.”

It’s fitting. The piece — and other NFTs like it — have transformed the art world for what looks like thousands of days to come. Or even more.

But is that a good thing? This moment is one of many that mark a dramatic shift in how buyers and creators consume media — for better and worse.

Digital platforms have transformed global media

Over the past decade, platforms such as YouTube, Etsy, and Medium have transformed how creators, well, create.

These digital platforms offer creators a source of income unlike anything which came before it: Gone are gatekeepers and middlemen such as studios and publishers, and instead, creators can publish their work to a worldwide audience without so much as an approval or signing a deal with a studio.

But, what sounds like a quick win for creators comes with a catch: the success of their work is often dictated by the third-party platforms’ algorithms — and a revenue split is always part of that equation. We’ve learned that platforms that were set up with the goal of democratizing creatorship can very quickly become monopolists.

Where do NFTs fit into the new media landscape?

An NFT (non-fungible token) is a unique, authentic, and cryptographic token that is non-replicable. That means that NFTs empower creators of all kinds to retain ownership of their work — something we don’t traditionally see on other digital platforms.

While you probably think of artwork when you think of NFTs, they’re not limited to graphic pieces. An author can issue a book as an NFT, musicians could publish their new album as an NFT — even James Cameron could decide to release his next movie as one. This is where all media as we know it has the potential to change completely.

In each case, each of those NFTs can be linked back to its source of creation — for example, the author, the director, the songwriter, or the artist — who can use their NFTs to generate revenue once consumers are buying, using, or reusing their digital creations, without giving up the rights of their work to a big studio or publishing house.

The shift in creation and consumption

This shows us two major shifts in how we all consume media.

The first has been in the rise of the aforementioned “platform economy” which helped creators to widely distribute their work and to build an audience at the same time.

This meant anyone was suddenly able to go from totally unknown to a world-famous musician or video personality and followed by millions, with no barrier to entry, even from the comfort of their bedroom. But, as mentioned, for creators, this also meant a dependency on those platforms and sharing their income with a platform such as YouTube or Spotify.

But this doesn’t necessarily equal an increase in choice for consumers.

In the platform economy, the media you consume is still determined by huge publishers. Netflix decides which content to fund and make available to you, and you are delivered a series like Squid Game or Stranger Things — while a show by your favorite director may not make it to your streaming service of choice. Effectively, you get to eat what’s on Netflix’s table — or not eat at all.

Now, we see a major shift in which creators can become their own Spotify-like music studio, self-distributing publishing house, or streaming service.

NFTs offer consumers liberation. They mean you can purchase your favorite album directly from the artist, in the blockchain — independent from any form of subscription, or a third-party platform.

Is liberation a good thing for our media?

Well, it depends.

NFTs mean that creators will regain the power of their creations, a more direct stream of income, and regain control over their digital assets — something the platform economy does not provide.

But for consumers, it’s a different story.

Decentralization means that consumers will now be exposed to an endless possibility of buying NFTs. Where does one even start when it comes to finding them on the blockchain? In this instance, browsing the Netflix library doesn’t seem so bad.

It’s simple: users do not want to do that. At least, not yet. For creators opting to put their work out as a liberating NFT over platform-controlled distribution, their audience size is massively limited — and a far cry from Netflix’s 222 million subscribers worldwide.

Consumers want comfort and accessibility. As a user, we seek value for money and most probably don’t give a second thought to filmmakers’ revenue shares and distribution rights when we sit on our couch and binge-watch the new season of our favorite show.

The future of media means finding the best of both worlds

So what does a media landscape look like in which consumer and creator demands meet each other halfway?

Although decentralization is an on-trend buzzword and is in fact the major advantage of a blockchain, assets such as NFTs still want to be accessed and consumed in a centralized way by consumers.

It means we need to build a scenario with two key elements.

Firstly, we need platforms that offer decentralized assets in a centralized way. This means having a digital shop in which creators can offer their NFTs in a way they want, for a price they have set and with full control over what happens to their NFTs.

Then, the platform must be attractive enough to consumers to purchase NFTs — either for entertainment or investment — so creators have a steady income stream that incentivizes them to continue creating.

This is already happening in the NFT world. Several platforms like OpenSea, Raribles, or the Soon.Market already cover both needs successfully.

The NFT dilemma

This spotlights the biggest issue with NFTs right now. Centralization creates the demand for decentralization, which offers an overwhelming and confusing supply to consumers which increases the demand for centralization.

You could call it a vicious circle with no exit strategy.

There is one innovation on the horizon that will provide an exit, however: the metaverse. This will make the differentiation between centralized and decentralized media obsolete as we simply won’t be able to recognize the difference.

But until then, our digital media is likely to look a lot more hybrid. And with it, more creative — for creators and consumers.

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