After selling 33 unique NFTs in a 48+ hour auction for a total of $11,684,101, 3LAU boldly states, “We will give power back to the artists.” The Internet has decentralized the distribution of music since the Napster days, but there’s a palpable energy in the room. Especially, the Clubhouse room.

The final bids:

1 BIDDER65 $3,666,666
2 WHALESHARK $3,555,555
3 888 $488,888
4 0XBL $484,484
5 RIGHTCLICKSAVE $394,000
6 SILENCE $393,681
7 MASTERSEED $391,935
8 ILLESTRATER $333,333
9 AITO.ETH $290,000
10 LUTZ $88,888
11 SEEDPHRASE $87,000
12 KKK88 $80,808
13 THINK_FLEXIBLE $77,777
14 JEHANCHU $72,000
15 BENCOCO $70,560
16 NIMO $70,000
17 BRASKEY $69,032
18 CRYPTOBLUES $69,031
19 JERLEVINE $69,000
20 KENETIC $68,900
21 YSIU $68,888
22 SPICY $68,500
23 GABUSCH $68,378
24 BRANDONKANGFILMS $66,902
25 THEBTCRING $66,666
26 ASHURAX $65,888
27 CHAILEY $65,750
28 IAMRICH $65,650
29 PABLO $65,555
30 BLACKPOOL HQ $65,333
31 DRF $65,050
32 ARISTEINBERG $65,002
33 YKYMIN $65,001

The winner, BIDDER65, is still anonymous. Is it Kim Dotcom? Chamath Palihapitiya? Mark Cuban? We shall see. Maybe.

It seems that there are a few ways to look at this.

First, this is a statement. The prophets of decentralization are calling for the fall of the gatekeepers that are notorious for taking advantage of artists. It’s giving the middle finger to the Man.

Second, these NFTs can be thought of as resellable lifetime VIP memberships, the ultimate backstage passes, 1,000 True Fans on hypersteroids.

Third, this is the Future of Work. After all, the masses need something to do when the inevitable rise of automation replaces millions of jobs, right?

Fourth, it seems unfair that platforms are taking 30-100% of the revenue as gatekeepers. The Creator Economy has been here for awhile, with FAANG taking the bulk of the profits from artists (on social media platforms) and entrepreneurs (through the app stores). NFTs, Blockchains, and DAOs hold the promise of taking power back from the platforms and giving it to the content creators.

However, the old guard is still in the game, and the stakes are increasing.

Christie’s, the venerable British auction house founded in 1766, famous for fine art sales, is also holding its first digital art auction, Beeple (b. 1981) EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS. The current bid is $3,000,000 and there are still 10 days to go.

Grimes, “a multi-hyphenate artist,” has also launched an auction of 10 exclusive pieces of artwork on Nifty Gateway, WarNymph Collection Vol 1 By Grimes x Mac. People have spent $230 million trading digital assets on NBA Top Shot, a blockchain-based trading card system where collectors buy, sell, and trade NBA video highlight clips.

Before we get too excited, an NFT based creator economy is far from straightforward, and there are many complexities in this digital asset industry. Predatory free-to-play mechanics, hacks and exploits, wash trading, crypto wallet data breaches, legal and regulatory issues, account compromises, and the general technical difficulties of using cryptocurrencies are all problems that need to be addressed. With great challenges come great opportunities. With great power comes great responsibility.

As extreme materialism is increasingly revealed to be empty, minimalism seems to have become trendy, even for billionaires. Perhaps the need to collect, and the to feel special, is so innate in our psychology and biology, that people are simply moving their desires for status and power to the digital world, the Metaverse. On one hand, with all the problems in the world, it feels that there should be better uses for Humanity’s time and energy. On the other hand, if we aren’t creating art and experiences for each other, what’s the point of saving this experiment?

I suppose, the show must go on.

Beyond that, NFTs and digital ownership will also impact the future of intellectual property. This begs the question, what IP is scarcity the appropriate model for, and what IP should be open source and available to all, for the good of Humanity?