What happens when the publishing world goes NFT crazy? Money rains wild
This is me again talking NFTs, I have been pondering on this for some days now and I am one of those who take time to read and research topics instead of writing something quick and short every day.
This time around I am focusing on newspapers, media and publishing companies that are flocking to tap into NFT trend and get some profits. The NFT celebrity craze started with artists, moved into the music industry, had so many high profile celebrities joining the hype and placing outrageous bids for digital artwork and now is moving into news magazines and papers.
To be honest, I am not a fan of most legacy media as they serve their own agendas instead of informing us about the news. Sometimes, they outright suppress news that do not fit their narrative/interest while amplifying certain stories that fall in line with their narrative, bring corporate profit, and polarize their audience. Thus, instead of a uniting force they have become a force of division and ideological polarization.
Let's see which news magazines have made headlines in the NFT space
First it was Times Magazine which decide to auction three of its iconic covers for its fans. The covers are the ones depicted in the above picture. The auction took place in late March through the NFT Marketplace SuperRare. Namely, the three covers were
"Is God Dead?" from 1968 which raised a lot of debate in its era
"Is Truth Dead?" from 2017 after the election of Donald Trump as US President
"Is Fiat Dead?" an original cover designed just for this NFT auction
The three covers together amassed more than $435,000 for Times Magazine which looks dead-serious about capitalizing on its iconic covers. Justin Sun, the person behind Tron Network bid and won the auction for another Times Magazine NFT. Sun bid 117 Ethereum for the "Computer in Society" NFT version of the first ever Times Magazine cover in 1965 dedicated to computers. But that wasn't the highest bid they received for a cover as they got almost $250,000 for their "Space Exploration" digital cover.
Then we have the New York Times. Yes, you read that right, NYT sold its column "Buy This Column on the Blockchain" from its journalist Kevin Roose for a staggering $560,000 which it then donated to its Neediest Cases Fund that supports charitable causes.
Another one is Playboy! Technically not a newspaper.. but even newspapers are not real newspapers nowadays. OK! Let's get back to Playboy. Yes, they have partnered with Nifty Gateways, a platform that allows people to buy and sell digital art and that is owned by Gemini Exchange. Their have a number of plans involving their exclusive adult photography archive, their articles, and launching new digital collective products.
There are also other actors already involved in the field such as Quartz, the business publisher that has already sold its first article. The Bleacher Report sold a series of NBA All Star Games collectibles which it designed with rappers Quavo and 2 Chains.
More news companies are joining the hype and that begs the question "Is What they are selling worth the price?"
To most of us, no. It is not. But to newspapers, tabloids, and magazines it is another smart way to make a cash grab by riding on the latest hype train and doing minimal effort for it since they already own the copyright to their covers, photographs, articles, and etc.
In the end of the day, the outrageous auction prices for a column or a magazine cover right now indicate that NFT 1.0 market is a hype bubble. The bets are off in this game of riches between art collectors and celebrities seeking self-aggrandization. Se can stay on the side-lines once again.
